Strange Stinky reaction ..

[Euphoric]

I was making a batch today, I decided to separate a small amount of soap at trace to add color and put it in a glass measuring cup, then added about 1 oz of castor oil to thin it.... then added my purple colorant and zapped it a few times with the hand mixer...

It got really hot started to smell strongly of ammonia to the point i had to run it out side almost like it was steaming, it turned a dark black color ....it's still sitting on my back porch man it smells like pure ammonia...


Anyone ever hear of this or have it happen?

recipe was:
Olive oil
Palm oil
Coconut oil
Caster oil
Sunflower oil

color was a purple oxide

 

[Euphoric]

hand mixer=stick blender ... lol sorry

 

[IrishLass]

Yikes! That was weird. It almost sounds like the kind of reaction I hear tell of by people who mistakenly mixed their soap in an aluminum bowl (the hotness of it and the black color). Did it smoke at all?

Just a few ideas off the top of my head.....

Did you use a utensil to separate your soap with, and if so, what was it made from?

What is your hand-mixer made of? Are there any aluminum parts on either of them that could have come in contact with your soap?

Also- was your purple colorant soap safe?

I've gotten ammonia smells before from mixing milk and lye together, but it never turned black.

Did you perhaps use any milk in your soap, and could the black color actually be from using too much of the purple colorant?


IrishLass

 

[Euphoric]

I used same standard tools I always use

And Yes I have used the same color in 5-6 other batches with out a problem its the purple oxide from bb

Everything I use is either stainless or plastic

It was like it was smoking sorta but more like steam or gas...like super concentrated cat pee smell made my eyes water...lol

Yes the color could be due to excess colorant but it was almost instant that it went from purple to burnt blackish


All the oils smell good and fresh most i got in past week....

 

[ChrissyB]

Are you sure the lye was 100% pure?

 

[Woodi]

Wierd!....was the soap mixture hot when you zapped it with your SB? I'm thinking that the oxide with the lye, at heat....might have something to do with the burning?

When I add honey to lye water, I get a strong stench too, and the honey burns to dark.....but the unscented soap comes out smelling like toasted honey, I love it. You can see my normal oatmeal soap on the left, and the honey one (same recipe minus the oats, plus honey) on the right, here:

Don't give up on it, I have been surprised at how stinky soap cures out... let it cure out and let us know how it turned out?

 

[Euphoric]

Thanks for the replies,

I just uncovered the batch it was supposed to be purple it came out like a grey color but smells ok anyway.....

The lye I use is same I have used for past 3-4 yrs.

My wife just mentioned that this happened to an entire batch I made last year that was supposed to be grape and it turned dark brown/blackish with a burnt smell we changed the name to ghoulish grape, I called it toxic waste ....

I don't remember the smell but the reaction might of taken place at night in the gel phase and I just didnt smell it ...


Same colorant and exact same recipe with castor.


Maybe I'll have to try a small batch and see I can reproduce it and maybe try a couple of different color ...appears it may be a problem with the colorant ?

 

[Euphoric]

Pic of mishap

 

[honor435]

i had this happen, it ended up being candle color! is your color body safe?
and it WAS bb that acc sent it to me.

 

[carebear]

it really does sound like lye reacting with aluminum tho you say you used none. hmmm. maybe the colorant had aluminum in it?

 

[mtbowhunter]

Hi All--
I had a similar experience yesterday. Although, my soap did not have any colorant in it. I believe you all answered my problem. This was the first batch of CP soap that I have made.

The following ingredients were used in my soap:

Coconut Oil, Safflower Oil, Beeswax, cannola oil, lard, almond butter, coffee grounds and coffee (at trace).

I first noticed the smell of ammonia, while stirring my soap. I stirred the soap with a wooden spoon. I mixed the lye solution in a stainless steel pan (18/10 steel). I mixed the oil and lye mixture in a plastic bucket. After trace, I poured the the soap into a muffin tin and a plastic mold. The soap that was in the muffin tin has a fairly strong ammonia smell yet the soap that was in the plastic mold has no ammonia smell at all.

My hypothesis is that the muffin tin has aluminum in it and any of the remaining lye in the soap reacted with the tin. The soap from the muffin tin also has a slight discoloration on the bottom portion of it (it's darker in color). I wrote off the color difference due to the coffee in the soap. There was, however, no discoloration in the bar that was in the plastic mold.

Any insite on this would be helpful. (Sorry to take over your post Euphoric)

Cheers,

Joe

 

[Euphoric]

NP Joe lol

 

[mtbowhunter]

I forgot to say that we added 2 tbsp of white sugar at trace. I forgot to add it into the lye water and thought it wouldn't bother to add it that late. I have noticed that the color is slowly changing to a lighter tone in the bars I set out to dry (out of the muffin tin).

 

[carebear]

coffee can develop quite a stench (temporarily)

 

[carebear]

did you dissolve the sugar first? or add as granules?

 

[mtbowhunter]

Well I added the sugar granules in directly at trace. The smell actually has dissipated almost entirely now. (over 24 hours ago) Coffee may be the reasoning. Thanks for the advice!!