Thank you! They are selling fast
I'm so excited this came out right.
I'd think she went from the Rolling Stones to Kiss.Makes me wonder what it looks like now!
LOL! That is so funny!
I remember WAAAAAY back when, before tattoos were on everyone, a gal I knew from working with her pulled up her dress to show me that very tattoo on her upper thigh. Now mind you this was probably late 70s! Makes me wonder what it looks like now! :fro:
Well you better get started on the second batch. I was shocked how fast my first batch went, and had to wait 2 weeks for the next batch to cure. I found a used crockpot for cheap and made a batch using the hot method to get me through the last time I ran low.
Not enough lye.
I just made a batch of soap that I've made before that was real good. This time I added 4 oz of shea butter with the same lye as before
40 oz olive oil (80%)
10 oz coconut oil (20%)
6.9 lye in 16 oz water.....this is what Ive done before.
I made the same recipe with 4 oz shea butter and upped it 7.1 lye ( no difference really)
Should I scoop it all out of the molds and add more lye with immersion blender....its been about a 1/2 hour in the mold..or is it to late
If yes how much more water and lye?
Longshot as I'll need an answer ASAP
Not enough lye.
I just made a batch of soap that I've made before that was real good. This time I added 4 oz of shea butter with the same lye as before
40 oz olive oil (80%)
10 oz coconut oil (20%)
6.9 lye in 16 oz water.....this is what Ive done before.
I made the same recipe with 4 oz shea butter and upped it 7.1 lye ( no difference really)
Should I scoop it all out of the molds and add more lye with immersion blender....its been about a 1/2 hour in the mold..or is it to late
If yes how much more water and lye?
Longshot as I'll need an answer ASAP
Thanks....I used Brableberry lye Calculator and came up with almost 11 oz....I must have done something wrong. 7.1 to 7.3 seems like I should be alright.I think it's possible to "rebatch" soap. I've never done it, but probably just re-heating is OK.
I put your recipe in soapcalc with 5% superfat and I get 7.37 oz of lye (in 20.52 oz of water). Sounds like you're pretty close already.
I'm concerned its not going to get hard at all. I'm not sure about the temp of the oils, I didn't check it. I nuked the shea butter and coconut oil but the 40 oz of room temp olive oil must have brought down the temp a lot.I'm guessing that you're concerned that it didn't harden yet? Has it cooled yet? What temperature was it when you started mixing? Is the whole thing still soft, or just parts?
AHH HA... So its not any particular ingredient. It just a ratio from lye to ingredients. Lye only converts so much so the difference is the superfat...less lye more superfat....more oils same lye, more superfat..its that rightI'd just let it go. I don't mess with mine until the next day.
If you use exactly the amount of lye to saponify the fats you have, then your "superfat" is zero. Most people, though, want to leave some fat in the soap so that it is not so drying. If you tell the calculator to leave 5% of the fat un-converted, then your superfat is 5%. Doesn't matter what type of fat, just that you have more than the lye can convert. Clear?
I made a soap last week with 8% superfat. It's still sorta soft a week later. Not playdough soft, but if you press it with your finger you can make a dent.
AHH HA... So its not any particular ingredient. It just a ratio from lye to ingredients. Lye only converts so much so the difference is the superfat...less lye more superfat....more oils same lye, more superfat..its that right
"Liquid" refers to liquid soap (like hand soap) and uses potassium hydroxide (KOH) not Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH). Making liquid soap is a whole other animal, and you use different amounts of KOH vs NaOH.I'm curious about the lye calculator.
I went the Brambleberry one and it gave a choice for liquid or solid. I punched in liquid thinking olive oil is a liquid as is coconut and shea butter after heating.
The liquid choice gives lye amount of almost 11 oz. The same recipe with solid gives just over 7 oz. That's a huge difference and potential for a big mistake.
Why is there such a difference and why isn't it figured as a liquid?
There ya go...learned something new again...Thanks"Liquid" refers to liquid soap (like hand soap) and uses potassium hydroxide (KOH) not Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH). Making liquid soap is a whole other animal, and you use different amounts of KOH vs NaOH.
Can someone point me in the right direction for basic soap making? Need a link or something to get me started
I put all I could in the beginning posts of this thread, particularly posts 8, 9, 10. It's a decent tutorial. Is there something else that you're looking for?
Can someone point me in the right direction for basic soap making? Need a link or something to get me started
I'm by no means an expert, but I'll submit my 2¢. I took a bunch of pictures in one of my sessions, so might as well post those too.
Here's a recipe that worked out great for me. Makes a very hard bar that's great for the shower. This is the soap I posted above with the red top.
- Crisco 13 oz
- Olive Oil 12 oz
- Coconut Oil 14 oz
- Lye 5.7 oz
- Water 14.8 oz
- Add lye to water. Set aside. It will get hot - that's normal
- Heat oils in pan until they just melt. Let cool to 105F.
- Add essential oils and/or colors to oils now, if desired.
- Slowly add lye to oils while blending with an immersion blender. Blend well. Saponification should be immediate - it will turn opaque like vanilla pudding. Blend for about 2 minutes, pulsing throughout the mixture.
- It will begin to set up like jello pretty quickly, so pour into mold (lined with parchment paper).
- After 24 hours, remove from mold and slice into cakes. Don't use for at least 1 week. It will continue to harden for a month or two.
For the mold, you can use almost anything that will hold its shape. Regardless, you must line with parchment unless you have a silicone mold. Because the soap will get hard, the ideal mold will have sides that fold down or somehow release - this makes it simple to remove the hard loaf of soap. I made one out of wood with wing nuts that allow me to remove the sides. There are sweet ones that don't cost too much on Amazon. They really don't cost much more than the materials to build one yourself, and they have niceties like silicone interiors and cutting dies. Search soap mold on Amazon.
Here's some pictures of a "orange bar" that I made. I added some annatto to make it orange, and orange essential oil for aroma. For the oils, I just emptied out the crap in the back of the cabinet (that lard was 13 yrs old). I measured the pH of the lye solution - 12.5!
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