Teach Soap

I still find myself worrying if all my Lye is dissolved properly when using fresh Goat's Milk. I've gone by the 'Milk Soapmaking' book tip of watching for the temperature fall to tell, but it seems like no matter how long I wait, every time I stir the mix it just rises it again. And then there's the issue of 'custard' like consistency. And because I like to run my GM through a strainer as that stopped my spots issue, the thicker it is, the hard it is to stir through.

SO... I've been thinking about having a go at the minimum water - then add GM technique. Just to have a play, get myself more familiar with it all etc.

My question is - how do I work out the bare minimum water needed to dissolve the lye? I know the soapcalc calculator gives you the range and you can use the lower number, but is that the bare minimum? Obviously I would like to keep as much goat's milk as possible, so if the lower number is say (for example) 200g of water... but the bare minimum to actually dissolve the lye is closer to 150... well that's 50g extra grams of goat's milk I could be having in my soap!

Is there a calculation such as 2 grams of water for every 1 gram of lye or similar that I could use? All I want to do is make sure the lye is dissolved. Then the rest I want to add as milk...

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

Let's say you're making a 32 oz. batch of olive oil soap. At 7% superfat you would need 4 ozs. of lye. Minimum water for this batch is 8 ozs. and max is 12 ozs. Dissolve your lye in 8 ozs. of water (make sure it's room temp water so the lye can dissolve) then add the rest as goat's milk. If you feel this isn't 100% GM soap, add GM powder to the liquid soap milk to make up the difference.

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

So there's no calculation like '1.5x' or anything like that?

I have some Buttermilk here as well, and some coconut milk I want to try. Just for giggles sake. So was thinking if there was an easy calculation to do to work it out, I could do it that way. I don't have enough ice-cube trays to freeze all the different milks.

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

The minimum required to dissolve the lye is 1:1. So for every one oz. of lye, you would need 1 oz. of water.
See if this web site would help you. http://www.rivercitysoaps.com/dwcp/watercalc.php

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

Ok great!

The most common strength used is 33%, yes?
I think for newbies they recommend 38%?

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

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

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

Here you go> Feel free to use it.

_________________
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!

I know a 10% water reduction REALLY sped up trace in my castille. Which is why I did it hehe, I didn't want to be sitting there for 1/2 hour waiting for trace Instead it took ~5 minutes. I wouldn't use a water reduction for anything with swirls, that's for sure! Maybe with that trace decelerating coconut FO though.... hrm...

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

http://www.800mainstreet.com/9/0009-004-solub.html

Solubility of NaOH in water at 20C is a little better than 1:1, that would be the minimum possible.

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!