Standard recipe I've made a dozen times, 35% olive, 30% coconut, 25% palm, 10% castor, 33% lye solution. Blended to light trace, added 30g of a new floral fragrance oil, and it went from pourable to a stiff mash in under a minute. Managed to glop it into the mould. It's warm and looks fine 12 hours later. Is this salvageable and was it definitely the fragrance?
One other contributor: 25% palm and 30% coconut is a fairly hard, fast-tracing base to start with. On a known accelerator I'd drop the palm a little and lean on the olive for a batch where you want working time.
Also stop using the stick blender the moment you add fragrance, full stop. Even for well-behaved oils. Once fragrance is in, hand stirring only — the blender is what turns a slight acceleration into a lump.
Check whether the fragrance contains a lot of vanillin or floral notes with high alcohol content — suppliers often list acceleration behaviour in the product notes and people don't read them until after. Some will even say 'accelerates trace' outright.
We've all done it. Worth keeping a notebook column for supplier behaviour notes — after a year you'll have your own list of which ones need cool temperatures and a spatula.
Just looked and the supplier note says 'may accelerate'. I bought it purely on the scent description.
If it does come out unusable, you can rebatch — grate it, add a little liquid, melt gently, press into a mould. Rustic result but nothing wasted. Only do this if the bars genuinely fail, though, not for cosmetic ugliness.
@wild_ferment · 4mo ago · 3 replies
Almost certainly the fragrance — floral fragrance oils are the worst offenders for acceleration and seizing, and a recipe you've made a dozen times without incident points straight at the one variable you changed.
The batch is very likely fine. Seizing is a physical problem, not a chemical one; saponification carries on regardless. Glopped-in soap usually has air pockets and an ugly top but is perfectly usable. Cut it after 24-48 hours as normal and cure the full 4-6 weeks. If it looks crumbly at cutting, wait another day and try again.
For next time with that fragrance: soap at cooler temperatures (both lye and oils around 32-35C), blend only to emulsion rather than light trace, stir the fragrance in by hand with a spatula, and have your mould right next to you before you add it. Some accelerating fragrances also behave better if you disperse them into a portion of your oils before adding the lye.
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@wild_ferment · 4mo ago
Good outcome. Label them as your own-use batch and move on. Every soap maker has a shelf of ugly bars that work perfectly.
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@conditioner_lab · 4mo ago
Cut at 36 hours and it's fine — a bit crumbly at the edges but solid bars. The air pockets are visible but I can live with it.
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