Irish Salt Soap

Some time back I saved IrishLass' Salt Soap recipe. It was pretty simple so it spoke to me. The wife is very interested in trying it (using it, not crafting it) so there will be some more soap making tomorrow.

I have a few questions that maybe some of you could help with, or maybe IL will answer.

First, recipe questions:
100% CO
13% Superfat (I think? With the milk makes it ~20% more or less? Or at least 13% calculated takes into account the fat in the milk?)
100% coconut milk for water (Any brand/packaging important? I've never bought it.)
25% of oil weight in salt (Correct? Normal salt I think she said, does iodized matter?)

In process questions:
I've never used coconut milk. I read that IL uses the 50/50 method, am I stewed if I can't find the powdered coconut milk? Could I just dissolve the lye in the milk chilled or anything?
IL said something about cutting soon after gel. CO seems to set fast. Do I need to CPOP (never done it) or is wrapping it enough?
Time estimate for gel on 100% CO? (don't want to screw up by soaping too late)

That's a lotta questions! Sorry about that. I'd wing it and see what happens but if I can get a couple answers I may save myself a crappy batch.

When I make salt bars I too use 25%salt. I do the 50/50 method. I use canned coconut milk. Goya brand I think it is. I was doing 18% SF but have since dropped to 15 and love it. I don't however use 100% Co. I like 85 With another oil at 10 and castor at 5.

Oops hit reply too fast. I cut at about 2-3 hours. I do insulate as well to get gel.

Okay thank you. Sounds like I'm headed down the right path. I just need to find the powdered milk. They may have the coconut milk at the local store but I doubt they have the powder.

Put 13% in the sf in your lye calculator, the fat from the coconut milk is on top of that.

I use powdered coconut milk, in fact I got mine from Amazon, but yes you can use the canned, and stir your lye into that if you want. BE AWARE that it will almost instantly get very chunky and thick, that is the lye turning the fat in the milk into soap.

Yes, the salt is 25% of your oils BY WEIGHT. I use fine sea salt from the dollar store. I have never used iodized, I have heard some people have had problems with it, others use it all the time with no problem.

No, you do not need to CPOP it, in fact I wouldn't even insulate it. I cut mine within an hour or two, as soon as it is firm enough to hold together. It is usually still a little squishy in the middle but that is better than waiting too long and trying to cut through solid rock.

eta: if you have any asian markets in your area, they often carry packets of the powder for around a dollar or so

I use Taste of Thai CM (I stock up when it goes on sale) in a lot of my soaps. Most of the time I soap with full milk. I just shake the can really well, and freeze into cubes. I add lye directly to the milk ice-cubes (a little at a time), with an ice bath nearby in case things start to heat up too much. I stir until the lye is completely dissolved. Note that this makes the lye solution with a very pudding-like consistency. I strain the solution to ensure all the lye is dissolved since I cannot see it. I normally prepare my oils first and have them to temperature since my lye solution cools down quite quickly once it's in an ice bath.

The 50/50 is a lot easier in that you can just do a 50% CM added at emulsification. Your lye solution will be doubly strong though, so exercise caution when handling it.

I prevent gel for all my soaps, and I think you might have trouble if you try to gel a full milk soap since they can easily overheat from the sugars.

Thanks New and Snappy! Wife reminded me we have an ethnic market downtown so I'm hoping they are open Sunday.

Often some CM has guar gum in it which some believe to have an adverse effect on their soap (it's a thickener). My local grocer has two brands Taste of Thai and another I think is called Goya, or something close to that. I think taste of thai has it and the other doesn't. But I have avoided it due to warnings from others. I've used it 50/50 CM to water with success. I'm not sure if it's entirely accurate but I also use the nutritional label and calculate the coconut fat and add it to my CO when I soapcalc my recipe. Mine though I go with 100% CO at 15% SF and 100% salt to oil. The salt I use is just non-iodized (spelling??) off the shelf in the baking section. Not sure if they have Fred Myers or Kroger stores where you are but mine keep the canned CM in the Asian section and the powdered in the baking section.
Not sure why but the ladies always seem to did the salt bars.

and here is a thread I found with IL talking about her salt bars.
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=50210&highlight=salt
not sure if that's what you were referring to.

Salt soaps are great, you'll love it.

They really do bear watching for when they are ready to cut as they can go from too soft to too hard faster than is really fair.

Be ready to cut them as soon as you can't dent them with GENTLE pressure. This means as soon as you pour it into the mold, you start watching. I cut mine at about 4 hours.

I made Irish Lass' s salt soap recipe. I live in a hard water area and was finding it difficult to get a good lather with high salt percentages. I used 50 percent coconut milk as I didn't have coconut powder and decided not to use freeze the milk. The soap is amazing. Huge amounts of creamy lather the day it was cut. I can't wait to see what it will be like when its fully cured.

I know this one may send us way off on a tangent but .....

I noticed that the CM has a good amount of minerals - specifically calcium and magnesium. Has anyone ever noticed soap scum issues with these or does the salt tend to eliminate that?

I have a general issue with that, so I use a little citric acid these days. Not made a salt soap with it, though. Might well help

I, too, have used Irish Lass's recipe and it is the BEST salt bar I have ever tried. It is extremely creamy and just feels wonderful. I used 100% frozen coconut milk instead of water and had no problems. I also added a bit of pink cosmetic clay and Dead Sea mud to mine. It looks like a piece of pink marble. I pour my salt bars in individual silicone moulds so cutting is never a problem. Good luck with yours!

I've been away from my computer for the holiday weekend (much cooking and family get-togethering) and just saw this thread.

You've probably already made the soap by now if you were successful in obtaining powdered coconut milk yesterday, and if so, I want to know how it went! If not, I will try to answer some of your questions:

LBussy said:

First, recipe questions:
100% CO
13% Superfat (I think? With the milk makes it ~20% more or less? Or at least 13% calculated takes into account the fat in the milk?)

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When I was in the developing stages of designing this recipe a few years ago, I really didn't know at the time exactly by how much % the extra fat from the coconut milk would increase my overall superfat (didn't know how to calculate for it). Somewhere in my mind I was thinking it might end up somewhere close to 15% - 20%, but instead of conducting any serious mathematical investigations so as to be sure, I just used the scientific method of guessing and then flew by the seat of my pants to make what I hoped would result in a lovely, hard, non-drying, creamy and bubbly salt bar. lol Happily, the result was awesome to me and it's been my go-to salt bar ever since.

LBussy said:

100% coconut milk for water (Any brand/packaging important? I've never bought it.)

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For the canned kind, I just use whatever brand I can find. Sometimes I use the Thai brand which has guar gum, and sometimes I use the Grace brand from my local Asian market which does not have guar gum. For what it's worth, I haven't experienced any weird problems with the Thai brand, nor have I detected any difference between either of the two in my soap.

For the powdered kind, I just use what I can find at the Asian market. Right now, I have the Chaokoh brand. It has some maltodextrin in it, but it hasn't done anything weird in my soap that I have been able to notice.

LBussy said:

25% of oil weight in salt (Correct? Normal salt I think she said, does iodized matter?)

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I've used either regular iodized table salt or sea salt, and both have worked fine.

LBussy said:

In process questions:
I've never used coconut milk. I read that IL uses the 50/50 method, am I stewed if I can't find the powdered coconut milk? Could I just dissolve the lye in the milk chilled or anything?

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Speaking only for myself, I would be stewed, for I hate dissolving lye in milk with a passion. lol Having said that, though, you could do what SnappyLlama does.

LBussy said:

IL said something about cutting soon after gel. CO seems to set fast. Do I need to CPOP (never done it) or is wrapping it enough?
Time estimate for gel on 100% CO? (don't want to screw up by soaping too late)

Click to expand...

Yes- you definitely want to unmold and cut as soon as the soap has firmed back up enough from gelling. I cut mine when it is firm enough, but still quite toasty/warm. No need to CPOP these. They'll gel with or without CPOP if you are making them in an insulated log or slab mold (at least mine do), but CPOP will help to hurry things along. When I CPOP, I pre-heat my oven and then turn it off when my oven's built-in thermostat reaches 120F, then I pop my soap in (covered). Depending on what FO I'm using, my soap will reach complete gel in as little as 30-45 minutes, or as long as 2 to 4 hours or so (Provence from TheScentworks took 4 hours to finally reach complete gel in my oven!). Wrapping and leaving it on the counter is fine, though, too, it just might take a little longer.

Or you could do as Nframe does and pour them into individual molds, forget about them/go about your business, and then pop them out later at your convenience.

LBussy said:

That's a lotta questions! Sorry about that. I'd wing it and see what happens but if I can get a couple answers I may save myself a crappy batch.

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Let us know how it came out!


IrishLass

I took the rest of the day and finished up some honey-do's so I will try to make it this coming weekend. Thanks for the answers!

Okay, soap is made.

I did the 50:50 milk thing (more or less) and that part went pretty well. The soap seized on me and putting the soap in the mold was like trying to work with pudding or maybe even congealed gravy. I'm sure many of you have been there. I did not SB it very long either. I put the FO and milk in the oil, emulsified that fully, and then added the lye. Maybe 15 seconds of the SB and it was a heavy trace all of a sudden. I mixed in the salt and things went to hell.

I got a minor volcano on one of the molds (3" round) even though it was in the fridge. I may have to put this in the chest freezer next time. I cut after an hour and it was crumbly so I guess that was too long. I'll let these cure a month or so I guess and give them a try.

Oh no! What ornery FO did you use?


IrishLass

IrishLass said:

Oh no! What ornery FO did you use?

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Mineral Salt Spa (seemed appropriate) from Soapalooza. Same one I've been using for the rest of the soaps I've made her.

Cocount bars or CO salt bars?

I have a lot of Coconut Oil left over from soaping this last month and have read good things about making CO soap. I didn’t intend to go 100% on the CO but maybe 85%, and then go 10% PO, and go 5% with castor to help the bubbly…
Another supplement with this recipe is the use of Salt…Reading through the threads I noticed that Irish L and others use salt making this soap. 25% of the weight of the oils seems like a lot of salt. Does the salt get diluted to the point where it’s safe for my drain pipes? Probably a dumb question but I thought I’d ask it anyway.
I would like to see any other recipes for this soap if anyone is so inclined...
thanks js