Teach Soap

Does CP soap cure the same if left in a loaf without cutting it into bars first? I also wondered if certain recipes take longer to cure than others. One of my soaps traced beautifully and I took it to a fairly thick trace. I checked it at 4 weeks with Phenolphthalein and it still turned a little pink. It lathers beautifully and feels mild but I am concerned about it turning a little pink. I have measured my ingredients very carefully. I hope someone out there can help me with this issue. I have not been able to find an answer anywhere. Thanks!!

Welcome!
Some people wholesale their CP soap loaves for the retailers to cut as needed. When you have a whole loaf, it will take longer for all the water to evaporate. How much is your soap superfatted? The only true way to get an accurate reading for soap is to get a pH meter.

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

Thank you for replying. I'm new as you can tell I am using Everything Soapmaking Book and followed a recipe with 2 Tbl. caster oil for super fatting. I have been doing very artistic melt and pour for a long time. Because of my fear of lye, I am just now hooked on learning CP. I am a breast cancer survivor/ fight to survivor and I was just plain scared to try it. I have found that there are so many issues that come up that are not in the book or online. I am so happy to have found this forum!! So, now I do not understand to gel or not to gel????? I have a milking goat and am trying to perfect goat soap. And is phenolphthalein reliable at 4 weeks cure? Thank you soap buddy!!!

Soap at trace is still quite raw. There is no need to add castor at trace. Add everything up front and calculate all your butter and oils at the beginning. That castor will most likely not end up as your superfat, since the lye will take whatever it wants.

Since you are new to soapmaking, I would gel til you get the hang of it. Then once you're comfortable with the process, make an ungelled batch and see how you like it. Phenophthalein will only tell you if the soap is lye heavy. Some of the books out there are really outdated, or don't have correct information, including the one you mention.

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

Are you self taught ? Do you have any favorite books that you use?

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

I love the Everything Soapmaking book and have been making soap for quite some time. The book is written in a fashion like how you would build a building. Practical and fun what's not to like. As far as it being dated, well that is worrisome as it is currently offered and carried by BB. Just my opinion. When I have some down time this book is my favorite to pick up, of the many I bought and read!

Oh here is a soap using methods from the book that inspire me. Just some eye candy.

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

[Some of the books out there are really outdated, or don't have correct information, including the one you mention.[/quote] soapbud



Bramble Berry site has the book and it seems currant.

http://www.brambleberry.com/The-Everyth ... P4400.aspx

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

Thank you. Your soap is beautiful!! I love this forum already. Feels great to find answers....and new friends.....soapy ones.

Back to the pink test color after 4 weeks cure......does this mean that my soap is lye heavy??? and is not good? or just needs a longer cure. My scale was fairly expensive and hope that is acurite.

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

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

If the book suggests adding butters or oils at trace it's outdated. (Personally I don't recall that book calling for this action). Outdated and inaccurate are not interchangeable.

Ever seen a recipe book say like the Joy of Cooking! Lovely but not error free.

Of course everyone has an opinion and you may superfat all together and it is just fine. There are several professionals in successful businesses who add superfat at trace for some reason, be it habit, superstition or for some unquantified effect but they do! Just sayin.

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

I use pheno for Liquid Soap and pH strips for regular bar soap but only test with distilled water (as opposed to tap water). (Shrugs shoulders) It's a personal preference thing for many soapers. I rarely have seen lye-heavy soap in all my years of soaping but it's certainly possible and the tongue test + pH testing is a nice safety measure.

Adding superfatting oils at trace versus all at the front end - Caveman Chemistry genius, Kevin Dunn, did a bunch of scientific tests on soap where the superfatting oils were added at thin trace versus the front end and found no difference in the soaps. Logically, that doesn't make sense. In theory, the lye would bind to the oils, do its little 'dance' and then, let the superfatting oils be added at trace and stay completely unmolested. But his tests did not bear that out.

That said, many soapers still add the superfatting oils at the end and either option produces a lovely bar of soap.

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Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com