Soap volcanoes and false trace

[Soaplover1112]

Hi everyone

I’ve been having some difficulty working out if my recipe is having problems with false trace or if it’s a problem with the recipe components.

I seem to get volcanoes during the winter months, also yesterday I believe I got false trace as the batter thickened very quickly. I thought this was another episode of soap volcanoes so quickly poured the mixture into the moulds. I’m a little confused as you can see so wanted to get some help.

I’m using a coconut oil soap recipe:

coconut oil - 1000g
Water - 215g
Lye - 145g
Essential oil - 25g
Sodium citrate - 30g
Roe - 3g

any advice on what I can do would be greatly appreciated. I normally mix both the lye and coconut oil mixture at around 145 degrees Fahrenheit to avoid soda ash. I’m now finding that temperature causes the volcanoes to happen but, now lowering the temperature to 130 or slightly below 120 causes false trace.

many help would be amazing!
Thanks

 

[Obsidian]

Coconut oil melts at 76 degrees, you would have to soap cooler then that in order to get false trace.
Coconut soap can trace fast, just something it does at times.
Stick blend to emulsion, then hand stir in your color/scent.
If you are doing a single color, you could add it to the oil before the lye and blend it in really well.

To stop overheating, soap much cooler. I would go for 95-100 and keep a fan on your mold afterwards to help dispel heat.

 

[Soaplover1112]

Thanks for the quick response!

the room I soap in at the moment is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit due to the heating being on and off with winter.

I’m guessing this is also doing something to the batch, just so weird as I’ve never had this problem before

 

[cmzaha]

As Obsidian said. You are soaping way too hot which is why you are getting a soap volcano. Co soap tends to heat up faster as it is so soap cooler. Even if false trace happens, which usually happens when soaping cool with high tallow, lard, or palm, the batter will start warming up and thin out. False trace is a temporary situation.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Can also confirm - coconut oil soaps will get hot, and fast. This (and the fast trace) happens because (I think this is correct!) the saponification happens very quickly with coconut oil. The reaction creates heat, which then also speeds up the reaction, creating even more heat, which speeds up the reaction even more.....until it volcanoes.

Soap cold, and if that's not enough then when the soap is hard enough take it out of the mould to help it cool down, or even cool it down in a fridge or something.

I once made a 100% co soap for use as stain sticks, and i could barely hold the soap due to the heat.

 

[Soaplover1112]

Thanks a lot for all the tips guys. I just found it really strange as I’ve never had this issue with the recipe in the past. I’m guessing with the hot temperature in the room, the hot temperature of the soap mixture and the lack of water in the recipe everything is speeding up 10 fold.

I’ll add some more water next time, crank open a few windows and mix the coconut oil and lye at around 100degrees.

 

[Soaplover1112]

I might even just start mixing it with the immersion blender as well, use a whisk perhaps