Teach Soap

I did my first batch of CP soap today...And didn't blow up my kitchen. I'd say I did good, lol

I made a decent sized batch at 118 oz.

It's already starting to gel up and it's been in the mold for a little over an hour.
I hope it comes out okay.

When should I zap test it? How long before I can cut into it?

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Shari

I always wait at least 3 days before I zap test it. I always cut mine after I unmold it.

Yay on your first batch, hope you post pics

My recipe takes about 24-36 hrs to unmold and cut. My goatmilk recipe takes longer like two days at least. I cut when I unmold. It should be firm to the touch and if the first slice feels like slicing cheese then you should be good to keep cutting. If not then wait a bit and try again. Hope that helps. I'm always anxious to cut but not to zap test so I wait a couple days after cutting to test them. Congratulations on your first batch...and now the obsession begins....

After 24 hours I unmold. Then I let it sit for 24 hours. Then I cut it and let it sit for 4-6 weeks. Then I zap test it. I just always figured since I ALWAYs use a lye calculator and CP MUST cure at least 4 weeks -- no reason to zap until then. That's just me, but I'm sure somebody way more experienced will tell me I'd be better off doing something different and then they would explain why.

Congratulations on your first batch! Just wait . . . explosions sometimes happen a few hours later! Read the overheating thread. Or do what I did and accidentally knock your little glass bottle off the counter and smash it to smitherines on the tile floor (that would be the blue lab color on the vanilla floor, of course . . . it came up with wet paper towel.).

Saponification is done within 3 days. Thats why I zap mine then. No need to wait 4 to 6 weeks just to find out you have lye heavy soap.

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

Well, I'm a little nervous right now. My soap has an oily sheen ontop of it, and it is still very soft to the touch. I'm thinking I may have overheated it.

I used a cardboard box lined with parchment paper as my mold, and I covered the top...
I'm of course impatient (which I can see is not a good thing to be while making soap.).

Here is my recipe that I used
26.5 oz water
11.3 oz lye
24 oz coconut oil
16 oz palm oil
40 0z olive oil
superfat 5%
soaped at 105-108 degrees

Please tell me I didn't kill it!

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Shari

It looks like a good recipe,, but perhaps a tiny hair low in water and lye. I ran it through the lye calculator and the only thing I could come up with is 34% water to oil ratio to come close to your amount of water. With a 34% ratio you should have used 27.2 oz of distilled water and 11.48 oz of lye. I do think you'll be okay though because your water:lye ratio is more like a 33% water:oil ratio . . . as I said above, perhaps a tiny hair low.

You may need to let it sit a bit longer so the oils can reabsorb. Don't panic about it right now. I truly do not think you killed it. I would consider superfatting at 7% next time.

What do the rest of you Soapsters think?

For that size recipe, 26 ozs. of water should be ok. At 7% superfat, you would need 11.26 of lye. 11.3 ozs. is 6.5% superfat.
Your coconut is at 30%, which some might find drying. I try to keep coconut oil at about 20%.

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

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

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Lisa
“What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul” ~ Yiddish proverb

I took some pictures, I need to pull them off my phone...for some reason I can't log in on the phone (weirtd)
I unmolded and cut it this morning. It looked perfect this morning. So I think I may have jumped the gun a bit on it turning bad.

I will upload some pictures tonight if the internet Gods approve

The wait to use it will be hard.
It didn't cut up the prettiest, I guess a combo of my box mold and no mitre to cut with. It was free handed and well...let's just say I'm not the best. As I improve my skills, I will invest in a good log mold and mitre box...but for now I'm just enjoying a new craft.

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Shari

A miter box at Lowe's is $5. Definitely worth the price. It is still a bit slow going cutting them, but they turn out awesome. Go get a miter box. And think about a taping knife in order to cut them -- they're under $10 and come in many sizes. I have a 12" one to cut my loaf lengthwize and then I put it in the miter box to cut off individual soaps.