Fast tracing soap...so frustrating

[icecold]

I have been using the same recipe for quite a while and it traces way too fast. I make CP with Kats creamy bubble recipe. I know fragrance oils can speed up trace as I have a few that do but my recipe traces in about a minute. I have also had it come to a false trace I believe that's what it was. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[JanetsCandles]

First question, what are your percentages and which oils? (I know you listed the name of the recipe, but I don't know where you got it, sorry.) What temperatures are you working at for both lye water and oils?

[icecold]

I soap at 100 degrees and here is the recipe.

25% Olive oil

27% Coconut

36% Palm

5% Cocoa

7% Castor

[Guest OldGlory]

If you love the recipe...

Do you use a stick blender? You can significantly slow things down by hand stirring part of the time.

I do RTCP and only a handful of florals that I use accelerate trace.

[Candybee]

I think the palm and coconut oils help speed trace. Olive oil slows trace so you could up your OO and lower the CO and palm.

[TexasBrat]

Could be temperature too.

[JanetsCandles]

The more "hard oils" (the ones that are solid at room temp, in your case, palm, coconut, and cocoa butter) you have in your recipe, the faster the trace as a general rule. At least that's from my experience. A whisk instead of a stick blender is a good idea. And see about lowering the temperature of your oils and water as well.

Have you tried a small unscented batch to see if you still have problems hitting trace too fast?

[Candybee]

Since I started using PKO in my recipes I have been having a similar problem. It helped me to minimize stick blending and lower my soaping temps. I wait until my lye water and oils are around 85 - 100 degrees. I only SB in short bursts at the very end of mixing my soap just before I pour it into the mold to make sure its emulsified.

I also discovered that adding some ice cold ingredients (like too cold goat milk) actually speeded up trace. So now I take my gm out of the fridge about 10-15 minutes before adding to my soap at trace.

[ktaggard]

Icecold - Tried this recipe tonight. I waited until lye/oils were around 90 degrees and used stick blender about 60% of the time. Got thick immediately and traced in 2 to 3 minutes. I think it is the nature of the oils being used. Lately, I've have been on a quest to develop a really hard yet conditioning bar. I have noticed these recipes trace fast - I'm assuming it's the higher % of solid oils.

[cmzaha]

I would guess it is the palm and coco butter causing the quick trace. High palmitic and stearic will accelerate trace. If you are water discounting you could also try more water to slow it down

[icecold]

I tried another recipe with higher olive and lower palm. Not much of a difference. Would you all suggest lowering the cocoa butter?

[cmzaha]

I tried another recipe with higher olive and lower palm. Not much of a difference. Would you all suggest lowering the cocoa butter?

You could always leave out the coco butter and see what happens. Less than 5% really would not be much benefit other than label appeal in my thinking. Are you possibly using any clays or coconut milk? I find coconut milk speeds up trace for me. Also if you are not using full water you could up the liquid it will slow the trace time, but certainly up the cure time.