Teach Soap

I make a lot of GM soap. I know that I compensate my superfat percentage when using milk because of the fat in the milk. When I use fresh, strained goat's milk, I compensate even more if I don't skim it first because of the high fat content.

I'm curious what others do, or how much you compensate because of the fat in the milk.

If I'm using fresh-from-the farm GM I take a 5% lye discount. If I run out and use Mayenberg's fresh pasteurized from Trader's Joes, I normally take a 7% discount. Can't say that I've seen a big difference in use. What is up with your Avatar, btw? I have never been able to see your Avatar. Is it me? Btw, I ordered a mold from Kelsei's. Haven't gotten it yet, but wanted to thank you for the tip.

I typically range between 5 & 7% also. Fresh from the farm GM is very high in fat....before it's skimmed anyway. I think you'll like the Kelsei mold. I've been abusing mine for the past 2 years and love it. If you line the bottom with saran wrap it helps with unmolding.

Regarding my avatar: Yes, I'm hiding it from you Kate!!!! I cant put my huge handsome mug up there....it would draw too much target practice!!! Actually, I'm not sure what happened to it. I'll fix it one of these days but it hasn't been high on my list of priorities to do.

LOL! I wondered if I was the only one who couldn't see it. Hey, have you ever tried the PAM spray with lecithin (anti-stick agent) in your Kelsei mold? I'd love to not have to line it.

Ok....now I'm giving away all my secrets. I never tried the Pam but discovered what vaseline is good for .

I just line the bottom with saran wrap. On the sides and dividers I used to smear a light coating of vaseline. After I used it about a dozen times it got seasoned pretty well and I don't do anything to it now....except for the saran wrap. I spread saran wrap over the base, then push down the sides and it forms a pretty good seal. I don't even used the screws anymore. I think you'll like yours.

May I ask does the vaseline coat the sides of your soap? How do you remove it from the soap if it does smear the soap?

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

Yes, you may ask if the vaseline coats the soap. Sorry, I'm in a good mood and just being a smart a$$.

Honestly, I've never noticed a coating of vaseline on the soap. It just makes them s-l-i-d-e right off the mold. I haven't had to use it in a while though because the mold is seasoned enough. The mold, even after washed & dried feels slippery. To give you an idea of how much I used, a spot the size of a pea would do all the sides. Another spot about that much would do the dividers. Now, I pull the dividers out and lift the side off the base and all the bars sit right where they are. I have a batch gelling now. I'll try to post a photo when I pull the dividers tonight. After the pro bowl football game of course

Meant to post these last night but ended up getting company and distracted after the game.

This is a small batch of peppermint eucalyptus with ground apricot seed that I make for personal use. It's a 9 bar Kelsei mold. I thinly coat the sides and dividers with vaseline. The dividers pull right out and the soap sometimes sticks to the dividers like it did here. No vaseline residue on the bars of soap. Again, I only use a very thin coating. You can see in the last photo one of the bars on the right is moving away from the mold on it's own. If I force gel the soap in a warm oven, then stick it in the fridge after it starts to gel, I can pull dividers and unmold in about 1 1/2 hours. Most of the time the soap is still warm when I put it on the curing rack. Hope this helps.

Those look great! That's the mold I have ordered. Now I'm really anxious to receive it. Thanks for all of the info. on using it.

I posted the photos the only way I knew to do it. I hear a lot on here about "photobucket". Anybody care to share how you upload photos from photobucket onto a thread?

That's the mold I ordered, too. Yippee! Those bars do look great. I'm surprised they're so white when you CPOP'd. My gelled soap is never that white.

To use photobucket; register for a free account, upload your images, crop, resize or do whatever you plan to do, then when you're ready to post to the forum, point your cursor at the image in photobucket and you'll see 4 codes. The last image code at the bottom is the one you want to copy to put into your forum post. Repeat that step with each image.

You can preview before posting and you'll see the pictures. Easy peasy.

Fabulous photos! Thank you, lovely creamy and I bet the fragrance is delicate and lovely also!

Did you try photobucket? I just go to photobucket, sign in and where it says load photos I have it go to my photo file on my computer and I select which photos I want photobucket to post. Then I copy the Img code I believe and right above each TeachSoap message box in the IMG box I choose that then put the photo in. I hope that helps.

_________________

~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂