Teach Soap

Hi guys:

First time soap maker here. I made two batches of soap this saturday.

buttermilk bastille soap
http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body- ... -baby-bar/
and
the first recipe from the soap queen's favorite soap list.
http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body- ... recipes-2/

The bastille soap looks like it turned out at least passable. However, when I went to clean my equipment from my second batch, I noticed that my lye water container had a lot of hardened lye on the bottom. After doing some googling, it looks like that can be solved next time by making sure to mix the first 30 secs and using distilled water. However, my batch of soap (the one made from the first recipe of the fav list) has a thin layer of oil over it. I read I can rebatch this and combine it with a soap w lower fat content. But since I don't know exactly how much lye didn't dissolve, I am not sure how I can calculate what the new low-fat recipe should be. Can anyone help me or should I just throw this away?

-thanks
Annie

Welcome Annie!
You need to mix your water and lye til the water is clear. Distilled water is preferable because it has no metals, unlike regular tap water. You will need to stir longer then 30 seconds. Since not all of the lye has dissolved, that batch is very superfatted. Since you don't know how much the soap was superfatted, I would just start over. The oil on top is mostly from oils that were not saponified. I would not waste another batch on a chance of fixing this one.

Do you have an accurate scale and a thermometer? At what temp did you combine the oils and lye water? Most people combine their oils and lye water at around 110 degrees.

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

Absolutely (above). It seems to take me five minutes or more to be satisfied it's all dissolved.