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dane

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hi, i just made my first batch today...

i didn't have a stick blender so what i did was attach a long wooden spoon to a heavy-duty Milwaukee drill :D.

oils:

5oz lard
20oz canola
5oz almond
12oz coconut
25oz extra virgin olive oil

9.116 oz lye

22.11oz (water+ginger tea)

the water and ginger tea mixture turned light yellow when i mixed in the lye

i melted all the oils together on the stove and mixed got it to around 103 degrees

mixed in the lye solution into the oil and it instantly became cloudy...

mixed it with my spoon on a drill and it started getting thick and soupy...changed color to a pale pale yellow. I mixed for about an hour...slowly and on full speed, battery died...i switched and kept going.

i got pissed and poured it into the mold and went to bed...woke up and the it was a beige color and the top was a thick oily layer..

i read up on it and it said that my lye maybe have been on the light side.

the soap was nowhere near firm it was basically what i imagined trace to be (like custard), i could draw in it. (remember this is after say...8 hours)

so i scooped everything out of the molds put it in a crock pot, and cooked it up, i then added 3 more oz of lye + 7oz of water mixture to the crock pot stirred (this time i could really trace...like i dribbled the spoon in the pot and the drops stayed on the surface of the mixture...i then poured everything back in the molds and set it...its 8 hours later...and the soap has no thin oily layer, but is not hard yet...it has the consistency of cheesecake.

is everything okay? should i just let it cure for a full 8 hours. or should i recook it and add a little more lye?
 
I'm sorry, but recooking and/or adding lye won't do it this time... I'm afraid your batch is ready for the garbagebin :(

First of all, your recipe isn't in balance. It would be much better to use little (under 10%) canola, as it is DOS (Dreaded Orange Spots) prone.
Also, you have a lot of soft oils; that is probably why it wasn't setting up properly the first time.
For example,
20% lard, 25% coconut, 50% olive oil and 5% almond would make a much nicer soap; but it would be better to start with something simple and cheap, like 100% lard soap, just untill you get the hang of it.

You can make your own recipes, get an idea of the properties and figure out the right amount of lye and water at www.soapcalc.com.

You did figure out the right amount of lye for your recipe; but when you added the extra 3oz your soap became lye heavy... That's why you'd be better off tossing this batch of soap.

So next time, make sure you have a proper recipe (you can always post it in advance so people can take a look at it and give suggestions), use the right amount of lye and water and IMO, a stickblender is a must have :p
 
You should have only used the original 9 oz of lye, so assuming your measurements are correct, what you have now is a lye-heavy (as in caustic, dangerous) soap & lye mixture.

What kind of scale did you use?

Olive oil and lard area both a bit of a challenge because they are sooooooo slow to trace (emulsify and thicken) and from what you describe your soap separated in the mold.

A spoon on a drill? Not sure what that's all about, but it clearly wasn't the right tool. Try an immersion blender. Or if you want to do by hand a wire whisk is pretty good (tho with OO and lard it'll take a long time).

I would guess that the reason your lye-heavy "fix" is still soft is that olive oil soaps take a bit of extra to harden up. Then you added more water with the excess lye, slowing it down even more.

Throw it away, please.

Your initial lye amount were correct for those oils (like Dagmar I recommend less canola, personally).
 
hey guys, thanks for the replies my brother and i sat down and took a look at everything, the water for the initial batch was mixed with ginger tea...guess what...it has 120% of a daily value of vitamin C... the ascorbic acid neutralized a good amount of lye, thats why the first time it set up it had so much excess oil. i dont know why i didnt check the tea...i feel like a fool.

but the 3oz i think did the trick, the soap after 24 hours was firm enough to call soap, it was very soft to the touch but firm..if that makes sense. i cut it up into bars, they came out to be a very very light beige, they look gorgeous.

there are no orange spots, no discolorations, i took some of the shavings and washed my hands with them, it lathers up very well, but leaves a slimy feel on the hands but i hear that is the result of fresh soap. i get the feeling the tea neutralized more lye than i thought because the soap is so soft...it maybe super fatted around 10% ...

any suggestions ?
 
To me, normally the slimy feel says that the soap is lye heavy. Have you checked for zap? Dampen your finger in water. Touch that finger to the soap, then lightly touch it to your tongue. If it zaps it will feel like licking a 9 volt battery.
 
soapbuddy said:
To me, normally the slimy feel says that the soap is lye heavy. Have you checked for zap? Dampen your finger in water. Touch that finger to the soap, then lightly touch it to your tongue. If it zaps it will feel like licking a 9 volt battery.

i touched my tongue to the soap directly and it zapped me.

i dampened my finger in water and i got no zap, i got a very very very feint tingling, essentially something i wouldnt have noticed if i wasnt looking for it .

edit: also may i note that there were NO small puddles of lye, or liquid when i cut the soap.
 
dane said:
hey guys, thanks for the replies my brother and i sat down and took a look at everything, the water for the initial batch was mixed with ginger tea...guess what...it has 120% of a daily value of vitamin C... the ascorbic acid neutralized a good amount of lye, thats why the first time it set up it had so much excess oil. i dont know why i didnt check the tea...i feel like a fool.
no, there isn't enough acid in tea to neutralize much of the lye. i soap with tomato juice (acidic), and even orange juice. and we always have a slight excess of oils for safety sake = I often soap at even a 10% lye discount.

your soap separated in the mold because it wasn't fully emulsified.

you initially had the correct amount of lye. adding excess lye clearly did NOT "do it" - you created a lye heavy soap is all. sorry.
 
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