Making soap that will not set!

by Steph
(Shropshire UK)

Hello, I am new to soap making and have been following Anne L Watson's book milk soap making and also have her other book Smart soap making.

I first tried to make some soap with goats milk using the first recipe which called for 255g coconut oil, olive oil, 255g fluid milk and 116 lye, after a day the soap was still wet so I put it into a fridge for a day. After a day in the fridge the soap still was not hard but I still managed to shape it into soap, took it out of the moulds and was using a knife to smooth some soap around the edges and then wrapped it into clinge film!

I have just thrown away one batch of soap from the Smart soap making book which called for almond oil and fractionated coconut oil with 119g lye made with water, after 3 days, one day of which it was sitting in the fridge it was still a thick paste and not soap.

Now I have got digital scales and have measured the grams exact and have been trying to keep the goats milk cool but mixed the goats milk lye with the oils between 85 and 90C and the temperature was between 89 and 94 for the almond soap.

The only fault that I can see that I might have made it that I have used an electrical hand held blender to mix the oils and lye, it does not say what temperature the oils and lye should be.

I have put the steel bowl into a plastic bowl full of cool water to keep the lye cool with the goats milk. I have used tea tree essential oil as well as grapefruit extract.

I have plastic moulds that I bought online for soap making.

The only thing that I think is maybe there is not enough lye but that would mean that the recipe is wrong in the first place because I have been careful measuring exact quantities.

Any ideas?

Thanks Steph X

Answer:

Sorry Steph, I am not familiar with Anne Watsons recipes or methods at all.

I suggest running the recipe through a lye calculator to see if it has been printed correctly.

I don't see how using a stick blender could be the problem...I think that is fine. Just be sure that you have reached a full trace when you do use a stick blender. A stick blender can thicken the soap batter and make it look like the soap has traced which is called a false trace. To see if the soap is at a true trace you will need to stir the mixture for a couple of minutes with a whisk or spoon. If the mixture loosens up and becomes runny again then you will need to continue stirring to reach a full trace.

I have a couple questions - Why are you putting the soap into the fridge? Are you trying to stop the soap from going through the gel phase?

I've not done this myself but I have heard that this can prolong the time it takes for the soap to harden. I've also read that curing soap does not like to be subjected to extreme temperatures.

Good luck,
Cathy

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Making soap that will not set!

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Comment About Soap That Will Not Set
by: Heavenly Scent Soaps

Hello:

I have used Ann Watson's Milk Soap recipes with good success. With several of her recipes, she does advise putting her milk-based soaps in the fridge to prevent the gel phase. Normally, I gel my soaps, but I followed her recipe in this case and the soap turned out fine - although it does take a little longer for the soap to harden and cure.

In reading your post, I'm wondering, too, if you had a false trace when you poured your soap into the mold.

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Thank you for your help!
by: Steph

Hello, thank you for your good advice, in the milk soap making book it said to put the soap in the fridge so I thought that it as to go into a fridge to harden. The Goats milk soap I made I put into a fridge for over an hour at first, after a day it was still wet and only hardened up a little after being in the fridge for a day but was still not solid and still wet like I said.
The almond and fractionated soap didn't go into the fridge at all as this soap did not contain milk.

Do you recommend not putting milk soap into a fridge at all?

I am not sure about the false trace, the soap did reach a creamy mixture like eggnog but it never thickened, I did stir it for 10 to 15 minutes which I thought might have been long enough.
Thank you very much for your advice I shall try stirring for a few minutes at least next time and see whether it says the same or whether it separates. Also I am wondering if the temperature is a big factor, it doesn't actually say what is the ideal temperature for adding the oils with the lye. I was trying to keep the milk soap recipe cool so put the lye mixture in a large bowl with ice cold water to reduce the heat in the soap pot, is this wise when the milk is already frozen?

Thank you very much for your comments. X

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