Teach Soap

Is it possible to add your superfatting oils at thin-medium trace, or sometime after the lye and other oils are mixed? That way, if you have an expensive oil you want to superfat with, or you want a specific oil to be present in the finished bar, you can add it at mid-trace or so and have a lesser chance of it combining with the lye and being turned into soap?

Also, what is the difference between a superfat and a lye discount? Or is there a difference?

I have never made CP before, but would love to and am trying to learn as much about it as I can in the meantime.

Lye is still active until saponification is complete, so there is no guarantee that oil added even at a thicker trace will be the superstar. If you want, look into HP. There you cook the soap to cause sophistication and can add more delicate ingredients after that to preserve them.

I always add all my oils or butters right up front. I agree with Mgrimm that you can add a small amount of oils or butters after the cook, to give them a better chance of not saponifying. Calculate that small portion into the total of your recipe.

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

Okay, thanks guys!

When you calculate a recipe for HP, do you do a 0% and then add the butters/oils after it is cooked?
And how much butters/oils do you add per pound of soap?
If I wanted to put bananas in it, do I put them in first or after it is cooked?

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Diane

My brain was thinking faster than my fingers were typing, I meant a 0% superfat?

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Diane

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

Thanks Irena
I made a hot process soap last night, I used frozen coconut milk and added the lye, I mixed the cold Lyle mixture into the hot oils, it seemed ok at first, but it got white lumps through it, I tried to mash it down with a potato masher, but it didn’t seem to work. The recipe said to add ½ ounce of melted chocolate to swirl through it before I put it into the mould, I tried the soap this morning, but it has only been about 7 hours, it leaves a slimy film on my skin, perhaps it just needs to dry out a bit more, but if I wanted to re-cook it, won’t I lose the fragrance? Speaking of Fragrances, now I know why it says don’t put the oils in plastic, it melted the bottom out of my cup! What is in them?
I have made one other HP soap a few days ago, it turned out fine, I didn’t use frozen coconut milk, and I didn’t use Lard, I am assuming the cold meeting the hot solidified the fats?
Anyway….every time I make a soap it is a learning curve!
Seems you just need to find a few recipes and stick to them! Even then it seems the same recipe can turn out differently depending on the weather, the lye , the fragrance.
I have tried to post a picture of the soap, but it won’t let me! Some might call it rustic, I think it looks like a dogs breakfast after he has eaten it!

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Diane

I managed to post it!


hotprocesschoco.jpg [ 13.82 KiB | Viewed 6363 times ]


My husbands name is Lyle, so I am constantly typing Lyle instead of Lye

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Diane

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

Thanks!
Will re-batch tonight!

Bruce really didn't eat them! although he liked the chocolate!

bruce.jpg [ 13.34 KiB | Viewed 6361 times ]

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Diane