Teach Soap

I am wondering why the outside of my first three test batches of soap have all been very hard and crumble on the outside ( it's just the outer 1/8 - 1/4 inch). Each time I go to cut the loaf I have chuncks of soap break off all the way around the loaf. Also, how do I stop the ash on top besides placing saran wrap directly onto the top of the soap. I sprayed one loaf with 91% alcohol and it still ashed.

I have been using Olive Oil and Coconut Oil, 50%-%50 each. I am not sure if it is the oil combo that I am using that is causing my soap to be so dry on the outside.

How big is your batch and how much are you superfatting? At what temp do you combine your oils and lye? Does your soap completely gel? Do the crumbles zap?

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I mixed the oils at about 115, I just used 9 oz olive and 9 oz coconut, did not superfat. it looked like just the middle gelled. the edges did not look dark. should it get dark all the way to the edges? if so how do I get that to happen. I have done three batches and none of them have gone to the edge. no zapping. when is the earliest to test for zap?

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I will try measuring in grams next time and super fat the recipe. I am just doing smallest batches for practice. I want to order more oils to play with but I want to iron out these kinks first.
For my first batch I used a silicone mold and placed a towel over the top. for the second two batches I used a wood mold. one batches I put Satan wrap over the top of the mold (it was about 1 inch from the top of the soap)than wrapped in a towel, got ash. the second batch I sprayed with alcohol and wrapped in a towel, got a thin coat of ash.
I have looked at the gel pitches before and mine seemed to be almost a greenish grey I the middle and a white . near the edges. I will try supper fatting tomorrow and see if that helps with the crumbles. but not sure about the gelling part.

Small batches create less heat. Put the mold either in a low oven (170 degrees US) til the soap gels; or cover, insulate and use a heating pad underneath the mold.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

thank you for all of your help. Will try all of this tomorrow and keep my fingers crossed.

You're welcome and good luck on your next batch.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I chime in because I too have a small batch issue: since I live in a cold place and I practice on small quantities my water/lye mixture barely reaches 120°F at its warmest point and cools down very very fast. I'm having a hard time having the oils and water/lye at the right temperature at the same time, even if I put the water/lye pyrex in the sink filled with warm water to heaten it up and the oil saucepan in cold water to cool it down. Now that it's winter the thing is getting worse. What if I warm up the water, just a little, before adding the lye in it? I don't want the mixture to explode on my face so If you have safer tricks to suggest I'm all ears!

iuno, don't warm up your water before you add the lye. You could end up with a volcano. Try a heating pad underneath your lye water (covered with plastic wrap). You can gently reheat your oils to get to the right temp.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Can you leave the soap in the oven to long and if so what does it do to the soap? We heat the house with a wood stove so our temperatures are not constantly the same in a 24 hr period, can that be contributing to the brittle outside.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Thank you Irena. I've borrowed a heating pad from a friend, can't wait to try using it!

I just had the same problem but my mistake was I entered 76 degree coconut oil into the calculation whereas coconut oil is made everywhere here in Belize and is not processed in any way, straight from the pot to the bottle so entering the same figure into the calc as virgin oil reduced the lye by 20g ! Other batches I have made are usually super soft after 24 hrs and usually take a few more days before you can unmold them so I was suspicious but now I know. You learn fro your mistakes!