my first batch

hello everyone !

how are you all doing?

right so finally i got around the time where i made my first batch.

i used the following ingredients

1- 38oz of pomace olive oil blended with extra virgin
2- 13.2oz distilled water
3- 4.8oz lye

i am so excited for the result i got it out of the mold after 24 hours , but just wanted to know , is it okay to use it sooner than 4 weeks ? or not , thank you guys in advance :mrgreen:

Congrats, and welcome to the Castile Club. ^_^

It’s safe to use in less than 4 weeks as long as it passes the zap test. It won’t last long, though. Soap that new melts in water really fast.

bathgeek said:

Congrats, and welcome to the Castile Club. ^_^

It’s safe to use in less than 4 weeks as long as it passes the zap test. It won’t last long, though. Soap that new melts in water really fast.

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Thank you for replying ! I cannot wait ! But would an olive oil batch lather well ? And whats the zap test ?

Here’s a good article on the zap test by DeeAnna. https://classicbells.com/soap/zapTest.html

Here’s my favorite (only) article on how a bunch of single oil soaps lather. https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-...ks/single-oil-cold-process-soap-lather-tests/ Olive oil pomace and olive oil are much better after a long cure. Some people mitigate this with sugar and dual lye, but make sure you know what you’re doing before you start on those!

bathgeek said:

Here’s a good article on the zap test by DeeAnna. https://classicbells.com/soap/zapTest.html

Here’s my favorite (only) article on how a bunch of single oil soaps lather. https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-...ks/single-oil-cold-process-soap-lather-tests/ Olive oil pomace and olive oil are much better after a long cure. Some people mitigate this with sugar and dual lye, but make sure you know what you’re doing before you start on those!

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Thanks a lot !! Yeah i am just tryong to do basic bars to try it out , then i will try to get into more professional recipes and stuff:mrgreen:

Sounds great, good luck!

Congrats!!

I'd recommend slicing one of your bars into smaller pieces, so you can test them out as they cure. You can try one piece at 1 week, another at 2 weeks, 4 weeks, etc. Write down your notes on how they feel at each age, how's the lather, etc. Those notes will be invaluable as you continue to make soap!

Stick your tongue on it. You'll know if its not soap.
You should wait longer then 4 weeks to use in my opinion. Like others have said before me it just wont last as long.
You did use a lot of water and that olive oil will keep getting harder and herder and at the same time lose more and more weight.
I will share with you my info on the ones I did.
I made spearmint and Key Lime tart with extra virgin organic olive oil.
The first batch took 2 hours to stick blend. I had to take breaks.
The second took an hour maybe less.
Both batches I used 50:50 Later/lye ratio. Meaning if it called for 4oz of lye I used 4 oz of water. So there is not that much water to lose and they are ready fairly quickly. But however, these castile soaps were made 8/12/17 and are still losing weight. They have lost 11 grams so far and I expect to lose a little more. I'm just letting them sit till February so I can sell them.

You used 3x more water for the same thing. Also, keep in mind that the more water you use the less oil goes into the mold to turn into soap. I am sure it will turn out great but don't be disappointed that they only last about 3 weeks because you used them too soon.

iwannasoap said:

Stick your tongue on it. You'll know if its not soap.

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NO! Do NOT lick your soap!

Conduct the zap test properly by following these instructions: How To Properly/Safely Conduct The Zap/Tongue Test

iwannasoap said:

Stick your tongue on it. You'll know if its not soap.

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Please don't test your soaps this way.
Kittish posted a great way to do the tongue test. There is literally no reason your tongue should ever be anywhere near a bar of soap.

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iwannasoap said:

Both batches I used 50:50 Later/lye ratio. Meaning if it called for 4oz of lye I used 4 oz of water. So there is not that much water to lose and they are ready fairly quickly.

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Using less water does not make your soaps cure faster, nor does gelling. That only speeds up saponification, which is not cure.
Soaps need to cure to complete the chemical process that is going on inside that soap, and it is more than just water loss. That can take up to 8 weeks for a non castile or mariner bar of soap. Castile's and Mariner's bars take much longer for the process to be complete. Anywhere from 9-12 months.

Hello and welcome aboard don187.

It is ok to try before 4 weeks, if your soap passes the zap test in the way described by IrishLass (a moderator here) linked to in Kittish's post - this zap test method is dilute enough to be both informative and safe.

Document your observations, as it will give you invaluable information as toxikon suggests.

At one week the soap will NOT be good, it won't lather well and will feel a little harsh and it will dissolve really quickly, but it won't hurt you (if it's passed the zap test). If you keep on testing and writing your notes for each new recipe, you will get a really good feel for how your soap performs for you over time.

Castile takes a long time to cure, so even at 4 weeks it will be a very young soap. At 3 months you will notice just how much better it is, at 6 months you will notice further improvement. At at about 8 months to a year you will see why so many people adore castile. Then it will lather, it will be almost pure white and rock hard, will take forever to use up (unless you leave it sitting in water, then it will still turn into a goopy mess lol).

A couple of suggestions ... change your water to calculate by lye concentration (instead of water as a percentage of oils). You will be able to control your recipes a lot better using lye concentration, and this will also help you to understand the differences oils make to your recipes, as you progress.

A lye concentration of 30 to 33% is a comfortable one to learn soap making. 33% is nice, because it means you have roughly 2 parts water to 1 part lye, which is also easy to double-check in your head as you weigh out your ingredients. This percentage (33% lye concentration) will become even more useful to you later on in your soaping adventure, and will work for just about every recipe you can dream up!

Note: Soaping with a 50% solution dramatically increases the time it takes to get to trace in castile. I wouldn't suggest doing that as a beginner, although it could be fun experiment later on (when you are well practiced working with lye solutions). I can tell you now it's annoyingly slow!

All the best

thank you everyone for your advices and help , i will keep you updated about what happens , i will try a small chunk weekly and write down my notes ! i will have to get used to the soap calculator and learn more !!
thank you guys again

toxikon said:

Congrats!!

I'd recommend slicing one of your bars into smaller pieces, so you can test them out as they cure. You can try one piece at 1 week, another at 2 weeks, 4 weeks, etc. Write down your notes on how they feel at each age, how's the lather, etc. Those notes will be invaluable as you continue to make soap!

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i read somewhere that olive oil soap dont lather much , is that true ?

Depends on how you like your bubbles. I use dual lye and sugar, and I get lovely fluffy bubbles fairly quickly (6 weeks or so). A straight Castile will not be bubbly until it gets old (approaching the 9-month mark ish).

bathgeek said:

Depends on how you like your bubbles. I use dual lye and sugar, and I get lovely fluffy bubbles fairly quickly (6 weeks or so). A straight Castile will not be bubbly until it gets old (approaching the 9-month mark ish).

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right so i should , like if i want a bubbly soap , add sugar to water and let it dissolve before adding the lye? and how much sugar? will that give me bubbly soaps near to 4 weeks?

And it will likely need to dry out well between uses or it can start to feel really slimy.

I don't think that a batch with more mixed oils is in any way harder than a single oil batch, but unlike a pure OO soap, mixed (especially balanced) bars are at their best much sooner than a Castile. Instead of having the OO in the pot and adding the lye, you have a mix of different oils in the pot and add the lye.

The Efficacious Gentleman said:

And it will likely need to dry out well between uses or it can start to feel really slimy.

I don't think that a batch with more mixed oils is in any way harder than a single oil batch, but unlike a pure OO soap, mixed (especially balanced) bars are at their best much sooner than a Castile. Instead of having the OO in the pot and adding the lye, you have a mix of different oils in the pot and add the lye.

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ahh okay i see , thank you so much !

don187 said:

right so i should , like if i want a bubbly soap , add sugar to water and let it dissolve before adding the lye? and how much sugar? will that give me bubbly soaps near to 4 weeks?

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If you tell us what oils and fats you have access to, we could help you formulate a nice recipe with a fluffy bubbly lather.

The main hard oils are: tallow, lard and palm oil
The main "bubbly" oils are: coconut oil, palm kernel oil (PKO), babassu
The main soft oils are: olive oil, avocado oil, high-oleic sunflower/safflower oil
Bubble stabilizer: castor oil
Butters (optional): shea, mango, cocoa

While you have the opportunity I'd make a small batch of pure olive oil and compare it with the batch with pomace.

I love Castile made from 100% EVOO. I don't use sugar.

Here is stage 3 of a single soap experiment:
http://alchemyandashes.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/single-oil-soap-experiment-phase-3-one.html?m=1

don187 said:

right so i should , like if i want a bubbly soap , add sugar to water and let it dissolve before adding the lye? and how much sugar? will that give me bubbly soaps near to 4 weeks?

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I do 15g sugar per pound of oil. I also use dual lye. I started both of those at the same time, so I can’t say which is better, but around the one month mark the soap is nice. It’s not super bubbly though. The older it gets, the better it gets.

If you aren’t wedded to olive oil, there are a lot of really nice recipes out there that will get you usable soap earlier. Pure olive oil Castile is the soap that takes the longest cure time to get good. One year is ideal. Other folks have recipes that are good in a couple of months.