# How to get to a THICK trace?



## reneebartnick (Dec 7, 2010)

I am new to soapmaking, but have turned out some nice basic soaps by bringing them to light trace. I am using a stand mixer to mix my soaps and have let the mixer do it's work on 2lb batches for up to an hour and a half. I have never been able to get my soaps to come to a thick trace. I know it's not necessary to get a thick trace, but I like the look of a soap that has that wavy top. My soaps have had the following ingredients 1) olive oil, coconut, palm 2) olive oil, coconut, palm, hemp 3) olive oil, coconut, shea butter

Is it the ingredients I am using? The stand mixer? Not enough time mixing? Any suggestions? Thanks!


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

I make small batches of soap in an old blender. It doesn't take very long for the soap to come to a thin trace. Letting the blender run long will bring it to a thick trace, but it won't be as easy to get it out of the blender into the mold.
Be sure to take extra precautions when soaping with a blender.
http://www.colebrothers.com/soap/blender.html


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## Mistyf (Apr 4, 2008)

I use a stick blender. It works real fast for getting a thick trace.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

A stick blender is the way to go. With a stand mixer, you are whipping a lot of air into it.

It also depends on the amount of liquid you are using with your recipe. If you wouldn't mind posting your exact recipes, we'd be more than happy to help you.


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## NEfarmgirl (Jan 27, 2009)

A stick blender would speed things up a lot. How much olive oil is in the recipe compaired to other ingredients. If there is a lot of olive oil it may take longer to reach trace.


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## reneebartnick (Dec 7, 2010)

Thanks for your suggestions. 

Olive oil has been about 1/3 of all of my oils. The other two thirds have been palm and coconut. I have only made basic batches. My second batch was 1/3 hemp, 1/3 olive and 1/3 coconut. Am I using too much unsaturated fat oils? Should I up the saturated fat amount to get to a thicker trace?


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Different types of OO will cause the speed of trace to act differently.

I suspect it is the amount of liquid (water, milk, etc) in the lye solution that is impeding trace.

i.e.: A 2 lb batch using 10.7 oz each of Olive, Coconut & Palm oils would require about 4.6 oz of lye (5% superfat depending on the lye calaculator you use) and any where from 8oz to 11.5 oz of liquid for your lye solution.

Using 11.5 oz of liquid would cause a much slower trace where using 8 oz in the lye solution would speed trace.


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## reneebartnick (Dec 7, 2010)

I used closer to 12 oz of water. Thanks for that info! Now, how do you know that you can use between 8-11.7 oz of water? I have always followed the recipes without changing any elements. I didn't realize that I could decrease the amount of liquid that I'm using. Is this simply trial and error? Oh, I use a soap calculator on my phone. Is there another one that you recommend?


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## NamasteMama (Jul 24, 2009)

linn said:


> I make small batches of soap in an old blender. It doesn't take very long for the soap to come to a thin trace. Letting the blender run long will bring it to a thick trace, but it won't be as easy to get it out of the blender into the mold.
> Be sure to take extra precautions when soaping with a blender.
> http://www.colebrothers.com/soap/blender.html


 I do all my soap in the blender now because I only make small batches for my family and I love it. I would venture to say its safer than a stick blender becasue everything is contained with a lid. I only take off the smaller lid when adding fragrence and color and it all comes together in a minute or so. Its really nice.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

reneebartnick said:


> I used closer to 12 oz of water. Thanks for that info! Now, how do you know that you can use between 8-11.7 oz of water? I have always followed the recipes without changing any elements. I didn't realize that I could decrease the amount of liquid that I'm using. Is this simply trial and error? Oh, I use a soap calculator on my phone. Is there another one that you recommend?


Is there a soap calculator app on phones now? I'd like to see which one it is. I use my own lye calculator which is written in Excel, but it is the basis of SoapCalc.

Reduce your liquid amount to 10 oz and you will find a remarkable difference not only in how fast your recipe traces, but in how quickly your soap hardens and lathers better!


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## reneebartnick (Dec 7, 2010)

I have the Droid X and I was able to get an app through Verizon. I used it a couple of times with good results, but like I said before, I only got to a light trace. I am going to check out the calculator that you recommended and see if there is a difference. I checked out BrambleBerry's calculator and I saw a few differences between my phone app and theirs.


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## reneebartnick (Dec 7, 2010)

Cyndi, Let me ask you another question. I just checked out the soapcalc link that you provided and it's telling me to use 12 oz of water and 5.2 oz of lye with 5% superfat (with the recipe of 10.7oz of each oo, coconut & palm oils). How did you decide that using only 10 oz of water would work, bring my soap to quicker trace and not make a bar that's too dry or hard? Is this experience talking or can I always assume that I can remove a couple of ounces of water?


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Renee,
Plugged the recipe into SoapCalc 10.7 oz each OO, coconut, palm with a 5% SF and it is showing me that you should use 4.682 oz of lye & 12.198 oz of water.

This water amount is calculated on using a percentage of water per oil used. The default value for SoapCalc is 38%, which is fine if you are doing HP, but quite high when doing CP. Lowering the % of water to oil down to 30% is fine for CP soap. You can make this adjustment on SoapCalc in the *3*rd box titled Water. With 30%, your water amount is lowered to 9.63 oz

The sole reason for the water is to distribute the lye evenly throughout the oils. The less water, the more concentrated your lye solution, the more quickly your oils will start to emulsify and saponify.

I wouldn't willy-nilly remove a couple of oz of water, but changing the % of water to oils to 30 will give you a good result.


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## krische1012 (May 3, 2009)

MullersLaneFarm said:


> Is there a soap calculator app on phones now? I'd like to see which one it is. I use my own lye calculator which is written in Excel, but it is the basis of SoapCalc.
> 
> Reduce your liquid amount to 10 oz and you will find a remarkable difference not only in how fast your recipe traces, but in how quickly your soap hardens and lathers better!


I have an iPhone and downloaded the Brambleberry soap app but I have not used it yet


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## reneebartnick (Dec 7, 2010)

Awesome Cyndi!!! Thank you!


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