Teach Soap

1:1 is hard to dilute as it depends on the ambient temp of your water and the actual purity of your lye. Very, very few people use 1:1. For slow tracing batches like olive castile soap, people do a 40% dilution. That way you know all of your lye has dissolved. Or discount your water.

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

Yeah I might start using a 40% solution to dilute the lye ...

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

1:1 is a saturated solution - it's very dependent on temperature as you'll see in that link I posted. The 1:1 figure is at 20C and anything below this will cause it to precipitate out. I wouldn't try for 1:1 myself. 75-80% saturated is pretty heavy.

I only goat's milk soap - after much trial and tribulation here is what I do and what I have found to be the best...

Significant liquid reduction in goat milk soaping is not advised as the milk is only partially water and fat therefore its considered to already have a reduction. I do a slight additional reduction and soap at 32% water. I soap 50/50 milk and water. Lye is added to the water portion, I never have issue with it dissolving. The milk is added in a slight trace. This way I also have no issues with scalding or discoloration.

I am not partial to 100% GM soap, I prefer the texture of 50/50 as well as the cosmetic appearance of the soap.

Overall I am not a fan of large water reduction period. After trying every short cut known to try and produce a faster cured bar there is no shortcut, I only do it in formulas containing olive oil to help with trace. I have read where soapers preferred high reductions because they felt the soap was more dense - I have never tried it. Anyway hopes this helps you out!

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

I've seen people do a 1:1 water to lye ratio, is this actually alright to do? What I saw was something like 4oz water 4oz lye and the rest of the liquid portion as milk or alcohol.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

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

Alright, I was thinking that it wouln't be such a grand idea. I wish soapmaker3 had an option to show minimum water, would make things so much easier!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I usually just add an extra ounce to the water weight: 4 oz of lye=5 oz of water to dissolve it fully. So far this seems to be working well.

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

Linda, I have been reviewing and reorganizing all of my soaping notes and just found this very recommendation! I agree about soapmaker 3 and the water recommendations... it is the only thing about the program that has caused me grief.

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

hi. on this same train of thought.. i read that not enough water will make the soap caustic and dry. the source reccomended 1oz of lye per 3 oz of water. it's very hard to know what to do when there are sooo many different opinions i am gathering equipment to have another go at soaping.. been playing with my shredded soap and a crock pot. sat down while i waited and all of a sudden my husband says what is that smell????? it was oozing over the countertop, fortunately granite doesnot seem to be affected. stuck to the crockpot, he decided to go to town out of the blue to run some "errands" by the time he came back everything was clean. my second batch went much better. the soap feels good to the touch, unlike my first batch,some rebatch crumbled, another rebatch i think will float it is sooo light. another has the ability to draw the moisture out of my fingertips i've got soo much to learn, but you guys abreviate and use soap lingo i do not understand.

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

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

ditto what Linda said! And welcome to the forum. We are more than willing to help, as everyone runs into an issue or concern over time. And of course we all started out as noobies.

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