Teach Soap

Thanks. I am doing just boring old palm, coconut and olive so I may not be ready for stearic acid. Nevertheless, I have it now so maybe I will play with it after I get over my current obsession--making goatsmilk soap that isn't curdled!

Lisa,
Are you freezing your GM and then adding the lye slowly while the GM is in a bath of ice? I've found the lower you can keep the temp of the GM the better. Never let it get above 100*F. The Ice bath does wonders to keep the temp down.

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-Rick
-- Learn how to use your biodiesel byproducts to make great bar and liquid soap!!!

"So much to learn and that's no lye!"

Yes, I tried that. Still curdle. But having much more luck with the powder. And since I live in LA and no one sees real goats here except at the zoo, I think I can get away with it!! Again, could have been the floral I used but the ice bath batch was curdled. Also could have been the TD I used with that batch and the curdle may just be the TD curdle. Nonetheless, it is ugly.

One weird thing happened though. . . my boyfriend happened to turn on the oven to 400 degrees without realizing I had a batch of GM powder soap in the oven. I would say the GM soap was heating for maybe 5 minutes at room temp to 400 degrees (just as oven was warming up). But it produced a shiny, beautiful texture. Is that a fluke?

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

Thanks. It may the fragrance or it might just be the titanium dioxide that I didn't get totally dissolved as well (as hard as I tried, even adding to lye water) because as the "bad" batch cures, it is obvious that the TD had an impact. I had colored it with a swirl of purple (still using the td in my lye water) and alas, the whole thing is a creamy tan. However, the batch I made last night without the TD using a cranberry and did a funnel and I have to say. .. . it has a great texture with no curdle. However, I am still trying to figure out why the batch that ended up heated for the 5 minutes has such a perfect, shiny texture. Could it be the 5 minutes of heat on the GM soap "smoothed" it?

This weekends batch with added transparency.

_________________
-Rick
-- Learn how to use your biodiesel byproducts to make great bar and liquid soap!!!

"So much to learn and that's no lye!"