Teach Soap

I did let Courtney know that I made a batch of soap with the SAME recipe, the only differences were different FO's, colorant, and I used Lye from a different bottle (that didn't have any clumps)... Even the OO was from the same 2-pack (Costco).

I've been gone all weekend, but i'll be home tonight, and I can't wait to see if it hardened up enough to even cut.

Agh, I used Great Value EVO for a little while, I did not know about this!

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Laura<3

Ok, so I just got home.. got the the two Mini loaves out of my silicone mold (made with the same bottle of lye that had clumps), and even they aren't set up

I think if I left them out for a few weeks (The small 1+ pound loaves), they would be hard enough to cut....

i'm thinking the 5 pound loaf will need to be rebatched.

Beezy, do you have an accurate scale? Did you convert a 1 lb. batch into grams for better accuracy?

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

I have to agree with you hun, there is something seriously wrong with that lye! My soap is that soft 2 hours after I make it, maybe.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

The first pic looks like the soap has not gelled. I ran the numbers through lye calc for the first one and this is what I got:

Castor Oil 5.00%
Coconut Oil 20.00%
Olive Oil 75.00%
Total Weight 32 ozs.
For that size batch I would have used 4.3 ozs. of lye for a 7% superfat and 8-10 ozs. of water. So it's possible the soap is soft due to the extra water.

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

Here is your second recipe run through lye calc.

Castor Oil 5.77%
Coconut Oil 23.08%
Olive Oil 69.23%
Shea Butter 1.92%
Total Weight 52 ozs.
For this size batch you would need 7 ozs. of lye for a 7% superfat and about 15 ozs. of water. Your olive oil is at 69%. Olive oil at this % can take longer to harden. It looks to me on that pic that you got a partial gel.

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

You're welcome Beezy. When you make the same recipe with the same ingredients, I would make them with same temps in the same molds and as identical that you can. If you reached a thin trace before your separated the batch, I would do that as well.

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

If the only problem is that the soap has extra water, you can hot process it to help evaporate some of the water out. Try cooking it first.

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

You can find a cheap crock pot in a thrift store. Sodium lactate needs to be added as the soap is originally made not after. If you add it during cooking or after the soap has cooked, it will make your soap more fluid. I don't think that's what you want.

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