Soap Not Getting Hard

[Arlo]

I made my first batch of cold processed soap: lye + mainly olive oil, some coconut oil. It is now almost 24 hours later and the soap is not hard - my finger leaves a slight imprint. I had trouble getting trace. My stick blender started overheating so when I thought I saw a slight trace, I stopped. Will it ever become hard? The temperature in my house is 60-65F.

Also, I need a clearer understanding of what temperature the oils and lye should be. Given my room temp of 60-65F, I had to heat the oils to get the coconut oil to be liquid. Should the lye be heated to the same temp? Or does it not matter? If someone can point me to good explanation of temperature requirements and how temperature affects the process and the result, I'd appreciate it. Thank you.

 

[GreenDragon]

For the most accurate advice, please post the recipe you used.

Your soaping temperature is usually determined by what oils you are using. Hard to melt oils need higher temperatures to stay melted during the saponification process than room temp oils. Also, the higher the temp, the quicker the reaction and less time you have to "work" with the batter. Most people soap between 85 and 120 F. Most also like their lye water and oils to be within 10F of each other.

High OO soaps take longer to harden without additional additives. Give it a few more days before worrying.

Have fun! Soaping is very addictive!

 

[amd]

I'm going to ask a "dumb" question: Did you mix your lye with water or another liquid? I ask this because you say

Should the lye be heated to the same temp?

If you add lye to liquid, it heats up to 180-200°F, so you don't need to heat it further.

With a "mainly olive oil, some coconut oil" recipe the heat from freshly made lye water will melt your coconut oil, so you don't need to melt it. As said above though, oils with higher melting temps (or if you have a lot of them) work better at certain temps.

Post your complete recipe and process, and what you're using for a mold. It will help us know what you did and what might be wrong.

 

[MadTeddyBear]

Soap with a lot of soft oils (like olive oil) take longer to harden. It could take a few days depending on your recipe, but it'll get there eventually.

The oils and lye don't need to be at the same temperature. If both of them are too cold it's possible that the oils will harden when mixed and give a false trace, but I routinely use room temperature lye water and oil that's around 115°F.

 

[Arlo]

Sorry for not posting the actual recipe: lye solution (199g water; 133g NaOH; I poured granules into water); 950g olive oil; 50g coconut oil That's it! Also, after making the lye solution, I waited until it was room temp. It wasn't until later that I realized I didn't need to wait that long (given that room temp is 60-65F) as I had to re-heat the oils that I had weighed out earlier because the coconut oil had hardened. (It didn't occur to me that pouring hot lye solution in would have liquified it.) When I was finally ready to process, the lye was 65F and the (reheated) oils ~85F. The whole thing was frustrating because I was putting too much time and effort into getting a temperature the concept of which I didn't really understand!

The mold is a cardboard box (see photo), lined with parchment. It's now covered with more cardboard and towels. By now, almost 24 hours after processing, I'm sure it is room temp, i.e., around 63F.

 

[shunt2011]

Did you gel your soap? Being that high in OO it will take some time to harden. Especially if you didn't gel it. It can take 2-5 days. Keep checking it.

 

[Dean]

That's 95% OO and a negligible amount of CO. Where did you get your recipe?

 

[DeeAnna]

You soaped fairly cool and you have a high oleic recipe. Give it a little more time and it should be fine.

Next time, soap warmer -- try to get the soap batter to 95 F to 105 F, and that might work better for you.

@Dean -- The coconut oil is 5% of the fats in the recipe. I agree that's low, but it's quite reasonable especially for someone with sensitive or dry skin. Many people do 10% CO and 90% olive with good results.

 

[Arlo]

Newbie that I am, I don't know what "gelling" is! So, I guess I didn't do it. The recipe I used is from a video by Everyday Elly on Youtube. I found her instructions clear and easy to follow.

Consensus seems to be that I just have to be patient and wait. I really appreciate all the replies. This forum is great and I'm sure I'll be back.

 

[dixiedragon]

Here is a discussion of gelling with good pics:
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/when-to-insulate-handmade-soap/

I think your soap is fine. Even my high lard recipe is will indent when pressed at 24 hrs old.

Congrats on your first soap! Post a pic! We LOVE first soap pics.

 

[SaltedFig]

Looking at your photo, it looks like you reached trace (there's a slight pattern of your pour remaining in your soap).

In other words, your soap looks normal to me - a soap with those proportions can take anything up to a week to come out of the mold, especially when it's really cold (things go a bit slower in the cold).

It'll be fine

 

[dixiedragon]

BTW, stick blender motors aren't really meant to run and run. Typically I will blast it for 10 seconds, stir it with the wand a few times, then blast for another 10 seconds, off and on, until emulsion or trace.

 

[Zing]

Congrats on your first batch -- exciting! Keep us posted on how it turns out. It is sooo hard for me to be patient -- first wait to unmold and then wait to use it!

 

[Arlo]

BTW, stick blender motors aren't really meant to run and run. Typically I will blast it for 10 seconds, stir it with the wand a few times, then blast for another 10 seconds, off and on, until emulsion or trace.

Thanks, that's good to know! I'm surprised it didn't give out entirely since I ran it for about 12 minutes straight. It's an old one and will probably eventually need replacing. But in future, I'll do as you suggest.

 

[Chris_S]

Thanks, that's good to know! I'm surprised it didn't give out entirely since I ran it for about 12 minutes straight. It's an old one and will probably eventually need replacing. But in future, I'll do as you suggest.

My latest batch was only ready to unmold after about 3 days and i couldnt cut it for at least another day think it was actually 2 days until i could cut it. The reason im saying this is because despite the fact i gelled my batch and had far more hard oils than you have used because of wanting to do swirls i too only got it to thin trace intentionally. Im still very much learning myself too iv only made about 8 batches.

@Zing i feel your pain on that one this latest batch because i did the swirls for the first time i was soooooooooooooo impatient to see how it turned out but was too soft even when i do demold it so corners got pretty dented as a result.