Primary attempt - oils & some basic questions

docview · Feb 27, 2017

cmzaha said:
Your soap looks lovely and I am sure you will enjoy it. I find Rice Bran to be quite nice in soap in place of OO. But then I am not a big fan of olive in soap. Do you have any hard butters indigenous to your area or that are easily acquired? Using butters in the 10% range can add some hardness and longevity to your soap

Thanks, Tribal groups have used Mahua oil (Mowrah Butter) discussed in this thread for making soap. I'm in touch with a supplier. I've also got my Olive oil shipment which I'll substitute for a bit of Rice Bran to diversify the fatty acid profile.

Seawolfe said:
My 100% coconut oil for laundry soap doesn't overheat - but it does get hot and gels very fast. Soap closer to room temp when you do, and don't fill the mold up all the way. A slab mold - even if it's a box with a plastic liner - will cool off quicker. Ive never needed an ice bath. You can decrease the water, I did last time, but it just made it so I had to cut and grate it earlier before it hardened too much, so I wont decrease the water as much next time (if at all).

And those are fabulous looking soaps! Congratulations!

Thanks, As mentioned by you I left ample space in the mold & used default value for lye concentration. I didn't notice any overheating & left it in the mold overnight.

Soapprentice · Feb 27, 2017

Very interesting to know about Mowrah Butter... keep us posted how it goes..

docview · Mar 1, 2017

A couple of questions -

1. I want to add homemade coconut milk to my recipe using the split method. What should be the temperature of coconut milk? It is getting hot here hence I would be storing freshly prepared milk in fridge.

2. I want to include the leaves of Holy basil (Tulsi, Ocimum tenuiflorum) in my recipe. Should I infuse Holy basil leaves in oil & add the infused oil at trace? Will any medicinal properties survive the saponification process?

Thanks

The Efficacious Gentleman · Mar 1, 2017

1- if using split method, I would add the milk to the oils before adding the lye solution in there, too

2- in cp, not likely that they would survive. Even in hp, the heat and high pH won't help

shunt2011 · Mar 1, 2017

docview said:
A couple of questions -

1. I want to add homemade coconut milk to my recipe using the split method. What should be the temperature of coconut milk? It is getting hot here hence I would be storing freshly prepared milk in fridge.

2. I want to include the leaves of Holy basil (Tulsi, Ocimum tenuiflorum) in my recipe. Should I infuse Holy basil leaves in oil & add the infused oil at trace? Will any medicinal properties survive the saponification process?

Thanks

I just add the cold or room temp milk to my warmed oils and stickblend really well.

As for using Basil, it really won't add anything to your soap. None of the medicinal properties are likely to survive the lye. And if it's fresh it will contain water so I would dry it really well and not use a lot. You can either infuse it into some of you OO or add it to your batter though it may be scratchy.

christost7 · Mar 1, 2017

docview said:
A couple of questions -

1. I want to add homemade coconut milk to my recipe using the split method. What should be the temperature of coconut milk? It is getting hot here hence I would be storing freshly prepared milk in fridge.

2. I want to include the leaves of Holy basil (Tulsi, Ocimum tenuiflorum) in my recipe. Should I infuse Holy basil leaves in oil & add the infused oil at trace? Will any medicinal properties survive the saponification process?

Thanks

1. I have used this method when adding milks in my recipe: 60% of the normal water quantity with my lye and then add the remaining 40% of water as milk (slightly heated) at emulsion/light trace. Has worked great for me.
2. No

penelopejane · Mar 1, 2017

Like TEG and shunt I add cold milk to the oils SB then add the lye mix and SB again.

docview · Mar 2, 2017

Thank You all for your response.

@shunt2011 I didn't take into account the water content of fresh leaves, thanks for pointing it out.

In my first bath soap I added 1 tbsp sugar per pound of oil, If I'm using coconut milk should I skip sugar ?

penelopejane · Mar 2, 2017

docview said:
Thank You all for your response.

@shunt2011 I didn't take into account the water content of fresh leaves, thanks for pointing it out.

In my first bath soap I added 1 tbsp sugar per pound of oil, If I'm using coconut milk should I skip sugar ?

It depends on how bubbly you want it. I never add sugar but a lot of people do.

Primary attempt - oils & some basic questions

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