Unmelted Cocoa Butter

[aediana]

Hi!

I just made my 4th batch of soap and the first time I used cocoa and shea butter. I did not melt the butters thinking that they will melt after I put in the lye solution. They didn't and I couldn't fish them out because they were included in the lye calc.

I went ahead and finished adding my EOs and molded. Question is, would it still react to the lye even if they were in semi-solid/solid form when molded?

Thank you!!

 

[Obsidian]

No, the unmelted bits won't react with the lye. Are they big pieces or is there a lot?

 

[aediana]

There were a lot of tiny bits. Some of them I grated, the shea butter seemed to have melted with a few stirs. I a lot more worried with the cocoa butter. Will they still be absorbed by the soap? If so, will the result be too caustic?

 

[Obsidian]

It might be too caustic, what was your superfat %? only thing to do is wait until its set up for a few days and do a zap test. If its zappy, you will need to rebatch. It won't absorb into the soap, the unmelted bits will remain as solid butter pieces.

 

[aediana]

Superfat is only 3%. If I rebatch will it be usable? Thank you for replying to me...

 

[Obsidian]

Yes, rebatching will make it usable. I'd add in a tiny bit more shea for a higher superfat unless you have oily skin. 5% superfat is pretty standard.

 

[dixiedragon]

I'm somewhat confused. Did you not melt any of your oils before adding the lye to the oils?

 

[houseofwool]

I generally don't melt my solid oils. I use the heat from the fresh lye water to melt them. Then I add my liquid oils.

That said, there is not enough heat in the lye water to melt cocoa butter. And Shea takes about 5-10 minutes.

 

[aediana]

I'm somewhat confused. Did you not melt any of your oils before adding the lye to the oils?

I used vco, evoo and palm which are all in liquid form. only the cocoa butter and shea are solid.

 

[aediana]

Yes, rebatching will make it usable. I'd add in a tiny bit more shea for a higher superfat unless you have oily skin. 5% superfat is pretty standard.

I'll do that. I hope it turns out okay. Thanks a lot!

 

[Lin]

I generally don't melt my solid oils. I use the heat from the fresh lye water to melt them. Then I add my liquid oils.

That said, there is not enough heat in the lye water to melt cocoa butter. And Shea takes about 5-10 minutes.

Yea, I was going to say other oils would probably melt but not cocoa. So in the future, melt your cocoa butter!

I melt any of my hard oils because I always soap at room temp. Or lower, when I use full swaps of something frozen sometimes it takes a long time to melt all of the cubes even and the container feels a bit cold to the touch. Once I even had to stick the container into a hot water bath to get the last bits of frozen milk melted into the lye solution. So in your situation, I would have stuck the soap bowl into a hot water bath until the bits of cocoa melted before pouring into the mold. But hopefully you don't run into the problem again!

 

[aediana]

Yea, I was going to say other oils would probably melt but not cocoa. So in the future, melt your cocoa butter!

I melt any of my hard oils because I always soap at room temp. Or lower, when I use full swaps of something frozen sometimes it takes a long time to melt all of the cubes even and the container feels a bit cold to the touch. Once I even had to stick the container into a hot water bath to get the last bits of frozen milk melted into the lye solution. So in your situation, I would have stuck the soap bowl into a hot water bath until the bits of cocoa melted before pouring into the mold. But hopefully you don't run into the problem again!

Thank you I guess I was a bit spaced out when I started working on it this morning.. anyway the next batch I did after that, I made sure that I melted the hard oils.

Thanks again...

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Hope it works out for you!

I admit, I have never considered using the heat from the lye solution to do my melting for me. At times I think it's better to be safe than sorry, so I'll carry on warming them till they melt.

 

[QueenBeeSoap]

The technique of using the heat from your freshly mixed lye water to melt your solid oils is a variation of the room tempature method (sometimes called the "heat transfer method"). For anyone who's wondering, you can read about it at http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/how-to-make-soap-roomtemp.html#.UugW1GJybJv

I used this technique when I first started, and had no trouble melting shea butter or cocoa butter. Cocoa butter took longer to melt, but still melted if it was in small enough pieces and was stirred for long enough. The problem for me was adding beeswax. I thought that if it was grated finely enough, the lye water mix would be hot enough to melt it (it wasn't, and I ended up with hard, sharp bits of beeswax in my finished soaps). I still like to soap at room tempature, but now I melt my hard oils (and beeswax if I'm using it) just until melted, add them to my liquid oils (stored at room tempature or colder), and add masterbatched room tempature lye water mix to the oils.