- 1. Too Much Water Reason: Especially for palm free soaps, or recipes that are high in olive oil, you don’t need the full amount of water given on a standard lye calculator. ...
- 2. Weak or Inactive Lye Reason: Check the bottle of lye you used. ...
- 3. No Immersion Blender
Why does soap have lye?
Why is it dangerous to use thinly traced soap?
What to do if soap is too dry?
Why does soap heat up?
How much sugar is in a 3 lb loaf of soap?
What oils make soap heat up?
Why is it important to blend soap?
See 2 more
How to tell if a spot is lye heavy?
For any spots or areas that you think might be lye heavy, you can simply do a zap test to check. Simply touch your tongue to the spot and see if it zaps you! If it does, then it is lye heavy.
How to make soap with stearic acid?
If your soap is full of oils high in stearic/palmitic acid then you might even consider soaping a bit higher, such as at 100 °F up to 120 °F. Melt your solid oils first until completely melted. Then add your liquid oils. Some soapers melt their oils just a bit and stir to melt the rest.
What Are The White Spots In My Soap?
One of the topics that I see posted about in our Facebook Group Saponification Nation is people asking about white spots in their soap. This can be caused by a few different reasons. Let’s explore!
What temperature should I mix soap?
I mixed this batch at way to low of temperatures. My normal temperature range for swirling soap is 85-100 °F for both the oil mixture and lye solution. This helps to keep things moving nice and slow to give me time to color and swirl. But it isn’t cool enough to give me false trace or stearic spots.
How to tell if soap is stearic?
They are more round than the stearic spots. Another way you can tell if they are from your wire cutter is to cut a piece of the soap using a smooth knife. If you don’t have the spots, then it is from air bubbles/wire cutter. If you have spots, it could be the stearic issue.
How to prevent wire cutting spots?
Some tips for preventing wire cutting spots. Check your stick blender to make sure that it is not introducing bubbles to your soap. Burp your stick blender before you use it. To do this, simply insert it into your oils, tilt it to the side and the air will be released out. Stir by hand after you mix using your blender.
Why does stearic acid solidify?
The high melt point is the issue. If you mix with your ingredients at too low of temperatures , the stearic/palmitic acid will start solidifying just a bit.
Why is my soap lye heavy?
It can also be lye heavy if the recipe amounts are off, the ingredients are mismeasured, the scale isn’t functioning properly, etc. This creates a hard or brittle soap. It may also be irritating or drying to the touch, or have little white pockets that look like air bubbles.
What to do if soap isn't lye heavy?
What to do if the soap isn’t lye heavy. If the soap is 9-10 pH, it's safe to use on the skin. You may find it's balanced even if you forgot an oil. Along with adding a luxurious feeling, the superfatting level can act as insurance.
What pH is good for laundry soap?
Don’t throw it out just yet! If the soap is slightly lye heavy (11-12 pH), it makes great laundry soap. That's a combination of shredded soap and ingredients like baking soda and washing soda, which cleans and deodorizes dirty clothes. If the soap has a pH of 13-14, it may be a bit too harsh for delicates and will work better for dirty rags, towels, etc.
How long to wait to test soap?
How to test soap. Wait 5 days before testing your batch. During the first 2 days, the lye is reacting with the oils and turning into soap. Most of the saponification process happens then. Allowing the soap to sit a couple extra days will ensure that process is complete and the results are accurate.
Why is soap brittle?
Too much sodium lactate can make the soap brittle as well. Don't use more than 1 teaspoon per pound of oils. Temperature can also affect the feel of the soap. If it gets really hot, it can crack, volcano, or form an odd texture called “alien brains.”. It can also make the bars feel brittle.
How to use pH strips?
You can use pH strips to be sure though. First, wet the soap with water and rub your hands on it to form bubbles. Insert the pH strip in the lather. Then, compare the color to the chart on the packaging. Normal pH is around 9-10.
How long can you keep soap bars in the fridge?
It can also make the bars feel brittle. To keep your batch cool, pop it in the fridge or freezer for 5-24 hours. This is recommended when using sugary additives like honey or fruit puree. If the soap is a bit too dry for your preference, it can be used as laundry soap.
What are lye pockets, and how do you prevent them?
An additional issue presents itself in the form of white spots in your soap. This phenomenon is known as “lye pockets.” Some people refer to it as botched soap .
What are stearic spots in soap?
When you have white spots on your soap, it’s usually because of palmitic acid or stearic acids. These occur when the lye reacts with certain oils too soon and turns them into solids that form as tiny, lightweight particles in bars of soap, and this is what it calls stea ric spots. Stearic acid starts solidifying at low temperatures, which creates an unbalanced soap mixture and ultimately leads to those hideous white spots.
What to wear when making lye solution?
UPDATED TO ADD: Wear goggles and gloves when you make your lye solution and when you’re chopping up the lye ring! It will splash. Thanks, Carol!
How to mix sodium hydroxide?
How to Correctly Stir Your Sodium Hydroxide Into Water. Start mixing your water before you even sprinkle in your sodium hydroxide. The pre-swirling of the water helps when mixing in the sodium hydroxi de. Start adding your sodium hydroxide while continually stirring. Add about half.
Do soap makers make mistakes?
Even us soap makers that have been soaping for awhile make a mistake every now and then . I personally get in a hurry or try to move too quickly through the process on occasion.
Does lye dissolve in water?
I personally have had good luck with breaking up the ring of lye and adding warm water to dissolve. It doesn’t break up easily…you have to chop at it with a spoon or something similar (stainless steel). It will eventually dissolve though.
What does it mean when soap is separated?
Separation occurs when the fragrance oil can’t be mixed into the soap batter, and oil slicks can start to pool on top of the batter. It looks much like cream of wheat with butter on top! Separation can look a lot like ricing, and the two sometimes occur together.
What is acceleration in soap?
Accelerationoccurs when a fragrance oil brings the batter to trace extremely quickly — sometimes too quickly to work with! In the case above, the fragrance oil thickened the batter to the consistency of pudding almost immediately after being mixed in with a spoon (notice the top right photo). Just to see how thick we could get it, we took a stick blender to it to see if it would seize, which is a more advanced form of acceleration. Seized soap is the more like the texture of Play-Doh or clay, and at that point it’s almost impossible to pour into a mold or work with at all. In this case, the fragrance got fairly thick, but we still managed to glop it into the mold. If you have a seizing or accelerating fragrance, just get that batch into the mold as quickly as you can. Be prepared for it to heat up quickly. Often there is a correlation between the acceleration/seizing and excessive, quick heat in your soap batch. On to the next one!
What temperature should I use for soaping?
We recommend soaping at least 130F, maybe even up to 140F-150F. That way everything stays nice and melted as you’re working with it. If your lye is cooler than that, it can harden the palm kernel and shea inside the recipe. This is called “false trace.” Read more about false trace here: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/trace/
How to thicken up batter?
Whisk in fragrances and colorants after the batter reaches trace. Even the best recipes and fragrances will thicken up if you stick blend them too much.
What is the alien brain soap?
This soap was made using pumpkin seed oil, and it caused a crazy phenomenon called Alien Brain. Alien brain happens when the soap overheats, which is clearly what happened here. Notice that the entire loaf is gelled throughout! The great thing about Alien Brain though is that it is a purely cosmetic issue, and does not affect the rest of the soap. With a little steaming to get rid of the soda ash, this soap would look great!
How long does soap need to be in the fridge?
To prevent that discoloration, we recommend popping the soap in the fridge or freezer for 5-24 hours. That will help keep the soap nice and cool and prevent it from discoloring. 🙂
Can fragrance cause issues?
Although some fragrances will inevitably cause issues , there are a few things you can do to ensure you get well-behaved batter.
What does it mean when soap is made with too much lye?
When soap is made with too much lye, it is called “lye-heavy .” This means there is extra, free floating lye that was not made into soap during the saponification process. Lye heavy soap can be irritating when applied to the skin and should not be used or sold. Lye heavy soap is often crumbly or dry feeling. If you are worried about your soap being lye heavy, check out this blog post to test the pHusing strips, cabbage or even your tongue.
How to fix soapy soap?
Many of these fixes include rebatching the soap, which involves melting the soap with a small amount of additional liquid. To see this process in action, check out this Soap Queen TV video. Also, check out the Tips & Tricks section of the blogto see a wide variety of in-depth posts about these soapy problems.
Why does soap have white stains?
Soda ash is caused by teensy amounts of unsaponified lye coming in contact with carbon dioxide in the air. While harmless, soda ash causes a layer of white on the top of the soap. Soda ash is an aesthetic issue that is most commonly caused by temperature. To read more about what causes soda ash and remove it, check out this blog post.
How to add fragrance oil to soap?
How to Fix it: The only way to add more fragrance oil to already made soap is to rebatch. If the soap if underfragranced, add more fragrance oil once the soap has reached the texture of mashed potatoes during the rebatch process. If the soap has been overfragranced, this is a great time to use any soap scraps or rebatch soapyou may have on hand. Adding non-fragranced or lightly fragranced soap while rebatching will help the scent become more mild in the final product. To ensure accurate fragrance oil usage, the Bramble Berry Fragrance Oil Calculator makes the process easy! Check out this blog postfor step by step instructions on how to use the fragrance calculator.
Why does soap crack?
Soaping with high temperatures (140 °F and above) cause the top of the soap to crack. Heat causes the soap to expand, so much so that a crack can occur (shown below). This is much more likely to happen when the soap recipe contains a high amount of hard oils and butters, such as cocoa butter, shea butter and mango butter. Soap containing additional sugars (such milk) are also more likely to crack, as shown in the coconut milk soap below.
Why does soap have a glycerin river?
Glycerin rivers can occur when glycerin within cold process soap gets too hot and congeals . This causes the glycerin to form “rivers” or ribbons of glycerin within the soap. Glycerin rivers are slightly transparent and clear. Glycerin rivers are more likely to occur in soap containing oxides, particularly Titanium Dioxide. To learn more about glycerin rivers and how to avoid them, check out this blog post.
What is the problem with melt and pour soap?
When melt and pour soap is left in the open, glycerin draws moisture from the air and onto the soap. The result is the appearance of moisture, tears, sweating or dew drops on the melt and pour.
Why does soap have lye?
Lye pockets in soap can occur when a batch of soap separates. This separation can be due to overheating, insufficient mixing, or misbehavior caused by a fragrance or essential oil. The result is typically a separated layer of oil and glycerin and, possibly, a heat tunnel exhibiting lye pockets in soap. Safety first: when dealing with lye pockets in ...
Why is it dangerous to use thinly traced soap?
Those of us who make complex swirls with multiple colors using very thinly traced soap are at risk, because the thinner the trace, the less emulsified the soap batter has become. Not enough mixing can lead to lye pockets in soap.
What to do if soap is too dry?
If the soap is too dry, the texture may be more like mashed potatoes. Create a more liquid batter for pouring by adding two tablespoons of yogurt, milk or cream, or any other liquid of your choice such as aloe juice, coconut water, or tea. Lye pockets in soap can usually be prevented by using a tried-and-true fragrance, ...
Why does soap heat up?
This heating has the potential cause separation, cracking, or heat tunnels with the potential for crystallized lye pockets inside. For best results, allow the soap to sit at room temperature and gel on its own. Once gel stage is fully reached, put the soap in the refrigerator to discourage further rises in temperature.
How much sugar is in a 3 lb loaf of soap?
So, a three pound loaf of soap contains about two pounds of base oils, and therefore would use no more than two tablespoons of sugar substance. If you use too much sugar, the soap recipe can seize, or superheat and burn the sugars. This is a heat tunnel in an Orange, Ginger, Clove soap. The interior of the heat tunnel can potentially harbor ...
What oils make soap heat up?
Spice essential oils, such as cassia, cinnamon, clove, and ginger can cause soap to heat up quickly when used in large amounts.
Why is it important to blend soap?
However, it is important that the soap has been blended enough to jump start the fatty acids to link into chains, causing the soap,oil, water, and lye to emulsify and then to thicken.