# Tried mixing GM at trace..what a mess....can I save batch?



## dvm-mommy (Feb 5, 2009)

So i am trying to cut corners as I am vamping up soap production to increased demand....I have had no problems with my soap for the past year now....albeit it has been slow in mixing lye with all GM base. So I decided to do the half water thing, then add the GM at light trace...as I see the beauty and ease in doing this....well, OOPS...big ole mess. :blush 

This is my tried and true recipe and I simply split the 22 liquid ounces used into 10 oz water mixed with my 9.34 oz lye in beginning, then let cool. I heated my oils and then added them hot to touch but didn't burn my finger, to the lye mix and stirred/mixed with stick blender on and off until light trace occurred (about 2-3 mins). Then added the 12 ounces GM, warmed up slightly so just a bit warmer than room temp. ACK! I could see instantly that the mixture turned a bright orange and got WAYYY hot....ummm....what happened? Obviously the lye reacted with the GM, but this shouldn't happen, right? It shoudl have interacted with the oils and such. Well, so then I added my oatmeal and honey, same rates i have always used, poured into molds. Come back a bit later to separation....an oily mess everywhere. I gather the mix got way to hot and overheated and that the GM added at trace was the culprit. 

Insight? I made a new batch this am using my old method and came out beautifully...hardening nicely and looks great.

Ah well...I was due for a screw-up  Can I save this messed up batch? I have my doubts as most of the free oil is all over my kitchen floor :crazy


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## MiaBella Farm (Jul 22, 2008)

Maybe you did not let your lye/water cool long enough, or your oils were too hot??? Just guessing here. Also, I don't warm the milk, just let it be room temp or cooler, but not warmer.

It just sounds like the whole process was way too hot...but others may have better advice for you.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Sounds like your oils and your milk were too warm. My lye/water solution is at room temp having been prepared earlier in the week. My oils have no heat at all. I do zap my milk in the microwave but just so that it isn't *refrigerator cold*. It's around room temp as well. I add the milk at emulsion, once the lye water and oils are well mixed the look changes, not sure how to describe it but once you do it a few times you know. It doesn't take long. I don't add anything at trace, ever. And most of the time I don't even use a SB.


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## Madfarmer (Nov 18, 2008)

My motto is, "be as lazy as possible." I set the milk out when I start weighing fats & oils--no heating necessary. I'm using pre-mixed lye, so it's already cool. Melt the lard, warm the oil. Dump them into the bucket. Set it in a sink of cold water, stir & check temp (or go play on the computer, or cut a mold liner--I use freezer paper. When the oils are about 105 degrees, start blending in the lye. When it's consistent color/texture, add the milk. The instant the milk is well blended, add FO & stir only till it is blended. Never, never, never wait for "tracks" when you pull the blender/spoon out! Get it poured into the mold as a LIQUID--the consistency of heavy cream. The first time or two you do this, it is a little scary, but the reward is nice, flat, consistent logs. I leave it in a warm oven overnight & it unmolds fine the next day. The soap I make this way is 1000% more attractive than the stuff I made at first.

Tom


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

I agree, it sounds like it was too hot. Usually when I add separated milk from lye mixture it is at emulsion not at trace. It used to be when I've done this I have used an ice bath. I have gotten to the point where I know my temps by feel. I no longer use an ice bath. 
As far as saving the batch, its up to you and if you want bluck bars. Two batches I tried to rebatch-bluck! I'll just throw it away or make softsoap out of it if it only separated. 
Tammy


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## dvm-mommy (Feb 5, 2009)

So it is as I figured....too hot! Ah well, live and learn. I do many of the things everyone has mentioned...and I am familiar with that "look" of emulsion. I added the GM just at light trace, not true trace. I still do not understand why the lye reacted so violently with the GM...I mean temps shouldn't matter right? I am thinking if I had added the GM even earlier, the lye would still have reacted and turned it all a bright orange and made it very hot. The temps are all the same as how I have done it every other time and never had a problem. So perhaps my lye wasn't mixed in the water all the way in the beginning????? Hmmmm...

Oh well, I went back my old method and churned out 3 more big logs that are doing well...

Perhaps when I feel brave again ,I will have another crack at it. Do you split the liquid water/GM 50/50? I did not , I did 10 oz water, 12 oz GM later in process GM. That shouldn't have mattered right? I know it has to work cause you all do it!!!!

Think I will toss the batch...*sniff*


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Lori, maybe you could try adding frozen milk cubes to the mixture? That's what I always use anyway. My milk never turns orange.....the one time recently I didn't have enough cubes and so had to use some fresh milk, poured over the cubes and slushy, I had an orange mess that stunk. I am assumming it just wasnt' cold enough. I even add the goat milk/lye mixture to the oils when I still have some cubes left that have not melted. They always melt in the oils very nicely.


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## Madfarmer (Nov 18, 2008)

I use equal parts water & lye for my solution, & use just enough solution to get the right amount of lye. This leaves room for about 50% milk, perhaps a bit more. The soap calcs give a range for water, and I don't discount liquid, so I can get in as much milk as possible. I haven't a clue what happened to you. Mine usually comes out a nice ivory-white, unless I'm using Dragon Blood or such. It almost sounds like you had too much lye in there. you might have forgotten to tare your scale once & ended up with too little oil??

Tom


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Yeah there is not instructions that say to add milk at trace.

Emulsion....when you add lye and liquid to butters and oils, in about a minute of stick blending you can no longer see through the oils, you can tell the lye has completely changed the oils and butters, this is when you add your milk.

You want everything as close as you can to the same temp. This time of year all my products are pretty sloshy or melted, so nothing gets heated up, even my coconut oil is liquid, I add my premixed lye/water right to my measured out oils and butters, stick blend for maybe 1 minute, add my warm milk (which is simply room temp from morning milking) and stick blend to very light trace. Pour.

There is no need to heat oils, just melt your butters to barely melted, add your liquid oils and soap. 

In class I microwave a bucket of lard for about 3 minutes, coconut oil for about 1, if it is not already melty....my GM for maybe 1 minute to take the chill off of it. My lye is mixed in water, in the sink with the container on a rack, I fill the sink with cold water so the container almost floats, then let it sit while I line my molds and do all of the above steps. It's luke warm by the time I use it. Vicki


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## dvm-mommy (Feb 5, 2009)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> This time of year all my products are pretty sloshy or melted, so nothing gets heated up,


LOL...yeah, I forget how hot it gets waaay down in your parts!! My coconut oil still gets scooped out here in Ohio. 
I will give it another try using sugggestions and see how it goes, thanks!


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