Teach Soap

Thanks for posting your recipe! Rachel and I talked about the problem after you guys got off the phone. We're puzzled!

75% Olive Oil
20% Coconut Oil
5% Castor Oil

This recipe has a high percentage of olive oil so it's going to be soft initially but harden up nicely over time (6-8 weeks).

"False trace" is another reason the soap could be soft (assuming that you're stick blending). This means that the soap batter was not mixed fully but it gave the impression that it had traced already. This can be tricky and I've been duped by false trace before.

I hope you understand why we're asking you questions about your recipe. There are so many variables that go into soapmaking so we're trying to eliminate what we can.

Please keep us posted. We're here to help!

Courtney with Bramble Berry

Just an update for those who are wondering what happened with the soap/lye.

BB is having me ship them the Lye (at their expense), so they can make a test batch of soap in their kitchen to see what's going on.

I didn't have the container the Lye came in (because I poured the lye into another container to take a picture of the flakes/chunks) I hope it's safe to ship it in a food container with Press N Seal/lid inside of a Ziploc (BB said it would be fine).

Seems like a lot of work for a $10.00 bottle of lye. But if they don't believe me, i'm all for it! I even include some samples of soap made with lye bottle #2 and #3..lol

As for the soap, I ended up cooking it in a crock pot... hopefully it will harden up enough to cut. (I haven't checked it today, yet)

I cut the rebatched soap today!

It looks pretty good.. Still pretty soft (not Nancy Today soft), but not anything a good 6 month cure can't fix

Pretty!!

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Laura<3

Looks good, Beezy!

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Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!

Do you still need that long of a cure with rebatched or HP'd bastille? Just asking because I have no idea.

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Laura<3

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

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

I was able to speak with Courtney today, and I can tell BB really cares about their customers.

They were so willing to test my recipe, and help troubleshoot, AND re-test again, if needed.

IMO, when making a:
75% OO
20% CO
5% Castor oil batch, I will need to use 99% purity Lye. I think this will solve my problem with super soft soap.