Teach Soap

I have read many places that some people discount their water for various reasons. Can someone explain this to me please or point me to a place where I can read about it? Thank you!

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~Dharlee

Discounting your water creates a stronger lye solution. This works for soap like castile, but not so much with fragrances that accelerate trace.
Water discount creates a harder soap faster, but it still need a standard cure time.

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

So does discounting mean to actually reduce the amount of water in a recipe by some degree? That makes sense that it would make it lye stronger then. Wouldn't it also affect the final PH of the soap after cure?

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~Dharlee

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

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Thank you. That does make sense. Except why would you ever need to have the lye heavier? I hope you don't mind the questions. I am reading everything I can about it. you guys are awesome, thank you.

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~Dharlee

The stronger the lye solution, the faster it can reach trace and hardness.

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

The lye/oil relationship is a constant - that doesn't change; it takes so much lye to turn a particular amount/type of oil to soap as described by their Saponification values (SAP value).

However, the relationship between water and lye is variable depending on your needs. More water means the lye molecules are farther away from each other, which slows down how fast they react with the oils and fats. Less water means the molecules are closer together, more concentrated, so the lye can do its thing by reacting with the oils/fats much faster.

Think of the higher amounts of water as a situation with lots of water drops saying "slow down"....the more water, the more "slow down" you get.

Thank you! That makes perfect sense!

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~Dharlee

Thanks, ladies. That was kinda cloudy in my mind as well. We used TONS of water just preparing the lye "back when."

Question: If I were to use a bit MORE water in, say, a 100% coconut soap, would that slow trace down a bit? I can manipulate my recipes in this way? That'd be way cool. Please correct me if wrong, but that's how I understand it so far...

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!