Teach Soap

Hello.

So, I started out making lotions a couple of months ago and decided I wanted to take it to a new level and make SOAP! I feel like it did everything well (both times) and still get a PH reading that is "magenta". I used a lye calculator both times before even batching and I just don't know what I am doing wrong.

Any suggestion?

Thank you,

Can you provide us with more information? What was your recipe and percentages? What were your temps? Did you stick blend? Did the soap gel? How long after making did your test the pH levels? Are you doing CP, HP, CPOP, etc?

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

The last one I tried was about 2 days ago. It was a CP

Sweet Almond Oil, 10oz
Avocado oil, 2.5 oz
Coconut oil, 76 degree. 5.5 oz
Palm oil, 2.5 oz

Distilled Water 9.5 oz
Lye 4.2 oz

I also added 1 oz of fragrance right before I poured into tray

I prepared the water and lye and let cool until 110 degrees, I then combined the oiled mixtures (100 degree) into the lye water. I whipped with a stick blender for about 5 min. I then poured into a soap plastic tray and covered with a turkey roasting bag.

I ran your recipe through a lye calc. For that size batch, you would need 2.90 ozs. of lye for a 6% superfat and between 5 to 8 fluid ounces of water.
4.2 ozs. of lye will make it EXTREMELY lye heavy. Also for that size recipe, I would convert it to grams for more accuracy. Where did you get this recipe? Which lye calculator did you use?
You have about 48% in almond oil, which is a soft oil.

PS. You add lye water into your oils; not the other way around.

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

Thank you for the feedback. I got the recipe from a friend and divided everything it called for in half. I also used ounces because I was not sure how to use the percentages.

It makes sense now, it knew something was wrong. Is it safe to toss it out? I do not know how to rebatch.

I used a lye calculator that I googled.

There was a spreadsheet available and I simply put in all the numbers. The bottom corner of the spread sheet indicated 4.5oz of lye.

Thank you again for the help.

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

Irena - a quick question. Why do you say it is not suitable to simply half the quantities in a given recipe? Surely if everything (including the NaOH) is halved, then the percentages remain the same?
Im just curious, is all.
#
Adam S

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Debbie

Thank you everyone for the information. I now have about 1.5 pounds of soap that is heavy in Lye. Does anyone have any advice as to what I can do with it? I have read about rebatching, however....can not seem to wrap myself around how to begin the rebatch process.

Thank you

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

Irena - yes, I only use grams anyway, and am happy using a lye calc. I just wasnt sure of the reasoning if all the percentages remained the same.
Thanks,
Adam

I started from the beginning with a even smaller batch. I used bramble's website. I think I now used under the amount of lye needed. I guess I was paranoid. You have been beyond helpful.

New batch:
Sweet Almond oil, 170 grams
Avocado oil, 680 grams
Coconut oil, 76 degree, 113 grams
Palm Oil, 70 grams
Sunflower oil, 170 grams

Water 10 ounces
Lye 2.5 grams

1 oz EO

I hope this works okay...I know the Lye was less than called for....I was just nervous to go over again.

This is now batch 3.......

I'm looking at your new recipe and the 2.5 grams of lye don't make sense.

Almond Oil, Sweet 170 grams 14.13%
Avocado Oil 680 grams 56.53%
Coconut Oil 113 grams 9.39%
Palm Oil 70 grams 5.82%
Sunflower Oil 170 grams 14.13%
Total Weight 1203 grams

For that size batch @ 6% superfat, you would need 158 grams of lye.

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

I meant 2.5 ounces of Lye...

I will check it tomorrow and see what it turns out to be.

Thank you again. I will get it right soon enough

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!