soap making blues

[mainframe]

Ok I followed the video tutorial on expert village for my first batch. everything went pretty well I thought for my first try attempt. But it has been a bit over 48 hours of wrap in towels. I check it a few hours ago and noticed just a very small layer of liquid on the top. Should I leave it alone for another 24hrs or just dump it and start on another batch?

 

[WilsonFamilyPicnic]

does your mold have a lid on it? or covered in saran wrap or anything? does the layer of liquid look like water or oil?

 

[mainframe]

Looks more like oil ... yeah I have a some plastic wrap,lid and three towels inside a closet. But the layer is very thin the rest underneath looked pretty solid. I did the sub the beeswax for sheabutter though. Maybe that was the cause ?

 

[7053joanne]

That happened to me on my first try but it was because it was lye heavy. It is such a bummer when the first time doesn't go as planned.

Can you post the recipe that you used? It may help to get to the root of the problem.

joanne

 

[Laurie]

Could it be done? I had a batch I let gel too long and it

got a layer of oil on the top. But it turned out fine. I just

let it sit overnight and the oil disappeared. Then I removed

it from the mold.

Laurie

 

[Becky]

Looks more like oil ... yeah I have a some plastic wrap,lid and three towels inside a closet. But the layer is very thin the rest underneath looked pretty solid. I did the sub the beeswax for sheabutter though. Maybe that was the cause ?

Did you run it thru a lye calculator before making it? If you subbed Shea for the beeswax, there would have been differences in the amount of lye required.

 

[IanT]

I agree, I think you may not have had enough lye to sap all your oils??

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Sound like simple overheating and separation to me. Rebatch by cutting in small pieces and heating in a double boiler or crock pot.

Paul