Troubleshooting a crazy acceleration!

[meepocow]

Hi experienced soapers!

Well, my beginner's luck had to run out at some point. I made a Franken soap tonight.

Recipe and photo attached. All was going swimmingly until I added the essential oils (equal parts peppermint, white thyme, and eucalyptus at 3% weight of oils). As soon as the oils hit the emulsion (I kept it super thin in case the oils accelerated trace), they turned green and this thing thickened like crazy. I tried to stir in some of my turmeric oil (original plan was a turmeric ombre loaf), but adding oil couldn't save it. By the time I tried to react, I was forming solid soap right in my measuring cups.

What went wrong?! Are those essential oils known to accelerate super fast? Would I be able to ever use them in the future, and if so, how in a soap that I want to swirl, layer, etc.?

Appreciate any help!

I am at least comforted that I was only making a 1 lb batch, that I will hopefully learn a lot from you all on this, and that the counter balance to this story is I sliced into this gorgeous loaf I made last night; my first hanger swirl!

 

[MrsZ]

I'm sure you will receive better help than I can give from the more experienced members, but I'll add my two cents. I have noticed peppermint oil accelerates my trace. I've never worked with thyme or eucalyptus in soap so I don't know on those two.

How hot were you soaping? Soaping hot with an accelerating eo makes it go really fast.

Also, did you stick blend your eos or mix them in by hand? I've also had bad seizing from SB'ing a misbehaving fo or eo.

P.s. your hangar swirl is lovely!

 

[AliOop]

Oh yes, thyme EO definitely accelerates trace! It can also be a significant skin irritant for a fair number of folks. Sorry!!

If you ever, well no, the next time you experience soap on a stick like that (we all do), you have two choices for saving it:

1. let it sit in the pot for 10-20 minutes, and it will go into gel phase. That will loosen it up enough that you can stir it and quickly get it into the mold.

or

2. Throw it into a crock pot or stainless pot on the stove, and hot-process it. Again, the heat will bring it to gel phase where it should be loose enough to get into the mold. Adding bit of hot sugar water, warmed-up sodium lactate, or warmed-up dairy products such as yogurt can help with fluidity, as well.

 

[meepocow]

Oh yes, thyme EO definitely accelerates trace! It can also be a significant skin irritant for a fair number of folks. Sorry!!

If you ever, well no, the next time you experience soap on a stick like that (we all do), you have two choices for saving it:

1. let it sit in the pot for 10-20 minutes, and it will go into gel phase. That will loosen it up enough that you can stir it and quickly get it into the mold.

or

2. Throw it into a crock pot or stainless pot on the stove, and hot-process it. Again, the heat will bring it to gel phase where it should be loose enough to get into the mold. Adding bit of hot sugar water, warmed-up sodium lactate, or warmed-up dairy products such as yogurt can help with fluidity, as well.

SO GLAD to know I'm not alone! Thanks for the tips on what to do next time. I had the thyme oil lying around from my diffuser stash, it really is not my jam as aromatherapy lol. Good to know that it isn't great in soap either, might just need to give it away!

Do you find eucalyptus and peppermint EO acceleratd, top?

I'm sure you will receive better help than I can give from the more experienced members, but I'll add my two cents. I have noticed peppermint oil accelerates my trace. I've never worked with thyme or eucalyptus in soap so I don't know on those two.

How hot were you soaping? Soaping hot with an accelerating eo makes it go really fast.

Also, did you stick blend your eos or mix them in by hand? I've also had bad seizing from SB'ing a misbehaving fo or eo.

I was soaping at 100F. Should I go lower next time?

I stick blended to emulsion, then attempted to add the EOs by hand and stir in with spatula. Siezed right away. I think next time I would need to just add lye to oils, then fold in the EO and watch to see.. do you always need to stick blend to come to an emulsion, or would an accelerating EO do that for you?

 

[DeeAnna]

It's the thyme EO as AliOop said. I don't think soaping cooler than 100F is going to turn this EO into a good, well mannered citizen, but it can't hurt to try.

I bring the soap batter to trace without the EO -- do that however you normally do. Get the mold prepped for immediate use, and then stir in the EO by hand. In my experience it doesn't accelerate as fast as pine tar, but it's fast enough to be surprising if a person isn't aware the EO is an accelerant.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I stick blended to emulsion, then attempted to add the EOs by hand and stir in with spatula. Siezed right away.

Add your fragrance to your warmed oils before adding the lye solution. Sometimes I add my EO blend to the castor oil in the recipe the night (or an hour or so) before soaping. Seems to help to fend off acceleration.

Seizing aka "Soap on a Stick" is so much fun when it happens! Now you know what to do. Follow @AliOop's advice #1 and #2.
#3 Option: Have a few ounces of COLD water handy to add to the batch. This will cool it down enough to be workable again.

When I first tried this, it was by accident. My batch seized. I didn't know what to do. I walked away to think about it. When I came back, the batch was gelling. Easy to stir but do it quickly and pour.

First Rule of Soaping: PATIENCE.
Second Rule of Soaping: DON'T PANIC.

The second rule applies here. When something like this happens, take a breath (or 2 or 3) and have enough confidence in yourself to be able to apply what you've learned to come up with a fix or just walk away. The soap will do its thing, with no help at all from you.

Recipe

my first hanger swirl!

ANGRY SOAP! If it still looks like that, all is not lost. @AliOop's Advice #2 is what I would do.

 

[cmzaha]

Follow what AliOops mentions and what DeeAnna mentioned. I will also mention Tumeric Eo is only used in drops, not tablespoons. The amount you used in 1lb soap can bleed and stain pretty badly. While Turmeric eo can be used for coloring it cannot really be used for scent. I used it a lot for coloring because it left a gorgeous orange but in tiny amounts (drops in 6 lbs batches). Also, another caution for White Thyme is to use it in very small percentages it tends to overpower other EO. I always loved it with Grapefruit and/or May Chang but at the rate .25% or less of the remainder EOs. It can be an irritant, but I found at .25% it worked fine.

For seized soap adding cold water never worked for me, just cover your soaping container and walk away for a while, and wait for it to go into a gel state. I would start checking in 10 minutes or to see if it was gelling. Once it starts to gel stir it very quickly and pour. Your soap will be usable but look like hot process soap. At this point, you can add in a bit more liquid if you wish but you do not have to.

 

[meepocow]

Add your fragrance to your warmed oils before adding the lye solution. Sometimes I add my EO blend to the castor oil in the recipe the night (or an hour or so) before soaping. Seems to help to fend off acceleration.

Seizing aka "Soap on a Stick" is so much fun when it happens! Now you know what to do. Follow @AliOop's advice #1 and #2.
#3 Option: Have a few ounces of COLD water handy to add to the batch. This will cool it down enough to be workable again.

When I first tried this, it was by accident. My batch seized. I didn't know what to do. I walked away to think about it. When I came back, the batch was gelling. Easy to stir but do it quickly and pour.

First Rule of Soaping: PATIENCE.
Second Rule of Soaping: DON'T PANIC.

The second rule applies here. When something like this happens, take a breath (or 2 or 3) and have enough confidence in yourself to be able to apply what you've learned to come up with a fix or just walk away. The soap will do its thing, with no help at all from you.

Thank you for all these tips! You and @AliOop are like my fairy soapmothers lol.

I licked my wounds by giving your no slime castile a whirl! My confidence was shaky at this point, so minimal edits except I used your 85%EVOO/10%CocoOil/5%CastOil and added some French green clay to the oils. No essential oils!

It turned out lovely on the slice (no soda ash with the 99% alcohol!), but I can clearly see I didn't reach gel phase; a first for me! I suspect a combination of anxious checking and that I tried using my heating pad in Low rather than the Medium I usually use. Lesson learned! Although, I really don't mind how it turned out, to the untrained non-soaping eye it could pass as an intentional feature?

It's the thyme EO as AliOop said. I don't think soaping cooler than 100F is going to turn this EO into a good, well mannered citizen, but it can't hurt to try.

I bring the soap batter to trace without the EO -- do that however you normally do. Get the mold prepped for immediate use, and then stir in the EO by hand. In my experience it doesn't accelerate as fast as pine tar, but it's fast enough to be surprising if a person isn't aware the EO is an accelerant.

Thanks DeeAnna, I will give your method a whirl!

View attachment 69073

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ANGRY SOAP! If it still looks like that, all is not lost. @AliOop's Advice #2 is what I would do.

It was honestly terrifying. My husband said it reminded him of chili, my other friend of her chickpea curry lol.

This moment made me think of a stall I visited at a night market this summer. The seller had gorgeous (what I now know as) cold-processed soap bars with beautiful swirls, piped tops, etc. Then she had a bin of trollish-looking bars. Those were discounted quite steeply, and she explained they were experiments that didn't work out, but still lovely soaps and safe to use, and part of her goal to be a zero waste business. Reflecting on this, I now suspect these were either soaps that accelerated and needed to be hot processed, or ones that she cooled and rebatched. Quite a smart business decision on her part, due to the steep discount I saw as many of those discount bars selling as her premium ones!

Follow what AliOops mentions and what DeeAnna mentioned. I will also mention Tumeric Eo is only used in drops, not tablespoons. The amount you used in 1lb soap can bleed and stain pretty badly. While Turmeric eo can be used for coloring it cannot really be used for scent. I used it a lot for coloring because it left a gorgeous orange but in tiny amounts (drops in 6 lbs batches). Also, another caution for White Thyme is to use it in very small percentages it tends to overpower other EO. I always loved it with Grapefruit and/or May Chang but at the rate .25% or less of the remainder EOs. It can be an irritant, but I found at .25% it worked fine.

For seized soap adding cold water never worked for me, just cover your soaping container and walk away for a while, and wait for it to go into a gel state. I would start checking in 10 minutes or to see if it was gelling. Once it starts to gel stir it very quickly and pour. Your soap will be usable but look like hot process soap. At this point, you can add in a bit more liquid if you wish but you do not have to.

This is all such valuable information!! I actually made a turmeric oil with 1 tsp turmeric per tbsp oil. I was not expecting the colour to be so intense, and totally agree that this soap would have been terrifying to use. Especially if it stains your bathtub! I would have to use much more restraint with the oil next time, and will start with drops rather than teaspoons lol.

WRT white thyme EO, I am brave enough to try again with all that I have learned on this thread. As an example, if I was adding 10 g of total EO (to keep the math easy), you would add only 0.025 g of that as white thyme EO?

 

[AliOop]

Do you find eucalyptus and peppermint EO acceleratd, top?

I've never had eucalyptus accelerate, but sometimes the peppermint does. I would note that if your EOs are older, they are more likely to accelerate, too.

 

[meepocow]

Follow what AliOops mentions and what DeeAnna mentioned. I will also mention Tumeric Eo is only used in drops, not tablespoons. The amount you used in 1lb soap can bleed and stain pretty badly. While Turmeric eo can be used for coloring it cannot really be used for scent. I used it a lot for coloring because it left a gorgeous orange but in tiny amounts (drops in 6 lbs batches). Also, another caution for White Thyme is to use it in very small percentages it tends to overpower other EO. I always loved it with Grapefruit and/or May Chang but at the rate .25% or less of the remainder EOs. It can be an irritant, but I found at .25% it worked fine.

For seized soap adding cold water never worked for me, just cover your soaping container and walk away for a while, and wait for it to go into a gel state. I would start checking in 10 minutes or to see if it was gelling. Once it starts to gel stir it very quickly and pour. Your soap will be usable but look like hot process soap. At this point, you can add in a bit more liquid if you wish but you do not have to.

Here is the rescued ugly soap. Given the EO of white thyme was about 1% of total oils in the batch, I hesitate to hot process without diluting given the skin irritating potential.

If I made up another batch of unscented soap to "dilute" this one by half, would I first melt the ugly soap in the crock pot (maybe with a little water as suggested), and then add my new soap once emulsified? I am hoping to somehow redeem this ugly soap so it doesn't all go to waste! While the turmeric turned the soap pretty darling, the good news is the runoff is not too bad.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

If I made up another batch of unscented soap to "dilute" this one by half, would I first melt the ugly soap in the crock pot (maybe with a little water as suggested), and then add my new soap once emulsified?

You could certainly do that but to simplify the process, just wait until the "ugly ducklings" are cured enough to shred easily. Add them to the mold. Pour new soap over the old to make a type of "confetti" soap.

FYI: 500g oils X a factor of 1.37 = Grams of Finished Soap aka "the shreds".

Here's a recent thread where @Marsi collected the various options available:

Rebatch - 3 Options plus Crock Pot

 

[meepocow]

You could certainly do that but to simplify the process, just wait until the "ugly ducklings" are cured enough to shred easily. Add them to the mold. Pour new soap over the old to make a type of "confetti" soap.

FYI: 500g oils X a factor of 1.37 = Grams of Finished Soap aka "the shreds".

Here's a recent thread where @Marsi collected the various options available:

Rebatch - 3 Options plus Crock Pot

Amazing, thank you! And thanks for the vote of confidence that they are just ugly ducklings for now that will hopefully become beautiful confetti one day!

 

[Savage Daughter]

#3 Option: Have a few ounces of COLD water handy to add to the batch. This will cool it down enough to be workable again.

How well does this work for you? What does your end product turn out like? I have never done this as I always thought it would seriously throw a wrench in things. I have also heard so many nightmare stories from people who 'have a friend who did this & it turned out bad' crowd, or those who have documented something actually going wrong (eg. very soft batches they can't un-mold for a week) as well as the people who don't question all of the absolutes which they're told they must NOT do. I'm including myself in this situation because I have never tested this 'no extra water' rule out for myself!

As an alternative to cold water, have you tried a few ice-cubes?

I'm now wanting to deliberately accelerate a batch to try this recommendation out Will also try the ice cubes once my batter begins freaking out, just for the hell of it

In reference to your FO / castor oil blend the night before: I have added essential oils to clays and / or dry plant material used as natural colorants the night before making a new batch, which does help retain scent of EOs - I have noticed a difference between batches I didn't do this with - but have never added my EOs to any type of oil a significant amount of time before mixing a batch up....now I'm wondering WHY I haven't done that as it's perfectly logical. My perfumer friend does this when blending her plant tinctures to give them time to meld with each other & to 'set' or 'fix' as she says. Same principal in my thinking.

Have you tried adding your EOs or FOs to your entire batch of liquid oils - say the night before - to extend trace? If so, did it work for extending trace / avoiding acceleration, or to extend fragrance / EO scent lifespan, so to speak? I am playing again this weekend until my larger molds arrive so this is a great time to test some of your practical advice out.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

How well does this work for you?

I got that tip third-hand from a soapmaker who saw a demo of the technique at a HSGC convention. I tried it once. It worked. However, I've used the #1 Option many times since I first discovered it by accident. Once when my batch seized, I walked away to think about what I should do. When I came back about 5 minutes later, the batch was going into gel -- easy to stir and pour. That's the option I generally recommend.

As an alternative to cold water, have you tried a few ice-cubes?

Nope.

In reference to your FO / castor oil blend the night before:

That is an Old School technique I learned in 2004. At that time, EO's were added to a "carrier" oil before adding at trace as "superfat" aka "lye discount" that is used today. It doesn't have to be castor. Any liquid oil from the recipe would work as well.

I have added essential oils to clays and / or dry plant material used as natural colorants the night before making a new batch, which does help retain scent of EOs

Have you tried adding your EOs or FOs to your entire batch of liquid oils - say the night before - to extend trace?

LOL I ALWAYS add my fragrance (and other additives) to the warmed oils before adding the lye solution -- mainly so I don't forget!!!

When making soap for my wholesale customers, I often prepared 4 batches of oils the night before, including the additives. Ready to soap in the AM.

to extend trace? If so, did it work for extending trace / avoiding acceleration, or to extend fragrance / EO scent lifespan, so to speak?

Because I have successfully avoided the fancy-schmancy rabbit hole of making colorful swirls and such, I have no interest in extending trace or soaping "cool" other than for "heaters" like milk soaps, honey, cinnamon/clove and similar.

My Philosophy: I'm a pragmatist. I make Plain Jane soaps that sell regularly, or that some customers buy (at a discount) by the dozen to last a year vs. time and money intensive colorful soaps that end up catching dust on display in the bathroom or tucked in a drawer rather than being used.

Acceleration generally isn't a problem for me these days so I'm not much help there.

 

[Savage Daughter]

LOL I ALWAYS add my fragrance (and other additives) to the warmed oils before adding the lye solution -- mainly so I don't forget!!!

When making soap for my wholesale customers, I often prepared 4 batches of oils the night before, including the additives. Ready to soap in the AM.

That is a **** good idea, which I have considered, but becomes more difficult when working with 3+ colors. It does for me, anyways. The amount of extra work it would take to divide my oils / colorants / lye water mixture into fractions has me shaking my head. I know where that would go with me

I suppose at the very least I can just add my esential oils to my main oils before adding my lye water solution. I did once forget to add my essential oils until just as I was ready to pour & things went less smoothly because of that.

Yes, I do the same, with any batches. I get things ready the night before, then soap the next day. I find it far more relaxing that way.

I will be trying the trick you learned with adding a bit of water the next time things get too thick too fast.

 

[Savage Daughter]

I got that tip third-hand from a soapmaker who saw a demo of the technique at a HSGC convention. I tried it once. It worked.

Well, I tried adding a bit of water to a test batch on Tuesday evening....and no major problems that I can see. Everything still set up, everything gelled, but the one color which began thickening which I added just a splash of water too was just a little bit softer when pressed with my finger. Other than that, they're now curing & seem to be absolutely fine.

Thanks very much for your insight into this

When I first tried this, it was by accident. My batch seized. I didn't know what to do. I walked away to think about it. When I came back, the batch was gelling. Easy to stir but do it quickly and pour.

I am thinking that allowing a soap batch to begin gelling in a mold before pulling up my pull-throughs may actually work now too, having thought about this for a while. Of it's fluid enough to pour, it likely would be fluid enough to obtain the desired effect from the pull-through.

I feel another experiment coming on