Soap not hardening in the mould.

[Jumpy Lion]

Hi, I am testing a new oat milk recipe. I ran it through SoapCalc and used the correct amount of lye. I made the recipe twice to make sure I didn't weigh something incorrectly. I made this recipe without the oat milk, and it turned out fine.

The recipe is as follows:

Note: I did a 50-50 lye solution and made up the remainder of the water using oat milk, which was added when the soap was at a light trace. The note in the recipe regarding 90% water replacement is incorrect.

This is the soap at pour:

This is the soap after 3 days in the mould. I removed it from the mould as I need to use the mould and only have 1. Note, in the pic the soap is upside down.

Does anybody know what could cause this?

I have the following theories.
1. The addition of the oatmilk added additional oils that wouldn't saponify
2. The lye was old and no good
3. I didn't do enough of a water discount, and it threw off the balance

 

[Savage Daughter]

The addition of oat milk would absolutely not contribute any additional oils which wouldn't saponify. Not on your life.

That said, why would you add your oat milk at trace??

I am guessing it's your technique. Not the fault of the oat milk at all.

Try adding your oat milk to your oils, stick blending that with your oils, then adding your lye water. Willing to bet you'd wind up with proper looking soap.

 

[Jumpy Lion]

The addition of oat milk would absolutely not contribute any additional oils which wouldn't saponify. Not on your life.

That said, why would you add your oat milk at trace??

I am guessing it's your technique. Not the fault of the oat milk at all.

Try adding your oat milk to your oils, stick blending that with your oils, then adding your lye water. Willing to bet you'd wind up with proper looking soap.

Thanks for the feedback! I did it at that stage because I had seen 2 popular YouTube soap makers add it along with the fragrance and clay I used. Their soap turned out fine, although their recipes were slightly different.

 

[Savage Daughter]

Thanks for the feedback! I did it at that stage because I had seen 2 popular YouTube soap makers add it along with the fragrance and clay I used. Their soap turned out fine, although their recipes were slightly different.

There's absolutely no reason your oat milk needs to be added at trace. Try it the way I mentioned it.

I also have to question the fragrance you used....because that is some gnarly looking soap...you didn't mention any fragrance use in your original post.

Which YouTube channels were you watching?

 

[Jumpy Lion]

There's absolutely no reason your oat milk needs to be added at trace. Try it the way I mentioned it.

I also have to question the fragrance you used....because that is some gnarly looking soap...you didn't mention any fragrance use in your original post.

Which YouTube channels were you watching?

I posted the recipe that has the fragrance listed in the additives. The fragrance will darken soap slightly, but I have used it in several recipes, and it is fine at the amount that I used it. YouTube channels include Soap Gal, I Dream Soap, and Ellie's Everyday Soap. Others also added it, whether in powder or milk form, between emulsification and light trace.

I will give your way a shot and see how I go. I had never had this issue until I tried the oat milk. Thanks for the tips!

 

[Savage Daughter]

I posted the recipe that has the fragrance listed in the additives.

I missed reading that, actually

The fragrance will darken soap slightly, but I have used it in several recipes, and it is fine at the amount that I used it. YouTube channels include Soap Gal, I Dream Soap, and Ellie's Everyday Soap. Others also added it, whether in powder or milk form, between emulsification and light trace.

It could potentially even be the fact that the fragrance you're using *might* be reacting with your oat milk....there are naturally occurring sugars in oat milk, so possibly overheating?? due to a reaction between your fragrance & the sugars in the milk....because wow....that soap looks all kinds of jacked up I have never seen a milk soap turn out like that, and I do make various different milk soaps. Oat, coconut, goats, whatever I happen to feel like in the moment.

I will give your way a shot and see how I go. I had never had this issue until I tried the oat milk. Thanks for the tips!

No worries. It's not just my way. Many people blend their milk/s into their oils, then add their lye water. You *can* use frozen milk in cubes as a complete water replacement, but you don't have to. You can use milk as a percentage of your total liquids eg. 50% milk / 50% distilled water.

Clays would definitely not cause that kind of craziness. These are something else I use, especially in my essential oil slurry, along with only natural colorants made from plants. Neither have caused this kind of issue in a milk soap.

I don't use fragrance oils, only essential oils, so you might receive more knowledgable assistance from another forum member who does use fragrance oils.

 

[Becky1024]

Your water level is really high. It doesn't need to be that high unless you are using HP. I like going by the water:lye ratio and recommend you drop it to 2:1, and if your loaf is still soft try dropping it some more. My sweet spot (but my recipes are different) is 1.5:1.

Your soap is still good. It will just take some more time for the extra water to evaporate.

 

[dibbles]

I agree that the water amount is contributing to the problem. I noticed that you have changed 'water as percent of oils' from the default setting to 33. Maybe you meant to change the lye concentration to 33%? For your recipe, the default setting in Soap Calc would be 165 g liquid and a 33% lye concentration would be 117 g liquid. Your recipe used 143 g liquid. Add to that you said you added a 'splash' of coffee for color - even more liquid, although an undetermined amount.

Your recipe is 90% liquid oils. You don't say whether or not your soap went through gel phase, but if it didn't it can take a lot longer to be ready to unmold. It looks like your soap wasn't ready and stuck to the mold when you tried to remove it.

You are in Australia, so I don't know where your fragrance oil came from. I do know that Bramble Berry Cedar and Saffron can be problematic (acceleration) in CP, and does discolor. Lovely fragrance, though.

As to when to add your oat milk - you can add it to the oils first or add it at emulsion/light trace. Or you can use it to make your lye solution (it will get gloppy and I would definitely strain it when pouring into the oils).

 

[KiwiMoose]

Agree with others about the lye concentration - try 33%.
Also please explain your recipe again - exactly how much water did you use and exactly how much Oatmilk did you add? If I understand correctly, you would have used 60g water and added 83.55g of oat milk. Is this correct?
I make a lot of Oatmilk soap and usually make my lye solution with the milk. Yes it is lumpy, but I just strain it into the oils.

 

[Jumpy Lion]

Thanks for all the great advice. I will make the adjustments and post my next attempt! thanks everyone

 

[Jumpy Lion]

Update:

I attempted the recipe again yesterday. I modified the recipe in the following way:

• I halved the fragrance (I only had half the bottle left )
• Reduced water from 33% to 30%

But the biggest difference was my lye solution. I had the same issue as last time; my lye was extremely cloudy. Instead of pushing on and using the strained cloudy Lye, I got a fresh batch of distilled water, and the lye went clear as expected. I believe that this was the culprit last time, even though I was using distilled water both times, the old bottle would not disolve the lye. That can be an issue for a different day.

It didn't turn out as dark as I would have liked because I was relying on the fragrance for colour, and I only had a tiny bit left. But overall I think it is ok.

Pour:

Results:

Thank you to everyone for their help and support. I really appreciate it!

 

[dibbles]

It looks very nice. Glad you worked out your problem.

 

[DaChul]

Sharp looking soap

 

[Relle]

I halved the fragrance (I only had half the bottle left )

It didn't turn out as dark as I would have liked because I was relying on the fragrance for colour, and I only had a tiny bit left. But overall I think it is ok.

Just guessing here, because your in Perth I assume you got your FO from Aussiesoapsupplies - out of curiosity I looked it up and it said on pouring it was yellow/orange and on curing it changed to tan/caramel. It has 4 % vanillin in it, not knowing how much you put in the second time, it probably won't get very dark.

 

[Jumpy Lion]

Just guessing here, because your in Perth I assume you got your FO from Aussiesoapsupplies - out of curiosity I looked it up and it said on pouring it was yellow/orange and on curing it changed to tan/caramel. It has 4 % vanillin in it, not knowing how much you put in the second time, it probably won't get very dark.

Correct! I only used 3.5 grams of fragrance which works out to about 7-8 grams per kg. Typically I would use double that amount.