Test batch, different superfats and few with sugar and clay. Many questions!?

[mikvahnrose]

I wanted to figure out how different superfats and sugar or clay affects the oils and to see what i like, so i made a small batch with a diverse lye concentration.

I started off by making a base oil blend that consisted of 680 grams of carrier oils. And had 8 different lye mixtures. No essential oils.

6 parts were divvied up in 113 grams oil. The rest were divvied into 56.5 grams. Micro batch size's i know! The superfat contents were of this

0%, 5%, 10%, 15%. And 5% w/ sugar, 10% with sugar, 5% with clay, 10% with clay.

I measured out teach lye concentration based on the 113g, and 56.5 grams respectively for each superfat. And triple checked the calculations. Even the amount of sugar and clay. Which i get to get my microgram scale out! My oils were 90 degrees and my lye and room temp.

All looked pretty good when i poured into the molds. Then 2 days later when i checked on them and they are very soft! Despite using 55% hard oils (25% coconut 76degree, 35 red fruit palm). And a few went crazy that i can't tell if it is ricing and another extreme soda ash or the clay.

EDIT: I think i got the photos to work!

 

[mikvahnrose]

I don't seem to know how to make the images work. Does any moderator or veteran here have advice how to do it?

 

[Susie]

The pics don't work for me, either. I used the attachment paperclip to get my pics to post.

 

[mikvahnrose]

The pics don't work for me, either. I used the attachment paperclip to get my pics to post.

Thank's susie! I got them up and running :]

I would feel like this batch is a complete fail. It didn't turn out the way i was expecting at all. I first time getting zapped as well !

 

[earlene]

I am assuming they did not gel. If so, they would take longer to harden up. What was your lye concentration? (or water discount?) Less water helps it harden up sooner, but I suspect you needed time to do all those things, so used a higher water. That slows down the process also.

Give it a few more days and check again. I think it's too soon to tell how they will turn out.

 

[mikvahnrose]

I couldnt really gel them due to their size, 1.5 oz. (which is such a perfect sample size to give to people) I left them in their molds and will check in a few day how they are. Is there a reason why the 5% with clay turned out the way it did? It's so ugly. It looks like ash to the extreme but I know it can't be that because the others directly next to it aren't like it at all such as the 10% super fat with clay. Soap is so weird

 

[Susie]

You can pop those into the freezer for a few hours to get them unmolded, which is what I would do ASAP to allow more moisture loss.

I also don't zap test my ungelled soaps for at least a week. Gelled ones I test when I unmold at 18-24 hours. Gelling makes that much of a difference.

I don't use clay for that very reason. But yours looks not quite mixed in well enough on top of the usual clay appearance.

 

[earlene]

I haven't used any of the various clays sold for soaping as yet, so don't know what to expect. But I would hazard a guess that the amount of SF has something to do with off-setting the drying effect of the clay. From you photo it sure looks like it soaks up fats pretty well. I wonder if it will be more brittle than the bar with the higher SF.

Anyway someone who knows more about soaping with clays will probably come along and give you better answers regarding this issue.