How much water?

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You do not want them at 100 degrees CELSIUS! Even for many soapers, 60 Celsius is too hot.

Sorry it didn't all go to plan, but it's one reason why it's better to go simple at the start.

I have to say, though, for all the time you were waiting on the thermometers you could have checked the scale power and stocks of oils to make sure. I keep all my soaping ingredients apart from the kitchen stuff so that I know for sure how much I have - my oils for soaping are just my oils for soaping.

The next one will be better, I am sure

Eta -

Looking at the recipe, it might well need a while in the mould with the high amounts of soft oils.
 
Thanks for the feedback. Don't know how I got mixed up with the temperatures :oops:
I hadn't thought about keeping the oils separate from my cooking oils, I was so focused on making sure that I have separate jugs etc. and a place to store them away from the rest of my kitchen things. Thanks for the suggestion. The scale was a new one, bought for soap making because I didn't have a digital one. I did test it beforehand and it seemed fine........I won't be in a hurry to unmold it :shifty:

Thanks,again, much appreciated
 
You may also want to think about adding either lard, palm, or tallow to add to the hardness and conditioning. Or substitute in some shea or cocoa butter. And keep your coconut oil at 20% or lower until you get the hang of fine tuning your superfat to exactly what you like.
 
Honey, every last one of us have had situations like that. That is how we learn. Trial and error. I can promise you I have made every error in the book. But I learned better, and will continue to make more errors and learn from them as I try new things. One of the wonderful things about this forum is that when we mess up, we can get help, and others can learn from our mistakes.
 
I think it was a great first outing. On the fly improvising, equipment malfunctions, temperatures moving differently. haha. You got to experience a lot of the things that can and do go wrong. People can explain the problems and the process as in depth as can be, but until you actually do it, experience it, the process is just information on a piece of paper.

Go away for a few days, come back and unmold your soap. Zap test it and if all tests ok, let it cure. Craig is right, it's probably going to need a long cure, but you will now have something to compare your next batches to.

Great job.
 
Hehe, see I told ya to breathe :wink: :lol:

You def experienced various issues that can arise, even when you plan everything out..there is always that..something..that happens..but now you know its not so scary and you did a good job on rolling with it, and not giving up..good job!

Btw, we wont ever tell you to just give up and quit..we love it when others succeed :)
 
Thanks Jstar, yep you told me to breathe.....:)

Thanks for the support! It really does make a difference.

I had a quick peek at it before I left home this morning. There was a bit of white spotting in the middle but mostly it looked pretty good. It was only 12 hours since making it so I left it alone and will get back to it in a few days. It might be ash? Will post a pic when I've cut it and zap tested.
 
Every batch is a learning experience, and it looks like you learned some valuable lessons. We don't suggest that newbies make plain soap to be mean. You can see now that there are plenty of things to keep track of when you're starting out, without having to worry about fragrance and color, right? But the good thing about mistakes is that they are great teachers. I bet you never again start a batch of soap without checking first to make sure you have enough of the oils you need!

And Susie is right, those of us who've been soaping a while, have probably made every mistake in the book. So don't dwell on this batch.......start planning your next!
 
navigator9 said:
I bet you never again start a batch of soap without checking first to make sure you have enough of the oils you need
Click to expand...

That's for sure! Thanks Navigator9 :grin:

When I got home tonight I unmolded and cut the soap which went smoothly. It was in the mold for 3 days. But it doesn't pass the zap test. Is it worth letting it cure in hopes that it will then be ok?
 
Hi Everyone,

Although I knew that this batch of soap would probably end up in the bin I decided to let it cure to see how it changes as it hardens. Every now and then I've been zap testing it and it's always failed. I did it again today and no zap! Is it actually possible that it might be ok to use when it's taken 3 weeks to pass the zap test?

Thanks :grin:
 
It is possible -

There was a crazy (crazy good!) thread with a VERY lye heavy Castile, where the soap was left and the excess lye reacted with the air to neutralise over time. That soap had a large amount of water which helped to migrate the lye to the outside of the soap where it could react. It was extremely interesting, I must say.
 
Cool, thanks very much :grin:

I think if I knew how much chemistry was involved at the beginning I may not have started but I'm hooked now. And determined to get it right! And it appeals to the logical side of my brain as well as the creative. Yep, very interesting!
 
Just had to say I've been using one of these cakes of soap for the past few days.....so nice to use something I've made from scratch. It cured for five weeks and is nice and bubbly. :smile:
 

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