So Last night I made some more wine soap and with some of the soap left over from previous batches of wine soap I made Soap balls. The Balls are not real uniform mainly because they are going to go into another batch of soap. So I will have balls in my soap. I did get a little creative with a couple, but I knew another challenge was facing me.
Well lets get to my learning experience. I have been pretty lucky as a soap maker and have not had very many failed batches. Lately though I have had some difficult ones. The first batch of wine soap I ever made was difficult. I thought it might have to do with the wine itself. That really didn't make since to me since I have made soap using many other liquid additives. But I thought Wine does have alcohol and more sugars than other liquids I used. Well now after several batches I am to the conclusion that it is my fragrance. Below is an outline of the symptoms.
Batch 1:
Oils and lye mixed fine along with colorant Mixed in fragrance and wine at same time.
Batch started setting up extremely quick and had to glob (is glob a word) it into the mold. I assumed I had played around with the coloring of it so much that by the time I got around to the fragrance and wine that it was already setting.
Batch 2:
Everything went well put ingredients in at the same way as before but this time did not play around with the coloring since I figured out how much to add from last time. I got the soap into the mold just fine and as I was getting ready to go relax the soap started to separate. Arggg I rushed it back into the pot and started with some heavy mixing. As soon as I got it back to where it should be It started hardening quickly. I globbed it back into the mold and hoped for the best. The next day I cut it and it was fine. Couple weeks of curing I PH tested it and it turned out fine. No problems
Everything went well put ingredients in at the same way as before but this time did not play around with the coloring since I figured out how much to add from last time. I got the soap into the mold just fine and as I was getting ready to go relax the soap started to separate. Arggg I rushed it back into the pot and started with some heavy mixing. As soon as I got it back to where it should be It started hardening quickly. I globbed it back into the mold and hoped for the best. It did get very hot and I at one point thought I would have a volcano on my hands. The next day I cut it and it was fine. Couple weeks of curing I PH tested it and it turned out fine. No problems a really lovely soap.
Batch 3:
I assumed on batch 2 that I added the lye to the oils to hot and that was what was wrong so with batch 3 I made sure that the oils and lye were at a good temp and tryed it again. Seperation agian!!!!!!! I also with much handeling and cussing (not outloud I have young ears about)got this soap to also work. Now I had decided that it was the alchohol or the fragrance to blame.
Batch 4:
Last Night I decided to tackel the wine soap agian. This time I added color at light trace and then the wine. Everything is fine soap looks beautyful. OK trace is about light to medium and looks like everything is going real well......UNTIL I add the fragrance. The soap immediatly starts to seperate and the thickness is completly gone. So Now I know the culprit. MERLOT WINE FRAGRANCE. I put my trusty stick blender to use and whipped that soap back into shape and once it got to a heavy trace agian I poured it into the mold and hoped for the best. This morning the soap was great, although lighter in color than it should be, and I have a light ash on top. I can wet wipe the ash away so that is no prob. The color maybe I will have to wait until I cut it to really know.
I don't know if I can find a replacement fragrance This one is fab in cured soap it smells so good just like red wine. I may have to fight with it on every batch. This last batch really wasn't much a fight now that I expected it to happen and was ready. So I may keep the fragrance. Hmmm I'll have to think on it.
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