Fluid hot process soap

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shaan

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Has anyone tried this method? I tried this method but it did not work well when i wanted to make the soap colorful. I don't have a big oven,so placing containers in it is not possible. Do we need to cook it completely before adding yogurt? Any alternative to yogurt?
 
Has anyone tried this method? I tried this method but it did not work well when i wanted to make the soap colorful. I don't have a big oven,so placing containers in it is not possible. Do we need to cook it completely before adding yogurt? Any alternative to yogurt?

A friend of mine does beautifully marbled soap with this method using a 3 or 4 color in-the-pot swirl (one color being uncolored soap). However, even with the yogurt you might have some trouble with the colors if you don't have the means to prevent the soap from cooling off too quickly.

You have to cook it to a smooth consistency, but no you don't have to cook it completely. Any HP will just as happily finish saponifying in the mold if you take it most of the way there. If you mold it early, you do lose the ability to add the superfat of your choice and completely control the outcome, but that is an overrated feature of HP.

Yogurt, for reasons unknown, is very effective for fluid HP. I don't think anything is known (yet) to be as effective that doesn't have some drastic effect on the soap. One soapmaker demonstrates a fluid HP using glycerin and sugar syrup, which makes a translucent and soft/rubbery soap. I don't recommend it. Though I'm personally not a fan of dairy products in my soap, it does come out just fine with the yogurt.

Sodium lactate is also known to make HP more fluid. You can use both SL and yogurt if you like.

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Can you link to what you mean? There are various "new" hot process methods which promise the world and they often have mixed names so knowing which one is which can be hard without a reference point

I saw a video on you tube. She cooked the soap in crockpot,added yogurt and it became smooth. Then separated to add colors and placed those in pre heated oven to keep them fluid.
 
if i remember correctly this is the same 10 minute hot process soap technique (a.k.a SBHP ) that passed through this form summer of last year i think it was .... it hinged on adding yogurt to it to get a fluid batch // it was a hotly debated topic both here and on facebook

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/archive/index.php/t-55609.html

if i am wrong please correct me


E.T.A : [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG9qz3IV9_M[/ame]
 
Last edited:
if i remember correctly this is the same 10 minute hot process soap technique (a.k.a SBHP ) that passed through this form summer of last year i think it was .... it hinged on adding yogurt to it to get a fluid batch // it was a hotly debated topic both here and on facebook

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/archive/index.php/t-55609.html

if i am wrong please correct me


E.T.A : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG9qz3IV9_M

I couldn't watch the video past the 2:26 mark. There were too many "ums" and "uhs" for me to get through it. Major pet peeve of mine! Oh my gosh. EDIT THAT CRAP. :shock: (OK. Sorry. Rant over.)
 
I have used yogurt to help smooth out HP soap, even to smooth out CP soap that thickened too quickly because of an FO. It works better if your yogurt is not cold straight out of the refrigerator. Of course heating up the yogurt can make it separate, so it takes some planning to have slowly warmed up yogurt on hand.

But it's not only the yogurt that needs to be warm, everything that comes into contact with your soap batter (utensils, mold, FO, colorants) also need to be hot or as hot as is safe. Adding anything cold to a hot liquid will cool it down.

See this link for additional tips to help with swirls in HP soap.
 
I couldn't watch the video past the 2:26 mark. There were too many "ums" and "uhs" for me to get through it. Major pet peeve of mine! Oh my gosh. EDIT THAT CRAP. :shock: (OK. Sorry. Rant over.)
I am with you on that one. I hate "ums" and "uhs". When my kids were little I stomped on that one and anytime as they grew up I would stop them if I heard the 3 letter ums. Neither grew up using the "ums" and "uhs" nro have either of granddaughters. (3 & 8)

I did stick it through the video longer than you, but I do not see what is gained, it is much more trouble than cp in my opinion
 
Aye. But then I am thinking at the SL after the cook is key. I often added it to my hp batches at the start of the process, but at the end it might be better for fluidity

My friend uses SL routinely for her fluid HP, but the effect of the yogurt is nevertheless dramatic. She has time for multiple colors and still gets a result with a distinctly low rustic factor. It was speculated that the yogurt reacts to produce sodium lactate, but it seems there isn't anywhere near enough lactic acid in a dollop of yogurt to account for the effect.
 
I've been making hot process soap since I started making soap, around 15 years. I always just embraced the gloppy mashed potato-ness of it. After the online communities began popping up and soap making became a "thing" more and more people started hot processing their soaps and then more newer techniques and ideas came out. I have made lots and lots of different recipes in the hot process way and I can say that before you do any of the newer extreme high temperature or added yogurt/milk/water/sugar/etc techniques that will alter your favorite finished recipe just pay attention to each recipe on its own.

Some formulas are loose in the end with nothing added. Some, you can add milks, SL, sugar and they still stay thick. I have a recipe that can't be scooped out with a spatula but has to be scooped out with a measuring cup. And I have some that are like day old, cold mashed potatoes.

I did add one thing to my recipes, and ended up using it in every recipe and that is sodium lactate. It made enough of a difference to me that I deemed it a worthy addition (and since it has to be shipped in...a worthy expense). I also cover my crock pot with tight plastic wrap and cook on low/warm. It takes longer, but once the soap gels in the center it's done with no risks of high temperature volcanoes when I walk away.

The photo is a few new soaps, I've been doing some in the crock pot swirls and even "take a spoon and smash and swirl in the mold" soaps. I don't add anything in the end, just 2 1/2% sodium lactate added in the beginning, cover the pot tight with plastic wrap, no stirring and then only stir in the additives/superfat/fragrance and mold. I'm pleased, I like the granite look of the hot process coarseness. Some of these are unmolded and cut in under 5 hours as well.

In my opinion all the messing around with hot process to make it looser is a lot of time spent to force hot process be like cold process. If you want bright colors and fine feathery swirls just use the cold process method. Embrace hot process for what it is, all the techniques have their place.

HP swirl soaps.jpg
 
I'm pretty new but love HP! Like your colors and designs. How do you achieve that? Any info on HP is helpful!
 
I've not used SL, is there a guide as to how much to use somewhere?
 
Jod -- This is an older thread, so it's possible you might not get a response to your question. I agree with you -- Chefmom's soaps ~are~ very nice!

Saipan -- The info you want is in Post 14: "... I don't add anything in the end, just 2 1/2% sodium lactate added in the beginning..."
 
I tried it. Did not like it at all. If you get your hot process soap un a right consistency without making it a glop, you can still do many designs. but you have to be very fast.
 

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