Why does my soap keep crumbling when I cut in to it?!!!

[SchenckOrchard]

Ugh! This is the second batch to crumble like this when I first cut in to it. I used 16 oz olive oil, 10 oz coconut oil, 1.5oz cocoa butter, 16 oz palm oil, lye at water at a 5% superfat, and 4 oz FO. What the heck?! This happened to my previous batch with different amounts, a different mold and a different FO. Is it the temp I am combinding the lye and water? Which is about 110. This is so frustrating! Can it be rebatched?

 

[soapbuddy]

How long do you wait after the soap gelled before cutting? What are you cutting with?

 

[judymoody]

Maybe it's the FO - is it causing your batch to overheat? Also your use rate seems a bit high, nearly 1.5 oz of fragrance PPO. That could have an effect.

Do you gel?

Are there any pockets? Anything oozing?

 

[SchenckOrchard]

I am waiting about 24 hours before cutting in to it, and I use a regular knife to cut, which has not been a problem for the last 10+ batches I have made. Maybe it is the FO, I like strong smelling soaps, but this was the first time I used that much.

 

[honor435]

your bubbly is on the low end of soap calc, if you want more bubbles, try adding some castor(9%) or up your co? Also, I would add more cocoa 1.5 oz per 43 oz isnt doing much, try 10% or so.
sorry, not sure why its crumbly

 

[soapbuddy]

Instead of a knife, I would suggest a miter box from the hardware store and a pastry blade (knife).

 

[LauraHoosier]

I run into the same problem from time to time and over heating is usually the reason. The mitre box and pastry scraper/knife really helps a lot.

 

[Cuckoo Bananas]

I don't know why your recipe is going crumbly but just wanted to say I share your frustration, as have had a crumbly batch myself last night (salt bars though).

 

[MissMori]

What's your water to NaOH ratio? I've had this happen when I greatly reduced the amount of water I was using to dissolve the NaOH.

 

[FreeRabbit]

it happenes to me alot also, even in the freezer, can't unerstand how to deal with it properly