Teach Soap

So I briefly got into soap making back in 2011. I happily soaped several batches over a 9 month period and then my new hobby got put on hold while life got a little crazy. This past winter I decided that I wanted to start soaping again but also decided that I shouldn't dive back in/restart while I was 8 months pregnant... now that baby is getting bigger I decided to go for it as I really want to make an assortment of soaps for Christmas gifts (two of my younger sisters still talk about the soap I made years ago and occasionally ask if I'm going to start making it again... I figure that's a good sign, lol).

So tonight after meticulously gathering all of my equipment and ingredients I made my first batch (a very small 16 oz of oils batch) to get back into the swing of things. Things went swimmingly well. Set everything up, mixed up my lye solution and let that cool a bit while I measured/melted my oils. Added lye solution at 130 degrees to oils (approximately 100 degrees) and blended/stirred away. Thin trace at 3.5-4 minutes, added fragrance (BB's Orange 10x EO), and stirred to medium trace. Poured into individual molds, tapped for bubbles, spritzed with alcohol and put the soap to bed. Feeling pretty good and giving myself mental high-fives [note to self: if it seems to good to be true, it probably is].

It was as I was cleaning up that I noticed my little package of shea butter, unopened, hiding behind the honking behemoth bottle of Olive Oil. I groaned, trotted out all the words and colorful phrases my military cousins were kind enough to teach me, and then finished cleaning up. After that I ran the amount of oils actually used through soapcalc as a recipe keeping everything the same (superfat 7%) and compared my findings with notes that I'd taken during the soap making process:

* my original recipe called for 6.08 oz water and 2.19 oz of lye (Oils were Coconut 20%, Lard 20%, GV Shortening 25%, Olive Oil 30%, and Shea butter 5%... total oil weight 16 oz)
* Revised "recipe" calls for 5.78 oz of water and 2.10 oz of lye
* While things were actually going down I added .1 oz extra of olive oil and only 2.15 oz of lye (the lye I have is the little round beads that is randomly all clingy and with the size of spoon I was using to measure out lye I didn't trust myself to get that extra .04 oz. I'd rather be a little under than over on lye, yes?)

Obviously I'll be doing the zap test in ... 3?... days but until then any thoughts on the likelihood of it turning out okay? It obviously won't be the end of the world if I need to dump or rebatch but... you know.

On the plus side, DH wandered out into the kitchen while I was cleaning up and Mr. "No Bar Soap For Me" was very interested to know how long it would be until that super yummy smell, err soap, would be inhabiting our shower...

Do you have an accurate scale that measures to the second number after the decimal point? Did you rerun the recipe through a lye calc with the extra olive oil?
The water is not so critical. I would have converted the recipe to grams for better accuracy.
To cut down on the static that the little lye beads can bring, wipe your utensils with a fabric softener sheet.

It's always better to round up on your oils and round down on your lye.
Next time add all your oils and butters right up front. There is no need to add anything at trace. Lye at trace is still very active and it will take whatever it wants.
There is no guarantee that any particular oil or butter will end up as your superfat.

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

My scale does measure to the nearest hundredth of an ounce. Re-running with the extra olive oil brings the lye amount up to 2.11 oz.

I wasn't worried so much about the water, but that's good to know. Also thanks for the tip about the dryer sheet! I'll stash a box in with my soap making supplies so I don't forget (hopefully).

All my oils (save for the poor forgotten shea) were added up front - I'd never actually heard of adding the oils later until I found this forum. The shea should have been added with them but I think the combination of it being "hidden" behind my olive oil plus where it was written on my recipe (I'm a very "linear" person. It was written down before the olive oil so I'm pretty sure that once I added the olive oil my mind went "check, you're done!") that led to it being left out. I've made notes to reorganize the recipe before I make it again. I've also resolved to stand there with a pen and physically check things off... good grief, I still can't believe that I straight up forgot an oil.


On the plus side, if nothing else, my laundry room smells delicious. Soap looks good this morning - it's set up and appears to have gelled (at least partially. I wasn't sure if it would...).


Thank you for your help!

I have so done that before - left something out...

Today, I had wanted to do a fast ITP swirl with some liquid colorants I got/made & some Calendula EO... but no. It was a near-100% coconut soap with calendula flowers, but began setting up at the first sign of trace... So I happily accepted the beautiful buttery yellow golden soaps without fragrance... Maybe a slight drift of gold mica on top to finish, but that's it...

The really cool part is that right now the stuff gelling & the house smells of calendula flowers, acres of them - delicious! No point in overkill, smellwise. I'm in heaven right now with it on the dining table...

I think it's the Universe's way of telling me life's easier when ya keep it simple!

CabraVieja - I love calendula! I bet your home smells lovely. I have the (mis?) fortune of being one of those personalities that, as soon as I discover a bit of calm/peace/unused time in my life have the irrepressible urge to fill it with more - not necessarily stuff but to push harder, try something new etc etc... so sometimes I get the distinct impression that the universe is rolling its eyes at me going "Really? That was your idea of "start of small"?"

Just to report: I unmolded the soap last night and it unmolded like a dream. Set them on rack to cure and couldn't resist giving my hands a wash with the few flakes that were the result of soap dribbling on the top of the mold as I poured it. I great big puffy heart loved it. Great creamy lather and big bubbles that instantly covered my hands. No tingly or redness. Couldn't resist doing a zap test on a few this morning as I passed the curing rack and they passed I'll zap test all of them again in a day or two but right now I'm breathing a preliminary sigh of relief.