Teach Soap

I just made goat milk soap from the following recipe and it seems a little soft. It's been 48 hours since I put it in the mold (it's un-molded and cut now) and it seems a lot softer than my other soaps. I guess I just need to be patient?

Coconut Oil -- 5.5 oz -- 25.3%
Olive Oil -- 8.6 oz -- 39.6%
Palm Oil -- 7.6 oz -- 35%
Jojoba Oil (added at trace for superfatting) -- 1.3 oz. -- about 6%

I ran it through the lye calculator from Bramble Berry just to make sure I had the measurements right. I took the water and halved it and did evaporated goat milk for the other half.

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Soapmaiden (Natalie)

I ran the recipe through the SoapCalc program. When i put in the recipe as you wrote it, I came up .1% short. When I switched either of the oils with the fractional amounts, it didn't change the hardness factor.

What were your lye and water amounts? SoapCalc came up with 6.08 ounces for water and 2.277 ounces for lye.

Anita

Jojoba is so called a soft oil when it comes to soap. Did you gel? There is no need to add anything at trace. Soap is still very reactive at this point and it will take whatever it wants. There is no guarantee that your jojoba will end up as your superfat. Add everything up front; that way you won't forget.

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

panzerakc, I did 3.25 oz. lye, 3.6 water and 3.6 evaporated goat milk (total liquid: 7.2 oz.). I had to specify in BB's lye calc that my coconut oil is 76° -- when I don't specify this (it has options for 76°, 92° and fractionated) the lye and water amounts change, so maybe that's why we have different lye/water weights.

soapbuddy, Okay, so no jojoba at trace, just add it up front. Got it. Thanks!

I was worried that my soap would overheat (read a lot of warnings that goat milk can overheat) so I didn't insulate my soap, just put it in a plastic container with lid. The bottom/center of the soap gelled but not the top (the top seems to be the softest). I noticed this was happening soon after I put it in the mold, so I then decided to insulate it hoping the whole thing would gel. It didn't.

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Soapmaiden (Natalie)

Sounds like you got a partial gel. Next time that happens, put the soap back in the mold, stick it in the oven on low (make sure that the container is safe for the oven) and leave it there til it comes back to gel. Take it out, let cool, then cut.

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

Thank you!!

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Soapmaiden (Natalie)

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