# What's going on here?



## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

Every once in a while I will get a batch of soap that is really soft and greasy when I unmold and cut. Every bar I cut has little 'pores' that ooze, mainly towards the center of the bar. What the heck causes this? I strain my lye and milk mixture so undissolved clumps of lye is not the culprit. These batches also take longer to cure before I can wrap. :help

This batch also reached a full gel, even with the fan on it. I think the other batches that have done this in the past, also gelled.


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## prairie nights (Jan 16, 2009)

Carli, what are the pores oozing?


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## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

Clear oil.


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

I have had a couple batches do this and blamed it on overheating. One was very zappy and the other didn't zap at all. I think the fo caused this in my situation.


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## Guest (Sep 1, 2011)

You are not reaching a true trace.. probably false trace and what is happening is called separation.. meaning your oils and water(milk) are not going thru proper chemical reaction to make soap.. saponification.. Or your recipe is off... scales wrong, or you added too many oils.. but most likely it is false trace.. False trace soaps (separation can still gel).... stick blend longer 
Making sure you reach all the oils in the bottom of the pot..
Barb


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## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

I did add a bit more Safflower oil to this batch. It was a thin trace, which is normal for me. But I will blend longer next time. 

Jennifer, I wondered if it was the fragrance as well. The batch that did this in the past was Berry Bliss and the most recent was Pearberry. Very similar FO's.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

And I, for one, would re-batch that soap and not sell it as-is.


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## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

hsmomof4 said:


> And I, for one, would re-batch that soap and not sell it as-is.


Why? It isn't safe to use?


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## Guest (Sep 1, 2011)

No, its not safe to use as is.. there could be pockets of lye in it... Now if you want to take the chance of using it on yourself.. but don't sell it..
Barb


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## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

Crap!! Rebatching the Pearberry and shredding Berry Bliss for laundry soap. This makes me want to say bad words. I HATE rebatching lol


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

While rebatched soap is ugly, it is still good soap. I think it lathers better too.


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## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

I was able to texture the tops and it doesn't look as bad as the last time I had to do this.


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## tlcnubians (Jan 21, 2011)

You may want to re-run your recipe through one of the lye calculators, like the one on Brambleberry's website, just to be on the safe side.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I've had this happen before two times that I remember. The first time I am positive it did not reach full trace before pouring. (false trace) The second time I was trying to do a swirl and stupidly pulled out some of the oils BEFORE adding the lye...duh! I didn't realize it until afterward and it was such a nasty mess. But yes in both cases the soap jelled and looked normal until I checked it in the morning. I got a huge bucket of laundry soap that I am STILL using...and that was over a year ago!


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Could she just grate it up and use the shreds in another batch?


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## tlcnubians (Jan 21, 2011)

[[Could she just grate it up and use the shreds in another batch?]]

Yep. Once it's fully cured it shouldn't be a problem.

Anita - I still think you need to run it through a calculator. Or, I guess I should ask you if you're using a stick blender to mix everything together? Or maybe your batches are a lot larger than my 6-12 pound ones? In 9 years of making goat milk soap, I've never seen "false trace." And I always pull oils out before adding my lye mixture whenever I'm mixing a colorant that requires oil rather than water to dissolve it. My soap traces within 60 seconds of me putting the stick blender into it and it doesn't separate once it looks like thin vanilla pudding.

Caroline


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I did add a bit more Safflower oil to this batch.....

Along with adding more fat via goatmilk, remember the lye calcultors are set at zero fat for liquids, so if you add fat via cream, milk etc...and then add a bit more safflower oil, it is going to give you excess oils in your recipe that do not get saponified. The science of this is pretty exact and why we have recipes and lye calculators.

Just like in winter when we are soaping in cool rooms, if you are soaping by the AC it's the same thing, get those butters and oils to room temp, or warmer if you do soap warmer, or you will get false trace, especially if you are soaping with cold lye/milk. vicki


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

So all this talk about false trace got me wondering...........how can you tell you've reached false trace BEFORE you pour into the mold? Is there a trick? Let it sit in the bucket for a minute and see if it separates? And why might there be lye pockets in soap that reached false trace? Is it because it may not be mixed into the batch thoroughly?

And Caroline, trace in 60 seconds?!? Wow! It seems like my soap takes forever to trace (no matter what blend of fats/oils I use) and I use a stickblender. But maybe it really doesn't. I'll have to time it next time.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Caroline,
In the winter I soap in my kitchen which is a balmy 45-50 degrees on a good day...which is why I've seen the false trace I believe. Yes, I use a stickblender, always, and for the swirl, actually, it was not a swirl come to think of it, I was doing a bay rum soap and trying to put a lighter color on the top...so I was doing more of a layer on that one. 

Getting to trace used to be much quicker for me when I used a higher percentage of coconut oil, but since changing my recipe drastically to save cost it often takes many more minutes to come to trace...unless it's being excelerated by fragrace. Yes, I always do use a lye calculator for every recipe that is new or I need to change oil amounts in. 5% for the superfat, and towards the min. for liquid.


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## Guest (Sep 5, 2011)

Yes Cindy, if you let it sit in the bucket for a minute with false trace it will start to separate. Why pockets of lye.. because water and oil doesn't mix..... you are forcing it to mix and forcing it into a chemical reaction, but you have to take it into true trace to get it to stay there or it separates... So many things can affect this.. temp of oils, temp of your room, some fragrance oils. should be warmed slightly before adding.. One thing I have noticed over the yrs of soaping (I keep many fragrances in the frig downstairs) that if I add them cold out the frig I get more seizing then ever.. So I always try to very very slightly warm my fragrances before adding to soap..Even seized soap can separate partially after you think its ok.. 
Barb


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

You can really subtract your time spent stick blending by lowering the amount of liquid in your soap. Even with commercial equipment I can't get to trace that quickly though. The Walmart recipe is a high percentage hard butters and hard oil recipe, and traces really quickly if you take your liquid down to 50% (equal parts lye and liquid), but that still is 3 or 4 minutes of stick blending before you can add scent or pour.

Soaping at a very high percentage of lye to water also showed me how so much of the olive oil we have for sale in stores (packaged in the USA) is not 100% Olive Oil at all, because even with 50% lye to liquid you don't get that fast of trace with real OO.

Caroline what percentage of liquid to lye do you use? Vicki


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## tlcnubians (Jan 21, 2011)

I use a 40% solution.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I love finding out how everyone does it, we all do everything so differently. Vicki


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## tlcnubians (Jan 21, 2011)

Yep, but it all comes out "soap!" Hopefully;-)


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