Teach Soap

Hello there,

I am new to soap making and am finding myself super frustrated. I have made some small batches of soap with olive oil, coconut oil and palm oil. I didn't realize I was purchasing red palm oil, so my first batch looks, as my husband said, nasty. But, it did what the recipe said (minus the unfortunate color) and it is currently curing.

While I am waiting for my order of white palm oil to arrive, I began experimenting with olive oil. The first recipe used just olive oil, lye and water (which I put through the lye calculator, 5% superfat)... 48 hours later, it looked like vanilla pudding, so I tossed it.

For the second batch, I added a little bit of the dreaded red palm oil (I believe at 10% of the oils, the remaining 90% being olive... all through the lye calculator, 3% superfat). After about an hour in my standing mixer, it was thicker, but no trace. I finally gave up for fear that my Kitchen Aid was going to melt down. I just made it several hours ago, so I have no idea what will happen...

For the third batch, I made a super tiny batch (which I understand will take longer to trace). I used only olive oil, and used goat's milk for my liquid. This was at a 5% superfat. I decided to try and hand mix to see what would happen. My arm and my patience wore out before I reached trace.

My general questions are 1) does castille soap ever reach trace? (or is it just me giving up too early?). And 2) any helpful hints or words of encouragement for this sad soaper?

Thank you!

Nicole

You need a true stick blender. Kitchen Aid does not have enough shear, plus it could splatter raw soap batter. Pure castile does start out softer and can take longer to reach trace. If the soap didn't gel, it will be like pudding for quite some time. For a true castile (100% olive oil), you need 6-8 months of cure time. For a regular soap you'll need 4-6 weeks.

You don't need palm oil. If you have more olive oil, try 95% olive oil, 5% castor. I do 7-8% superfat as anything below that my skin finds drying.

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

Thank you so much! I shall go find me a stick blender!

Any recommendations on a stick blender? There is a wide variation in price out there...

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