Teach Soap

Okay, I've been lurking for at least 6 months. Ha. Sorry, but I didn't want to make an account until I had everything I needed to make my first batch and we haven't really had the money, but my dear hubby got me a BB gift certificate for our anniversary and with our last unemployment check bought the last little things like rubber gloves, etc. So now, I have everything I need for a castile soap.

I'm just going to do a 1 lb batch and KISS (keep it simple, stupid) for now. Though I have soooo many ideas of what I want to do.

This is the recipe I have in mind to try tomorrow unless someone has strong opinions and good reasons not to. I have run it through soapcalc. I'm not going to use any FO or coloring at this point. I'll probably use it for baby soap if it turns out when our baby is born in May, so it should have time to harden... though I'm sure I'll steal a bar before then just because.

OO 454 grams (453.592 grams rounded up)
Water 114 grams
Lye 57 grams

This is a 7% superfat with a 2:1 water:lye ratio.

My questions are these:
Is that a good superfat for OO?
I know sometimes you want to do a water reduction with OO soaps, but should I leave that alone for my first batch?
I'm going to use a whisk, am I going to be whisking forever and a half in order to get the OO to trace with a 2:1 water:lye ratio?

Thank you for your help! I'm so happy to finally have everything and be able to do more than just read about it! (though all the time I had to read about it will hopefully make it easier when I'm doing it)

For your first soap, I wouldn't discount your water. I'm glad to see that you are doing a 1 lb. batch in grams. You'll get better accuracy this way. 7% superfat is fine. All olive oil sometimes takes longer to trace, so be aware of that. I hope you have a good scale and a stick blender?

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

Thank you soapbuddy! I do have a scale from BB. I don't have a stick blender yet. Maybe with time, though SuperSoaper and I think some others don't tend to use one, so I'll just wait and see how much I like/dislike the whisk before investing in a stick blender.

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

Hey SoapingJessie and welcome to the addiction.

(go ahead and tell her she's been assimilated soapbuddy)

It's too late for you now. You should have run while you had the chance.

Again, welcome.

Yeah, I know soapbuddy. I just need to wait a few more weeks before I can spend the money on one and don't want to wait. I figure if
I have the mental stamina to climb a 14,000 ft mountain... I can probably endure the waiting for oo to trace.

I think the addiction hit a long time ago, SuperSoaper. I just had to wait for the means. Thank you for the welcome!

If you can swing it, add a touch of castor oil. You really can't choose which oil will become your superfat, the lye will do that for you. So if you add castor oil you will need to run this thru the soap calc again. And congrats on baby!

_________________
Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

Hmm, I swear I should have castor oil around here somewhere. I just have no idea where we put it. We bought it last summer, used a little bit (didn't work for what we bought it for) and put it.... somewhere. ha. If I can find it in time, I'll recalculate. You want castor oil to stay under 5% though, correct? And thank you.

I usually just run my recipe through soapcalc at 5-7% superfat to get my oil, lye and water amounts and then add 1 Tbsp of castor oil per pound of oil to my pot. This is something that Alicia Grosso mentioned in her "Everything Soapmaking Book" and it works well.

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

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

Sorry - I do add it with the rest of my oils, not at trace.

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

That sounds easy. Though, I think I'm going to measure out approximately a half an ounce to 15.5 ounces (I'll do it in grams, but it's easier for me to think in ounces still than grams and then convert) so it is easier to duplicate (or not) in the future. Thanks ljm! I did just find my castor oil. So, off to try it in a few minutes... and I'll try to come back and post in a few hours after I pour it.

Well, after whisking it for an hour and a half, I figured I better take more aggressive measures and pulled out my hand mixer that I never use. After using the mixer for an hour, I realized I was just going to have to pour it in molds and see what happens... I know it's not right, but I have a bible study to leave for in half an hour and the soap is just going to have to make itself into soap if it's going to happen... It was "thicker" but I don't think it traced.

It was really pretty when I poured the lye in... and then it turned a murky, muddy brown, and then gradually changed to a thickish creamy color, but it did not want to trace. My house is currently about 59 degrees though, so I'm wondering if that is part of the problem?

I know, I know, I need a stick blender and you told me so. I'd be in there mixing still if I didn't have to leave the house.

Oh, and I ended up doing:

OO 440 grams
Castor 14 grams
Lye 57 grams
Water 114 grams

Superfat was 7%. Water to lye ratio was 2:1.

Sounds like you haven't quite reached trace, but that soap should not have gone brown. Are the paddles on your hand mixer stainless steel? If not, that's most likely why your soap turned color; the interaction of the lye with the paddles.

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

If she used a hand mixer did she not actually make whipped soap? I would think this would incorporate alot of air. Maybe that is why she did not see trace? I have never made whipped soap - it is on my soaping bucket list.

_________________
Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!