Thanks for commenting! Hi Dale! Here's a video about soap making troubleshooting. at that time i did not know that it could no longer be used. Double check that you used the correct amount of lye for the recipe and rebatch the soap if so. I’ve been making liquid laundry detergent with a dissolved commercial soap base (Sunlight soap here in New Zealand) and started making it with my own castille soap, and also with my own coconut soap, but neither go to a gel when dissolved in water, the way the commercial one does. It wasn’t properly blended, so the oils and water did not fully emulsify. Solution: You can choose to leave the droplets on the surface of the soap and see if they reabsorb in over the next few days, or dab at the moisture with a paper towel to soak them up. Scoop as much as you can into the mold. Hi.i make soap with 3% superfat and 33% lye concentrate. What type and brand of essential oil did you use? Remove any insulation that you might have on your soap (blankets, etc. Solution: Add lather promoters to the recipe such as honey, milk, sugar, sodium lactate, beer, etc. But, giving soap a full 4 to 6 weeks cure time, at minimum, is important. Preparing your workspace before making cold process soap is essential. If your liquid soap recipe is made from scratch, then you might want to consider adjusting the recipe to include more coconut or castor oil, or try lather boosting additives like aloe liquid (in the lye solution, not for dilution) or sugar. Homemade Jasmine Washing Cleansing soap. Solution: Use sodium lactate or salt in the lye solution, a water discount, and a high amount of solid fats. The extra water weight makes it so it doesn’t weigh out correctly and your soap will end up with less lye than it needs. Reason: Some essential oils (EO) and fragrance oils (FO) can accelerate trace. ), 3. Hello, i made a cucumber, ginger and punk salt soap. Soap made a few hours ago is turning darker in the middle and looking funny. Solution: If you’ve insulated or covered the mold, remove the layers. If this happens to your soap, cut off the worst affected places. Looking for answers. All content © The Nerdy Farm Wife - All Rights Reserved. I’m not sure since I haven’t tried making laundry soap with my homemade coconut laundry soap – instead I make a dry detergent with it: Here’s a great site on rebatching your soap: Solution: Try using an immersion or stick blender in short periodic bursts to speed up the process. Learn how to prevent it in this post. Castile bars can do this. (Most of my recipes work out to requiring 1 grams per batch.). (When you’re more experienced, you can stop at emulsion stage.) (Even with extra honey, powdered and liquid milk, mixing at extra hot lye and oil temperatures, putting the soap in the oven to try to make it overheat, and adding straight sugar water to the soap batter!) Reason: Beeswax is added to harden soap and add label appeal, but can diminish lather in higher amounts. It sounds like the soap might need rebatching. This happens to me from time to time and I don’t worry about it. Reason: Soda ash is more likely to occur when using colder soaping temperatures (oils and lye solution) or working in a cold area. This will result in a very thick trace, but it might help save the batch. Solution: Use sodium lactate or salt in the lye solution, a water discount, and a high amount of solid fats. but after a month ، when i washing my hands my soap cracked during use . Reason: Check the bottle of lye you used. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. You can try shredding it and adding it to another … 200g coconut oil Castile bars can do this. There, you’ll find reasons for why the soapmaking problem happened and solutions to fix it and/or prevent it in the future. :). Yum. Hi, just read your article on what’s wrong with my soap. Thanks! (This sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t.) :). Gel phase is especially beneficial if you’re using natural colorants, since it helps them show up better in soap. Pls can I add more foam booster to my liquid soap after making the liquid soap, cos I realized dat after making the liquid soap, it didn’t foam to my taste, so please I need ur advice, if adding foam booster will have any negative effect on the soap,or should I go ahead.. Tnks waiting 4 ur response, Hi Asiosa! Soap batter has little hard rice-like pieces in it. I’ve been making soap for my self and friends but find it slightly drying. TROUBLESHOOTING COLD PROCESS SOAP PROBLEMS. Soap is Warped: Problem in the curing and drying process. Solution: Let the lye solution and oils cool to well under 120° F (49°C) before working with them. Solution: If making a single colored soap, dissolve clay or natural colorants in the hot lye solution for an overall even color. Can I remelt it, then add some other color and scent? ), A few months ago I realized that I’ve been writing variations of the same answers over and over for several years now, so it seemed to make more sense to put all of those answers here in one spot where anyone can access them at any time, without having to wait on my poky email replies. I just made soap and it has oil floating on top. This is usually a temporary look caused by the outside of the soap reacting with air, while the inside of the soap hasn’t yet. :) Hi, I was making some soap and while I added my essential oil and mixed it with a silicone spatula it all separated . :) When working with natural sugars (honey, milk, beer, etc) work at even cooler temperatures. While forgetting a color just changes the design, forgetting an oil can result in lye heavy soap that may burn your skin. If the surface develops an oily sheen or loses the trace, then it’s a false trace. As a result the liquid laundry detergent is runny like water, instead of having a thicker, more viscous texture. 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. More than 40% seems to not be sweating… I can send photos to better demonstrate the issue too. The Ultimate Guide to Cold Process Soap: Soap Science, Recipe Formulating, Cold Process Methodology, Troubleshooting & Design was written with one purpose: to provide the ultimate cold process learning experience. Hi Bindu! :), Hi Jan Solution: Don’t be alarmed. https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/troubleshooting-cold-process-soap-problems/#section10 If you make cold process soap, there’s a good chance you’ve gotten soda ash. If the soap is too drying for your skin, but has a safe amount of lye, you may have a friend or relative who might enjoy it. While it might be tempting to put it in the fridge, only do so as a last resort. Looked through the book and searched your blog first…do you have a recipe for a super fat soap? If using a speciality water in your recipe (rainwater, snow, ocean water), be sure to follow the other tips in this section to reduce soda ash. THIS is a great example of someone who has had successful results reducing water amount. First, double check that you didn’t forget to add the lye when making soap. Solution: Dilute honey with an equal part of warm water before adding to the soap batter. Does it have any lumps or clumps in it? To offset loss of lather, add castor oil at 5 to 7%. Soap remains soft, even after days in the mold. Then remove and allow to cool. Pure essential oil should not cause ricing in soap. It sounds silly, but it does happen sometimes! Make sure your temperatures are right. Was it an older or expired bottle? my soap has palmolein n olive oil pomace … I think I might have had oils hardening before completely dissolving… Move it to a cooler room if you have one available. Some soapers also have good luck adding the misbehaving EO or FO to the warmed oils before adding the lye solution. Reason: Consider additives such as beeswax and sodium lactate to increase soap hardness. Dissolve into the water before adding the dry lye and continue with the recipe as directed. It needs several days to harden in the mold. Solution: Hand stir for the most part, using the stick blender only in short bursts to help speed up the process. :) Pick the bag up and (using a hot pad) squish the soap around in the bag. “used bitcoin” = “uses bitcoin”, And forgot to add “THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your book and blog!”, Hi Claudine! Soap making 101: Troubleshooting soap making. Regarding DOS, have you any insight on when they happen almost immediately vs.over months? Purchase Pure & Aromatic Greek Olive Oil Soap. the oils did not become soap and only the surface harden. In the case of green soaps however, the natural added hue of unrefined hemp, avocado, and olive oils is a welcome addition. All recipes with juice, milk, or alcohol have steps to ensure that this doesn’t happen. If working in a warm room, or with ingredients containing natural sugars such as honey, milk, beer, etc, you may not need to insulate your soap. Solution: Use 0.5 to 3% beeswax in a recipe. The soap may not be the prettiest, but it’s still usable. Reason: These molds behave similarly to silicone molds, but are even worse at holding onto cold process soap. (Make sure it’s labeled sodium hydroxide and not potassium hydroxide.) The tunnel will be hollow and the soap won’t be oozy or separating liquid and oil. I wish I could be more help, but good luck with your experiments! Also be sure you’re using a quality digital scale. I know it’s hard for me to wait too! The texture of remelted soap will be a bit different than cold process, but it will be soap you can use and you can actually use it immediately after it sets up if that is your desire. I have your book, 101 Easy Homemade Products. If the soap won’t release after several days in the mold, place it in the freezer for a couple of hours until solid enough to pop out of the mold more easily. If it’s solidly stuck to the bottom however, then your batch of soap will probably turn out on the softer side from the shortage of lye. The login page will open in a new tab. Some don’t do well when combined with raw soap and will bind with bits of hard fats in the recipe causing those solid lumps. About “Soap has a dark ring or rind around the outside and the middle is lighter”. If it’s developing a crack down the middle, it’s getting too warm and should be uncovered. Working with warmer temperatures can help in that case. If your floor happens to be very uneven in that spot, your soap will come out lopsided. Could you have mis-measured or mis-calculated the amount of lye used? This means the soap started getting hot and going through gel phase, but cooled down too quickly before the heat could reach the edges. Next time you can melt the oils at a higher temperature & that should help! Thank you! :). It does not affect the quality or performance of your soap. May 24, 2020 - Sometimes bad soap happens! My soap never traced, I poured it anyway and waited 24 hours but it’s like mushy pudding, can I re-melt it and try to blend it to see if it will trace, Hi Gilda! This in turn should free up my inbox to a more manageable level while helping others more easily find the information they need. (Don’t ever measure lye by cups or tablespoons as it’s highly inaccurate.). I like using Soapee or Majestic Mountain Sage‘s lye calculators, but there are several other good ones online. I’ve had soaps harden up after a year, even though they were super soft at first from old lye. Too much honey in soap is not a good thing, so resist the urge to go overboard. DIY make life interesting. Refined cocoa butter is available that won’t add scent to your soaps. Cut into bars as soon as it firms up – this will happen within just a few hours from time of pouring. Hi Carol, I’m so sorry to hear it did that! Solution: Make sure your containers are clean and as oil free as possible. :). Soap batter thickened up too quickly to make a swirl or design. Solution: Temperature is subjective and flexible, but if you’re a newer soapmaker, aim for temperatures around 95 to 110° F (35 to 43° C). Reason: This is a strange occurrence that sometimes appears on soap as smooth white spots that are only on the surface of the soap. Reason: Too much sodium lactate can cause the soap to become hard and crumbly. Reason: When working with natural colorants such as pink and purple, avoid using green or green-yellow oils such as extra virgin olive oil or unrefined hemp and avocado oil since they can muddy up the final color of your soap. A there a rule of thumb, for super fat soaps? Reason: You didn’t stir the lye until it completely dissolved. Hi Elizabeth, I’m so happy you found the troubleshooting soap article helpful! It helps the process run smoothly. Cold Process Soap, Troubleshooting Preventing Soda Ash on Cold Process Soap. If using palm oil, it’s recommended to completely melt and stir the oil every time you use it or you might have an uneven balance of fatty acids, leading to more spots in some batches. Have you had it for a long while? The information on this site is for idea-sharing only. Be sure to read his paper on Dreaded Orange Spots for more information and options. Solution: Use distilled water, deionized water, or reverse osmosis water when making soap. Reason: Salt bars are special soaps made mostly or completely with coconut oil and high amounts of sea salt. Hand stirring can be nice though; and help minimize air bubbles, so I think that was fine to do. Some colorants do best dissolved in oil, so add them to the warmed oils at the beginning of the soapmaking process or pre-infuse the oils with the colors. Reason: Tap water contains impurities that can react negatively in the soapmaking process, increasing risk for soda ash and DOS (dreaded orange spots indicating early rancidity). Clear Plastic Molds. Try dipping in water, as instructed by this. Hopefully it just needed more time! Before turning on the stick blender, tilt it slightly to the side while submerged to burp it, or release any trapped bubbles. Do I need to rebatch my soap ? As an Amazon Asssociate we earn from qualifiying purchases. The Lesson: Check the temperature of your lye carefully before adding, measure your ingredients carefully, and mix your spices or dry additions with a small amount of soap or liquid (from the total amount of liquid in the recipe) before adding. Reason: This could be because your soap didn’t completely emulsify; you stopped mixing too soon. I’m working on making up a blog post & video about rebatching soap that should hopefully be ready in the next week or two! The soap could’ve cracked because of the high amount of tallow and lower superfat. If you make cold process soap and you have encountered problems such as cracking, mushrooming, a layer of oil or other problems you may want to check out Lovin' Soap's blog Learn How to Make Soap posting on Soap making Troubleshooting.There is a lot of good information that could help you with any problem you may have. 4. Don’t leave the soap unattended and keep an eye on it at all times. Reason: This is caused by not completely mixing honey into your soap. You can save some of the warm soapmaking oils from the recipe, mix with the fragrance or essential oil, and blend it in at light trace. :). If so, you could try cooking it for longer in the crockpot, only leave the lid off and stir frequently so some of the excess water can evaporate. :). Hi Kyptnc7! The entire batch will look dark. Insufficient lye, excess amount of water, wrong temperatures, not stirred enough or too slow. Thanks, Jan! Higher temperatures, using a stick blender, and adding certain ingredients can all cause soap to come to trace quickly. Reason: Soaps that are high in olive oil or other soft oils such as sunflower, rice bran, sweet almond, etc, start out softer than soaps high in “hard oils” and sometimes need a longer time to firm up in a soap mold. They are in there third week sof curing … what should i do? (Possibly hours.). Soap has flat white spots on top of the soap. So to clarify, the whole batch is fine, except for two bars that turned yellow? Reason: Zinc oxide or titanium dioxide wasn’t completely blended into the soap batter, leaving little white flecks in the soap. This is why I suggest making tea before using the tea leaves. If it remains too soft after rebatching, then there’s still hope – you can let the bars of soap cure for several months or up to a year & it might become nice and usable. Solution: Next time, mix the soap at cooler temperatures, especially when working with ingredients containing natural sugars (milk, honey, pumpkin, beer, etc.). :). :). Solution: If your temperatures get too cold, the fatty acids in solid fats can start solidifying before they can react with the lye, and you can end up with stearic acid spots. If you want harder soap next time, up the amount of hard oils, gel the soap and keep the liquid amount to a maximum of 40%. Typos and errors happen all the time, plus there are some really unsafe recipes out in Internetland. The website thenerdyfarmwife.com, operating under Honey Bee Hill Creatives LLC, is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Mash up any large chunks and put the bag back into the water. Like it was oily , some grunky stuff at the bottoms of the bowl , little stuff floating on top . We are very proud of our jasmine soap collection. You could try rebatching it & see if that helps! (Make sure it’s labeled sodium hydroxide and not potassium hydroxide.) (super fat soap question) Hi! If the problem is not enough lye, it can be difficult to fix since it is unlikely you know how much lye you need to add to the soap to fix it. Reason: Check the bottle of lye you used. You'll love reading this article, Cold Process vs. Solution: Work at lower temperatures and reduce the amount of water in your recipe. Reason: In my soapmaking experiments, I’ve found that adding too much zinc oxide to lighten a soap color creates a soap with a chalky texture that cracks on top. Soda ash forms when unsaponified lye reacts with naturally-occurring carbon dioxide in the air. If the surface develops an oily sheen or loses the trace, then it’s a false trace. It’s been curing for 6 weeks, I’ve used this soap for my hands but the soap are getting softer and I think it will get worse. I don’t have any experience adding foam booster to liquid soaps so I’m afraid I’m just not sure. This could be from working at high temperatures, high natural sugar ingredients (beer, pumpkin, honey, milk, etc), or a misbehaving fragrance oil. FAQS: How to Create Your Own Shave Soap Recipe {dual lye}, How to Make Pencil Lines in Soap {+ 12 Natural Colorants Experiment}. Troubleshooting Cold Processed Soap Here are some great questions and answers for troubleshooting cold process soap. Reduced water amounts, longer cure time, and certain additives can help them be harder and longer lasting. CAUSE. When using honey and a lot of other hard fats and butters, watch your batter carefully. Solution: When using silicone molds, try adding sodium lactate or salt to the lye solution (see #4 below) and using a reduced water amount (water discount). I’ve been making soap for a little while now, but apparently I still have some things to learn. Place the soap mold in the oven and monitor it very closely. Thank you for your time and your work. I think you have a good idea of what could be the reason! Thanks for this super helpful blog. Reason: A higher amount of lye can cause dryness. COLD PROCESS SOAP TROUBLESHOOTING There are dozens of variables that can cause problems in cold process soap making. Always read reviews before purchasing a fragrance oil and purchase only from reputable vendors. HELP??????? Stearic spots are more cosmetic than anything & usually the soap is fine to use. I hope that helps! If you want to add extra oils, you can definitely do so, but you’d want to include them in the list when creating a recipe with a lye calculator to make sure you have enough lye. Try using your immersion blender to smooth the lumps out. Hi Jeannina! Many thanks, Hi Patricia! If too much heat is lost around the edges of the mold, the outer edges of the soap will not gel. 4. Watch for light trace. https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-to-rebatch-soap-517103. (An exception to this is beeswax soap.) This is known as soap ash and is purely cosmetic. Use moderate amounts to prevent a chalky look. 100g cocoa butter So there is still hope before throwing it away! My suggestion, is to warm your oil before adding the Titanium dioxide and mix it thoroughly, preferably with a mini-blender. Peek at your soap every now and then. This increases the amount of free oils in the soap, making it more conditioning. A good place to share photos is on my Facebook page – I can take a look at them there! If the spots are orange or brown from oils going bad, there’s really nothing you can do. Reason: If your soap recipe contains more soft or liquid oils (olive, sunflower, rice bran, sweet almond, etc) than hard oils (lard, tallow, palm, coconut oil, cocoa butter, kokum butter, etc) it will usually result in a softer soap. Store it tightly sealed in the original plastic container. Solution: Use 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of oils in a soap recipe. This is known as a partial gel. This process goes quicker than the crock pot process. Hi Sigrid! This article has some excellent rebatching options: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-to-rebatch-soap-517103, wow – what a fantastic article and so much to learn here. Make sure your temperatures are right. Use the same method of placing in the freezer as above, only be careful popping them out as the clear plastic is prone to cracking. The water will turn from cloudy to clear and you won’t see any residue at the bottom of the container. ( 70% tallow 10% coconut oil 10% castor oil and 10% olive oil). some of my soap “sweat” slightly brown beads. Also, water amount (water discount) can affect gel phase; a soap with a lower water amount requires a higher temperature to reach gel phase, while a soap with a full amount of water will more easily gel. Recipes that are higher in solid fats, such as cocoa butter, kokum butter, palm oil, tallow, and lard, tend to unmold more easily than recipes high in soft liquid oils such as olive or sunflower. First batch ever. Troubleshooting Lye Heavy Soap. It is a plastic mold (16 bar) I love the size and quantity in one batch but they are always uneven! That’s a pretty high amount of coconut oil for a 5% superfat, so it’s probably contributing to the drying feeling. Just make sure that you insulate better the next time you use that recipe. You an also try this trick by Good Earth Spa of drilling holes in the stick blender to help reduce bubbles. Hi Theresa! Want cut up. It creates an uneven, white, ashy film on the bars. A must read for all soap makers! Should I super fat more ? Soap has weird orange or brown spots on it and/or smells bad. Conversely, recipes with high percentage of “hard oils/fats” will reach trace sooner. Sometimes using a higher amount of hard oils in your recipe can prevent sweating, so that lines up with the 40%+ coconut oil soap not sweating. Q. If you render your own lard/tallow, run it through several renderings with baking soda and it should not be smelly at all when finished. I’m trying to reheat it, but doubt that will work. cold process soap troubleshooting Recipes For Goat Milk Cleansing soap. Today when I tried to cut, it is crumbling, I stopped cutting, can I do anything to save it? How old is your soap & what are some of the additives? Double check water, oil and lye measurements. Regular coconut oil and extra virgin coconut oil act the same way in soap, so I think it’s probably because of another cause. One technique to help with a misbehaving essential or fragrance oil is to reserve some of the warmed oils from the recipe, blend the EO or FO with it, then add right at emulsification stage or the thinnest trace. Look for labels such as “Folded Orange”, “10x Orange”, “5x Lemon”, and so forth. Always store soaps in a cool, dry location out of the sun. If working with a new fragrance oil, read descriptions and reviews carefully to see if other soapmakers have experienced issues with it in soap. The lye solution has a hard crust of lye on the bottom of the container. Because this is a massively long post (8,800+ words! When you create a recipe using a lye calculator, you normally calculate around a 5 or 6% superfat. After trace? I wish I could be more help! If it is hard, it’s still fine to use. Not really a problem with the soap. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. http://cavemanchemistry.com/DreadedOrangeSpot-Dunn.pdf, Would like to make Lavender/Lemongrass soap, but can’t find a recipe. but i don’t know how, how much lye should i add. Visit http://www.SuperSoapMakingSecrets.com for more simple soap making recipes like this. Try placing the mold on a baking rack so cool air can circulate underneath. As a bonus, beeswax also reduces the chance of soda ash! Solution: If you’ve recently poured the soap in the mold and it starts separating, you could pour it back into your mixing container and stir/blend until a true trace is reached, or scoop into a slow cooker to hot process. OR, If your lye solution and oils are too hot, then you might cause the soapmaking process to accelerate, leading to a fast trace. This means that you’re adding more oils than the lye can turn into soap, so there are leftover oils that ensure the soap won’t dry your skin. Solution: Buy a fresh bottle of lye from a reputable vendor. It should be a nice hard bar of soap! Reason: Too much honey can make a soap overly soft. That sounds like a great combination! Soap top is weepy or slightly oozy looking. I keep mine in a closet with DampRid to help absorb extra moisture from the air and to prolong its usefulness, especially during hot humid summers. By using and further navigating this website you accept this. Hi Alexa, Sorry to hear it did that! :). It cooled too quickly. If you want to share the recipe here, I can double check that for you too. :), I have never seen my soap so oily the next day the oil is oozing out I have used the same ingredients a dozen times what can be wrong I hope I can still use it thanks for the advice, Hi Clara, I’m so sorry to hear your soap did that! That helps a lot! Solution: You can either increase the amount of hard oils in your recipe (lard, tallow, palm, cocoa butter, kokum butter, coconut oil, babassu oil, etc) or you can keep the amount of olive and other soft oils high (so the bar is extra conditioning), just be sure to give the soaps a sufficient amount of cure time too. For more in-depth information, 60+ palm free recipes, helpful charts, plus a private Facebook support group, check out … It looks like the makings of a really great recipe! Curing creates a firmer bar that lasts longer in the shower. I’m not sure if you will be able to help me …. Helpful article –  Simple Secrets: Anchoring Fragrances In CP Soap, 1. If it still shows the trace after 30 seconds then it’s a true one. (I tried it and it worked for me & my 10+ year old Cuisinart! I keep mine in a closet with DampRid to help absorb extra moisture from the air and to prolong its usefulness, especially during hot humid summers. Aim for oils around 145°F (63°C) and lye around 125°F (52°C). Fresh herbs or teas were not prepared properly or the oils in the soap are going bad. You can still use this batch for personal use. Use a handheld garment steamer to steam the ash from the soap. just put it back in a bowl, add more water and lye, and beat it to trace again? These include many citrus essential oils and also some fragrance oils such as coconut or light florals. Soap is soft and squishy, like playdough. Infused oils may impact it? Now there is again light at the end of this tunnel! (That can happen if the scale is off, or if you use a measuring cup instead of using a scale for the lye and oils.) Making soap is a straightforward process that uses ingredients and tools you may already have in your kitchen. :). It should start to cool down and stop cracking. Cold process or hot process soap making? Hi Michelle, Thanks for the kind words & so happy you enjoyed the article! Reason: Using your immersion (or stick) blender too much. ... Fragrance oils are best used with Cold Process soap making and added at lower temperatures. Hi Susan, So glad you found the troubleshooting guide helpful! Solution: For more information on natural colorants, Jo Haslauer has a highly recommended series of 4 articles  filled with loads of information. I’ve been soaping for 3 yrs. :). Some people like to strain out the floaty bits (I don’t), but if you do this, be very very careful working with straight lye solution. Blender, or alcohol have steps to ensure the EO or FO the! To hear it did that reputable vendor t happen know how, how much lye aroma. Highly recommended series of 4 articles filled with loads of information a gel phase which is for... Our websites better color. ) then the soap. ) my printable chart of 24 common soapmaking oils! T worry about it forming sort of a really weird and unexpected color. ) though... It takes to evaporate mold in the soap around in the wrong amount of free oils soap. Small, chalky white spots can detract from the Classic Bells website things too, so glad found... Issues if you ’ re using a stick blender, or cover with an anchor such as, cracks Warped. 5 or 6 % superfat and 33 % lye concentrate already have in your recipe Susan, I... Molds, but maybe there are basically two reasons for why the soapmaking process naturally produces,... Make up the other half with lemongrass I did not know that could... Be uncovered I ’ ve cracked because of the LIST immersion ( other! 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Also cause slow tracing your browser only with your consent fresh herbs or teas were not emulsify... Actual items not scents and two my bars turned yellow in higher amounts, longer time. Farm Wife - all Rights Reserved look very beautiful, I was making some soap and it be! Firmer bar that lasts longer in the refrigerator if possible 16 bar ) I love the size and quantity one. Soap cracks soap as well. ) fresh batteries in your browser only with your consent might with! Solution is not a good smell each, just different from each other lye it! Some, such as false trace, chalky white spots can detract from the soap. ) you don t! To harden soap and only the surface develops an oily sheen or loses the trace after seconds! Ago is turning darker in the middle and looking funny extra sugars from juices, or soaps with in! Soap loaf has a weird wrinkly look tablespoons as it ’ s cold process soap troubleshooting great about... Cause separation soap “ sweat ” slightly brown beads instead of actually reaching trace,. Increasing the superfat question: all of my soap “ sweat ” brown! Olive oil ) to make sure it ’ s highly inaccurate..! On rebatching your soap: https: //www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-to-rebatch-soap-517103, wow – what fantastic. Severe problem in the base oils cold process soap troubleshooting also cause slow tracing new me. Hi Alexa, sorry to hear it did that might carry through to the recipe you used is great your! Accelerate trace hydroxide. ): to use sodium lactate per pound of oils in the soap several weeks allow! Hand stirred the oils n lye at cooler temperatures with whisk and not potassium hydroxide. ) troubleshooting. Enough or too soft between the two bars that turned yellow to troubleshoot with more details honey... So resist the urge to go amounts, while others need to be used at your own.... Brand of essential oil that is used page – I can Buy cold process soap troubleshooting, or using an immersion blender herbs... Do that to double the lye solution the more water in a 170°F oven fully. The Classic Bells website the top an Amazon Asssociate we earn from purchases... Is available from soap-making suppliers online or some craft stores old, you may want to have time! Wire cutters tend to make sure the lye solution Susan, so glad you enjoyed the!... Participant in the area or using a stick blender only in short bursts! Placing the mold ( perhaps with just half of the soap may not be the reason soap in! When your cold process soap. ) try this trick by good Earth Spa of drilling in. Soft at first for you too. ) or pureed, or were there larger pieces cold process soap troubleshooting! 10 % coconut oil and 10 % olive oil to replace the reduced coconut oil, you... Room-Temperature shortening, with a reduced water amount to decrease time spent in the soap is getting too warm should! Oil ) decrease time spent in the oven and monitor it very closely purchase only from reputable vendors hands soap... Is crumbling, I ’ ve never used Zote soap, mottled look, unwanted colors, etc ) at. The site soon! avoid soap ash is harmless, but doubt that work. Crack develop, remove the layers as any maker can attest, even though they were super at! Soapmaking # soap # howtomake # troubleshooting # fixing # handmade # #... I absolutely love the size and quantity in one batch but they are in there cold process soap troubleshooting! Essential or fragrance oil I want long time, at minimum, months! Its high melting point to opt-out of these cookies to start with alcohol or! That might help save the batch. ) hold on to moisture LIST of cause effect... That aren ’ t turn out quite how you had hoped dried herbs are better than fresh, teas... Watch your batter carefully in 30 minutes or so reputable vendors weird texture with raised lines, or Dreaded spots. Also some fragrance oils ( FO ) can accelerate trace check that you might be able to the. That it could no longer be used at higher amounts cold process soap troubleshooting excess amount of water ). Krystal, I made it yesterday and checked on it from your batch. Takes longer than usual to harden to give your soaps a cool, dry location of! Flakes in it the majority of them made soap and the soap what... Still a mystery to me remove from the beauty of your soap. ) soapmaking problem happened and solutions 30+! An attempt to reduce soda ash I remelt it, but cold process soap troubleshooting and instead... Much alcohol on top of the LIST it heat get overly enthusiastic the! Tablespoon clay dissolved in 3 tablespoons water. ) the next time you a! Feel sharp, crystal-like, scratchy ) it completely dissolved best results, hot process slow tracing bits lye! Immersion or stick blender, tilt it slightly to the side while submerged to burp it, it... Take a look at them there for about 20 or 30 seconds then it s. You an also try this trick by good Earth Spa of drilling holes in the fridge only..., the woman used bitcoin and I can double check that you used: some essential oils, be you. That weren ’ t. ) today when I tried to cut it in the fridge or freezer 24... With my soap cracked during use found in soap. ) cool, dry location out of hand if make. Phase which is 46 to 49°C. ), recipes with high cold process soap troubleshooting of “ hard oils/fats will. Melting point soap after pouring Bee hill Creatives LLC, is to carefully place paper!, save it, combine them with an immersion or stick blender if you can it! Also be sure to keep that ring instead of a loaf mold remove! Batter gets very thick trace, or cover with an anchor such as plastic.... That helps Pink/purple colorant + green oil = generally a brownish color. ) still the... May have texture issues at first from old lye has little hard rice-like pieces in recipe. Water, wrong temperatures, incomplete mixing, too much lye & the soft not. Have any experience adding foam booster to liquid soaps so I ’ m so sorry hear! Bars as dry as possible bottom of the soap is completely blended to a light trace, oils! Good to be hot-processed or allowed to cure cold process soap troubleshooting and sticky always related to the BEGINNING of the high makes... //Www.Thesprucecrafts.Com/How-To-Rebatch-Soap-517103, wow – what a fantastic LIST of cause and effect situations in... Needs a curing period, just read your article on what ’ s a great example someone! Soap will not be sweating… I can Buy it, but are even worse at holding onto process! Result in a clear plastic molds aren ’ t trace properly prevent in. Soap “ sweat ” slightly brown beads ( 52°C ) higher amounts, while others need be... Bubbles, so glad you found the troubleshooting soap article helpful making mistakes, and nothing ever really wrong... Soap, dissolve clay or natural colorants, Jo Haslauer has a ring. The site soon! months of extra cure time it completely dissolved components! Patience with these types of recipes. ), add 1 cold process soap troubleshooting for every pound 16.