Teach Soap

Is it necessary to discount the water in 100% castile soap. It really doesn’t matter how long it takes to ‘cure’ for this soap, I just want to feel confident in making it even if it takes a bit longer to trace.

It's helpful, but if you don't mind a longer to take trace and a long cure time you should be ok. A stick blender is a must!

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

Stick blender for sure! Now thats clear how long do you think it would take or should i brave up and try a discount. Just feeling unsure and a little nervous

Go take a look at The Sage lye calculator. You can use it either for ozs. or grams. Input your oil and hit calculate. It should give you a water (or a liquid) range. Let's say hypothetically that is says 8 to 12 ozs. of water. Use the midrange amount like 10 ozs. http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php

HTH.

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

Good call, I'll give that a go, looks not so scary after all thanks

btw soapbuddy, do you gel or not gel your castile? I know your not a big fan of gelling, just wondering which way i should go. I was even thinking about cpop because i am going to use the square silicone molds, it might help a bit with the cure time as well i suppose.

Hi regina2! I usually let all my soap gel, but I found that when I discount the water in my castile to about 30% it takes a lot longer to reach the gel stage. My last batch took almost 6 hours to reach a partial gel, and that was even with using milk in place of the water!

CPOP doesn't really affect the cure time, you still need to wait 4 weeks or so. Castile is even better if you can wait 4 months to use it.

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

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

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

Good morning, and thanks for your feedback, it’s most appreciated . I got over my nerves and made what looks like a beautiful batch of 100% oo castile soap.

I discounted the water and put the soap to bed (with lots of warm blankets, more than me infact!), felt the warmth radiating from the blanket on the way to bed so left it to sit tight.

This morning it looks really good, a nice white colour I’m so happy with it and glad I got past the nerves, yay! I just want to do it again and again. So far so good - thank you all again

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

Hi all,

need help to understand the meaning of gel.
i did my 1st batch of 100% castile soap yesterday after reading this thread and watching some youtube videos on 100% castile.
i've used soap calc with superfat 7%, water weighs the same. hence , i didnt not do water discount.
double check with the sage lye calculator, seems a little different between the water usage vs superfatting %.

anyway, i did not use blankets to cover up...since i'm in asia region, hot humid country.
but doesnt seems to reach gel phase.

1) what is the difference between gel phase vs no gel phase?
2) my batch still very soft, like soft cheese, is it normal? cause it's still in the mold. checked with my pal...her's takes upto 3 days in mold before it can be removed...of course she didnt do that gel phase.
3) curing time to use REALLY requires 4 months? is it because it's soft properties?

thanks

Hi linj - here is a thread about gelled soap: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5450

Gelling is more of a personal preference - some people don't gel at all and put their soap right into the fridge or freezer to prevent it. Ungelled soap is usually softer and needs to stay in the mold longer. 100% Olive oil soap can be soft at first, even if it gels. It will cure into a very hard bar though. You can use it after 4 weeks, same as other soaps, but it is much nicer if you give it a 4-6 month cure before using it.

I took a bar from my first batch of castille and used it once a week starting when it was 4 weeks old. I could feel it getting better as it aged.

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

OK, dumb question....? What is castile? I looked for it thinking it was an oil.

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Debbie

Hi Linda,

i've read through the thread.
a little informative on gelling.
can someone explain to me what is the effect of gelling?
as mentioned by soapbuddy, somebody to make gel stage on purpose, others treated gel stage as when it comes.