Teach Soap

Hello. I have a couple questions for you all that I have not been able to find the answer to yet.

I made my first batch of soap and I know that I made a few errors. I then watched a few videos, made another batch a few hours later and that batch turned out great. So now I am not sure if the first batch is usable.

I made the following recipe: (1lb batch of soap)
2.4 oz of Lye
6 oz of Water (distilled)
9 oz of Olive Oil
4 oz of Coconut Oil
3 oz of Palm Oil
1 Tablespoon of Shea Butter

I got the recipe from The Everything Soapmaking Book by Alicia Grosso, which says that the super fat (in this instance the Shea Butter) should be added at trace. However, when I added it, I wasn't thinking and just globbed it into the mix in solid form. I now know to just add it at the beginning and that it doesn't need to be added at trace. I may have also gotten some air into the mix as well. I know that it was at trace when I poured it into the mold, but it seemed a bit clumpy and not as smooth. I only mixed it with the stick blender and did not mix it with a spoon/spatula at all. Lye was at 100 degrees, Oil was at 120 degrees. (Not sure my lye got much warmer than that and it was brand new container.)

I also lined the mold (small cardboard box) with a garbage bag and for some reason let the excess bag sit on top, and covered with a couple of towels.

I did the zap test, but not until the 4 weeks was up. Mostly because I just wasn't sure what I was going to do with this. (It's really ugly!!)

So now to the questions:

In the pictures, you can see some shiny spots, but I think that is where the plastic garbage bag sat on it. I have done the zap test on those spots and get nothing but yucky soap taste! Does the zap test work after 4 weeks or does it need to be done sooner than that?

If it is okay to use, could I cut it up at this point and use it for my next batch, by putting slivers into a different batch so that it will have a color contract (my next batch is going to have vanilla, which I understand will automatically change the color to brown)?

This is probably silly, but the original recipe called for castor oil. Can you just use castor oil that you get in a pharmacy?? (I have that on hand) Or should I order it somewhere else?? I ordered the rest of the ingredients from the BB website.

Also, do you usually make soap in your kitchen? If so, do you put anything down before you begin?

Okay, that is long, but I really appreciate the help!

(I tried to add pictures, but I need to make the files smaller first)

Thanks!!

Tablespoons are very inaccurate when measuring for soap; especially for smaller batches. Please use an accurate scale. There is no need to add any oil or butter at trace. At trace, the lye is still very active and it will take whatever it wants. I pulled your recipe through a lye calc. I used 0.2 oz. for 1 TBS of shea butter, since I don't know exactly how much it weighs. I normally superfat at 7%. Here is your recipe as I calculated it.

Coconut Oil 4ozs
Olive Oil 9ozs.
Palm Oil 3ozs.
Shea Butter 0.2oz.
Total Weight 16.2ozs.

For this size recipe, you would need 4 to 6 fluid ounces of water and 2.24 ozs. of lye (round down if you don't have a scale that goes down to 0.00 ozs.) or 2.2 ozs. rounded down of lye.

2.4 ozs, of lye would give you pretty close to 0% superfat. So even thought your soap doesn't zap, it could be very drying (or lye heavy). Makes sure that you have a narrow and tall container to mix in to minimize bubbles. Your stick blender's bell portion should be submerged when mixing. If the original recipe contained castor oil and you decide to add it, you will need to recalculate your recipe. There is a lye calculator on BrambleBerry's web site. Different oils and butters have a different SAP value. You cannot sub one oil or butter for another unless you run it through a lye calc again.

I would leave this batch be as is for now. Make another batch and add all your oils and butters right up front.

PS. Yes, you can use castor oil from the pharmacy.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

_________________
Debbie

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

_________________
Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

_________________
Debbie

To Tabetha......I hope you don't take this the wrong way but it sounds to me that what you really need to do is more research on the process of soap making,I totally understand the compulsion that comes when one is beginning to make soap and I remember being really agrivated at the thought of reading all of the information i could get my hands on BEFORE i moved forward but i wanted to be educated first .Get yourself a little notebook and as your discovering all the little things involved make notes,there is just to much info to be remembered in the beginning. you can google websites that will give you details about every oil,butter additive,ect,and you can print them out for reference saving yourself MONEY ,FRUSTRATION,and FAILED BATCHES. Above all patience is key to learning about soaping, I hope i havn't offended.