Teach Soap

I got too cocky.
I decided to make another bastile batch, per daughter-in-law request.
I read about water discounts and thought that would be a good idea
for this 32oz olive, 3oz shea, 1oz castor recipe.....4.3 lye
So, I used a discount of 6.5oz water.
I added 1.5oz Juniper Breeze fo to the oils when they and the lye was 110.
Stick blended for a couple minutes and it got too thick.
I also read somewhere that you can add hot water to over-traced soap.....
so, I added about 3/4 cup and wisked. Luckily, it was thick, but
pourable and settled into the 12 bar mold when wacked on the counter.
(not like the shampoo bar that siezed and was like hard jello that I had
to press into the mold.)
Anyway, water discount for naught.
I'll have to stick straight to the recipies from now on.

Birdies, since you used a high oo recipe you had no reason to suspect that it would trace that fast. But, you did use a steep discount too, the steepest that I'd use in fact *about 40% lye). You don't have to go that extreme to do a discount, you can always try something a bit lower, and still not have full water. Why not try some different %s and see what you are most comfey w/ b4 you give up?

ETA- whenever I am soaping a new recipe, additive or scent, I always discount the first batch less til I see how it behaves.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

I think water discounted bars look slightly strange, so I normally use full water on everything. By strange, I mean they cure very fast, but they just don't look as good as a full water bar that has cured slowly. I'm not in any super big rush to cure. I'd rather have a better looking bar than try to shave a couple weeks off cure time.

Is this just me & my lack of experience or do other people notice a difference aesthetically between discounted and full water?

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

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Genny

Thanks Tammy, I may try again with a milky way mold and less of a discount to see what happens......
I have a 1 1/2 lb recipe that I could try. Or maybe a 2 lb straight castile with a 40% discount.
I also need to get a log mold, just in case/when that happens again.
It's too hard to fill all the cavities quick enough with thick soap.

(the soap was gelling one hour in the mold, so hopefully it will be ok.)