CP Soap - Getting Trace

[AkimaBotanicals]

I'm new to soap making. I got overly adventurous my first time and hand stirred my lye water into my oils, for AN HOUR, and barely got trace before I gave up and poured into the mold. I lost half the batch. So I broke out my stick blender but it still took almost 45min to get to trace.

I was worried maybe my larger batch (about 60oz before pouring) was to blame, so I split it in half and soon after achieved trace. Any suggestions? Is my batch size the problem?

[Former_Member]

It sounds like temperature is a problem - the oil and lye mixture should be between 90 and 120 degrees, and the higher the temp, the quicker the trace. Also, run your recipe through a couple a of different lye calcs - it could be there isn't enough lye to start a reaction and emulsify properly. Make sure your super fat isn't too high - keep it under 10% starting off.

Some oils are more difficult tracers - olive oil soaps take longer to trace (1 hour hand stirring wouldn't be far off). Hand blending or stirring for an hour will cool the soap down if no reaction is occuring - heat it up again if it takes that long.

I think smaller batches are more likely to cool quickly than larger batches - or at least, that's my experience. Still, I wouldn't recommend with starting with huge recipes - you don't want to have to toss or rebatch that much soap!!

Cheers!

Sara

[AkimaBotanicals]

I use EVOO in my recipe which is a 3% superfat. I've been keeping the lye water and oils within 10-15 degrees of each other, between 120-145 degrees. Is this too high a temp? Someone in another team suggested I lower my water amount. I used the Brambleberry lye calc. My soap came out great though so far. It's curing now :D

Thanks for the tips!

[Former_Member]

Hi Kimberly! I use the calculator at soapcalc.net - hasn't failed me yet! I sometimes have slow tracing too, because I also hand stir. I use a lot of olive oil and also lard in my recipes, which are both slow to trace. If you're having trouble getting trace and the raw soap is cooling down, try heating it back up. Also, I find that if I stir for about 10 minutes, then leave it, then come back and stir again, and repeat that process a few times, I get trace faster.

You could also try hot process :) That's my new obsession. You don't have to worry as much about trace, and the soap is cured in a few days!

[AkimaBotanicals]

Rachel, thanks for that link. And omg,.... a few days to cure?! I've read about hot process before but didn't look that much into it. That's great turnaround from a business perspective. I'm going to research it tonight.
:D

[Former_Member]

Kimberly - Yup, a few days! It's fully saponified by the time you put it in the mold, it just has to cool down and harden up. I let it cure a couple of days just to get really hard and solid, but I've literally used the soap right off the spoon! I always try out my soap a bunch of times before I try to sell it or give it away (I'm sure we all do!) and yes, hot process is awesome. :)

[AkimaBotanicals]

I've been researching hot process since you mentioned it Rachel (thanks!!) and found this on a tutorial that uses just a crockpot to melt oils:

"Now you don’t have to wait on a certain temp, just pour your lye/water mixture into your crockpot with the oils. Take out your stick blender and let’er rip. (now you can take off the gloves and mask)* You will just stir with your blender for about 5-10 minutes, or until you reach trace. "

WHAT?! How awesome is that! I'm afraid you've created a hot process monster. I can't wait to try it out this week!

[Former_Member]

Haha, yeah I know what you mean! As soon as I figured out HP I was pretty sure I'd never make CP soap again. I'm not so sure about not having to wait on a certain temp... I usually let the lye solution and the oils get to within 10 degrees of one another, otherwise it seems a little harder to get the mixture incorporated. But maybe you don't have to!
As far as getting trace, if you're having trouble getting there just start cooking the soap! I start cooking at pre-trace. The heat from cooking will help the soap get to trace, and as long as you stir while it's cooking every 10 minutes or so you shouldn't have separation.

I love HP :)