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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AliOop" data-source="post: 886229" data-attributes="member: 29618">Hi Stephanie,I don't want to overwhelm you with too much right away, but here are the most important issues that jump out at me:1. You used the default setting of 38% water-as-percent-of-oils. That setting was designed for hot process soap, and results in way too much water for most cold process recipes. For most CP recipes, you would be better off to use Lye Concentration and set it between 30% to 33% as you learn what fluidity you want in each specific recipe.2. You made quite a large batch of soap for a new recipe.  When testing a recipe you have not tried before, consider making a small 500g batch. Otherwise, that is a lot of soap to toss out if you don't like it.3. Wheat germ oil is not wonderful in soap as it goes rancid quickly and honestly does not make nice soap, IMO. 4. More importantly, you did not include the wheat germ oil in the soap calculator, and you messed around with the numbers by discounting lye and raising superfat outside of the calculator. Even if you want to add superfat later in the process, you will get the most consistent results if you put everything into the calculator and don't apply any other "discounts." In other words, let the calculator do the work for you. This will also help others understand exactly what you did, and help you trouble-shoot, since there are no standard definitions for "lye discount" or "water discount." When you say those things, we can't know exactly what you mean or what you did. If you put everything into the calculator, we can see it right there.5. A 10% SF is very high unless you need to offset the high cleansing value of high CO, PKO, or babassu. Otherwise, the high SF will make your soap softer, reduce the lather, and create more soap scum. Overall conclusion: the wheat germ oil, high superfat, high amount of soft oils, high amount of water,  and omission of salt all contributed to your soft soap. To get it out of the mold, you can put it into the freezer until it is hard. Then take it out of the freezer and let it sit on the counter for about five minutes. You should be able to pull it away cleanly from the mold at that point. But do not cut it until the consistency is similar to cold cheddar cheese.</blockquote>

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