Totally new to this

Hi. I'm here for HELP... this is my second batch of soap... I decided to make Castile with a recipe from The Everything Soapmaking Book.

I'd read that you could use turn any recipe into a hot process... and that's what I decided to do with my crock pot & stick blender. Everything seemed to go along fine until the end... after reaching trace (finally), I didn't stir... just let it cook. It cooked probably 45 min or so. It was very, very dry coming out of the pot & when I tried to mold it I tried really hard to squish it down to make everything stick together.

I unmolded after a few hours & it was just breaking all over the place. I used the pH strips & I saw that it was probably lye heavy...so I let it sit. Over a period of a few days, I'd try different parts of the soap.... shards from the top tested at 10... while the stuff from the bottom tested @ 14 (or higher, I guess). Oil seemed to be seeping out... I didn't test those spots... I guess I should have.

So now, I've decided to melt the stuff down & at least play around with it before tossing it out. I've shredded it into the crock pot, added 1/4 cup of distilled water and am watching it melt, stirring it every 15 min or so. I have not added more oil. Out of curiosity, I tried a strip on mess in the pot... and sure enough, it if 14 (or +).

I'm totally out of my league here.... The recipe... I ran it through a calculator & everything checked out okay... everything was measured on a scale...Should I have stirred it? Was it a mixing issue? Can this be saved? If not, how will lye heavy Castile work out grated into laundry detergent??

Sorry if this is too much reading... but I want you to know everything so you can tell me where I goofed.

Thanks so much in advance.

Can you post your recipe please? have you tried a zap test? Those strips are pretty worthless for soap, you are better off using your tongue to see if it is zappy or burns at all. It does sound like its lye heavy but it can possibly be saved.

You should have stirred it a couple times at least while it was cooking so it cooks evenly. Did it get transparent like Vaseline before you packed it into the mold?

Hi & thanks for responding.

The recipe that I used was 4 oz lye,10 oz water & 2 lb olive oil.

When it put it into the mold originally, it was like a mashed potato consistency, but it had kind of a sheer look to it...vaseline, maybe. I thought I might have even overcooked it...it seemed dry, but then I don't think I'd have high lye if overcooked?

It is melting nicely in the crock pot right now... still chunky-ish,, though... bigger pieces not melted.

I only used the strips... I'm pretty scared to zap... as it is, I did manage to blister my thumb when I was grating the soap without gloves. Stupid.

If it seems dry, you can add a bit more water. One ounce at a time is a good amount to work with. Your amounts are good but did you weigh or measure the water and lye?

Clearish mashed potato is the consistency you are going for. Once its hit that clearish stage, all the lye will be used up unless you used too much lye then no amount of cooking will help. Its possible it was crumbly from being to dry, when you make HP you want full water which would have been 12 oz for your recipe. Try a potato masher to break up the clumps that haven't melted back down yet.

Did you get a blister from a lye burn or just from grating? You don't need to be afraid of doing a zap test at this stage and its pretty important that you do it. Its just a bit of a tingle like a 9 volt battery. I was really afraid the first time too but its wasn't bad.
If it doesn't zap, then keep cooking and adding water until you get the consistency you want before plopping it back into the mold

I've been adding little bits of water since I've put it in... it seems to get dry...and I really want to get those chunks melted...so I'm going to let this go until I go to bed tonight.

I weighed the ingredients.

Oh this was definitely a lye blister...

I'm working up the courage to do the zap! I'm about ready to pitch the strips out the window. When stirring, I've gotten soap all over me (kind of like when I cook!)... and nothing is burning or tingling.

Please do the zap. If its still zappy, you will need to add a bit more oil. You just need a tiny bit on your finger and a quick touch to the tongue. You can cook it forever but if there is too much lye, nothing will help it except more oil.

So apparently, having a glass of wine makes me brave... bad news, it zapped. Good news, I can still speak...I survived.

I can't imagine how much oil I need to add to try to counter act this?? I've been googling this whole time & adding more oil seems to be the consensus... but no one says how to figure that out. I've added maybe 3 more ounces of olive oil. I'm at the point of adding motor oil if that will help.

And I can't imagine what the heck happened since everything was measured according to the recipe & run through a calc. So frustrating.

Dang, thats too bad but I'm glad you survived lol. Give the three ounces you added time to cook in and zap test it again. Add oil until it stops zapping then add 1-2 ounces more.
You didn't answer weather you weighed your ingredients or if you measured them with a cup? When making soap, everything has to be weighed with a digital scale. Thats the only thing I can see that might have went wrong.

Oh, I def weighed them. I was so confused in the beginning.... all the different recipes' measurements... but the more I read, the more it was spelled out to WEIGH everything. I have a good postal scale & it does pounds, oz & gms. I wonder if I should try gms next time.

I made lye/lard soap the first time... and other than being a wee piggy smelling, it is FANTASTIC... I love the lather...and smells like nothing when it is being used. And that was LARD! I had such high hopes for OO.

Boo.

I also put it on high... I want to get rid of the lumps and they are giving me a hard time on low. It looks like mashed potatoes... and it doesn't seem to be doing anything else. Another 10 & I'll zap test it again.

Some where along the lines, something was weighed wrong but it happens so don't stress about it. I believe your soap can be saved, just keep working at it. Has the oil you added stir in ok?
I have some 100% lard bars and I love them. I like them considerably more then the 100% olive bars.

It zapped again... the good news is that the lumps are disappearing... and I'm hoping that is the key... because if they are whole, I'm presuming that they are little blobs of lye... I added 2 more oz of oil this go around.

The oil is stirring in great. I haven't added any more water.... the heat & the potato masher seem to be helping the consistency.

LOL... so far, I LOVE my lard bars leaps & bounds more than my OO!

I'm giving up around 10 pm... will just mold it & plan to shred into laundry soap... very EXPENSIVE laundry soap by that point.

I'll keep you posted... thank you again so much for your support & info.

Well, at 9:50, I still had zapping going on... this was with the addition of oil & stirring the pot on high every 10 minutes for about 2 hours. The last dose of oil I put in... I really gave it the heave ho... so much so that at 10, I had no zap. I couldn't believe it... so I did a little more oil & stirring and set it back on for 10 min. This really was a vaseline looking mound of stuff... so I globbed it into a mold, tried to straighten out the top as best as I could... and just gave it a rest.

I have NO idea how much additional oil I added....at least a cup & 1/2. I'm worried I'm going to have a real grease pit on my hands... I'm sure this is going to have to cure for a long period of time... even with the hot process....

So the lye is gone... but I'm wondering what exactly I'm going to have left!? LOL

When do you think I should try unmolding this thing??

Congrats on beating it into submission I wouldn't worry about it being greasy, I bet it will turn out just fine. It should be ready to cut tomorrow but depending on how much water you ended up adding, it might take a extra day to firm up completely. Give it a gentle poke tomorrow and see how it feels, if there is any give then wait longer. What kind of a mold are you using?

Wow, crises averted by two very level heads! It reminded me of "Houston, we have a problem." rbcary did not freak out but rather reached out, for a controlled landing with half of the engines down. Obsidian was waiting in the tower, assessing and advising on the situation without being able to see it. Frequent communication from both in very descriptive yet objective terms.

I was watching from my living room, totally glued and trying to stay out of the way. What would happen to the 3 lbs or soap -- or worse yet -- the confidence of a promising soaper? I silently screamed in victory when the ship smoothly touched down with only minutes to spare before the bewitching bedtime hour. Nicely done rbcary and Obsidian! You are both my heroes! rbcary, I can't wait to see pics of your soap after you've both had a good night's rest.

Obsidian said:

Can you post your recipe please? have you tried a zap test? Those strips are pretty worthless for soap, you are better off using your tongue to see if it is zappy or burns at all. It does sound like its lye heavy but it can possibly be saved.

You should have stirred it a couple times at least while it was cooking so it cooks evenly. Did it get transparent like Vaseline before you packed it into the mold?

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The ph strips really do work if you use them correctly and have some of the better plastic strips. You lather the soap and test the lather. I so prefer to test with a strip than my tongue. Especially a soap that has been in the freezer, they will usually zap for the first 72 hrs or so.

Obsidian said:

What kind of a mold are you using?

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The mold I'm using is this acrylic (I think- or hard plastic) one that I picked up @ Michael's when I had a 50% coupon. It is normally 30 bucks. The very first molding, I used a rubbermaid, which is what I used for the lard. That worked fine also.

I just groped the soap & it feels very firm... the bottom MIGHT have felt a smidge warm... I just left it on the stove when I made my exit from the kitchen last night, so I think I will move it to a cooling rack for a little while.

CaraBou said:

rbcary, I can't wait to see pics of your soap after you've both had a good night's rest.

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Totally love your way with words!!!

LOL... I'm not sure I want to post pictures!!! We will see. My soaps are strictly for family entertainment purposes.

You have to post pics, everyone loves seeing new soaps. Don't worry if they aren't the best looking bars, you should see some of the uglies I've created.

cmzaha said:

The ph strips really do work if you use them correctly and have some of the better plastic strips. You lather the soap and test the lather. I so prefer to test with a strip than my tongue. Especially a soap that has been in the freezer, they will usually zap for the first 72 hrs or so.

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Ah. I have these little paper ones that I got off of eBay. I figured that I would go the inexpensive route before deciding if I was going to make a real go of the soap making. I will have to look into plastic ones as I used up a gazillion of these paper ones over the past few days!!

The zap test... was not at ALL what I had imagined. In all my reading, "zap" test...made me expect something like an electrical jolt...and when I read it is like the sensation of putting your tongue on a battery... that didn't really help as I really try not to make a point of licking my batteries either.

As it was... when I was testing the soap prior to the grand cook-off last night, I did both the lather & directly on the soap itself... my hands felt "weird/sensitive" after lathering... so the strips only confirmed what I suspected regardless of where I stuck them!

I have a feeling that I'm going to be branching out this soap making stuff...trying other techniques, finding other oils etc... so I will probably try some new strips!!

So here's the update as of this AM.

The soap was firm & slice-able. Came out of the mold nicely... not the cracked mess that I started with a few days ago. Everything sliced nicely, but immediately, I noticed those few lumps that wouldn't melt out of the soap when I was cooking it down last night. I wet one of the spots & used one of the testing strips & the spot tested hot... Well, duh! Not sure why I would expect differently.

SO.

I food processed it all this time... put it into a larger crock pot... and I'm melting it down again. Overall, the soap tests fine, but I'm really concerned about those blops. I really want those melted... and I will try molding it again later. Honestly, I'm not too worried because with the amount of oil I put in... between the big dose of oil @ the end... + the little extra after that... that the pH should be okay when all is said & done. If it is not, I will follow our directions from yesterday, adding a little more to cook in & see what happens. I can't imagine that it would be much, if any that I have to add.

The saga rolls on (though with not nearly as much hysteria as yesterday...)!