Have I ruined the batch I just made?

[rebeccab]

Hi everyone! I need some advice. I made a batch of goat's milk soap last night. I replaced 6 ounces of the lye water with 6 ounces of canned goat's milk, for a 5 pound batch. But I think I forgot to tare out the scale for the plastic pitcher I used to measure out the goat's milk. If I did forget, that means that my lye water/milk was 2 ounces shy. Have I really messed up? If I have ruined this batch, I'm going to be really upset! I was using an herb-infused olive oil! Thank you for any advice from more experienced soapers!

Rebecca

 

[jcandleattic]

Hi everyone! I need some advice. I made a batch of goat's milk soap last night. I replaced 6 ounces of the lye water with 6 ounces of canned goat's milk, for a 5 pound batch. But I think I forgot to tare out the scale for the plastic pitcher I used to measure out the goat's milk. If I did forget, that means that my lye water/milk was 2 ounces shy. Have I really messed up? If I have ruined this batch, I'm going to be really upset! I was using an herb-infused olive oil! Thank you for any advice from more experienced soapers!

Rebecca

It just means you took a bigger liquid discount than you were intending on, which could result in it not gelling as fast, and being harder faster, so ready to cut sooner.
Not ruined at all.

 

[shunt2011]

As long as you had enough liquid to dissolve your lye and your lye measurement was right you should be fine. If it turned into Soap you are good to go. Less liquid would just make it move a bit faster perhaps and it may not gel completely.

 

[SaltedFig]

Lye needs it's own weight in liquid to dissolve (a lye concentration of 50% or less is the minimum, a common lye concentration is around 30%)

Your increased lye concentration (by possibly adding 4 ounces instead of 6 ounces) is still within safe margins.

Your soap will be just fine.

Hi everyone! I need some advice. I made a batch of goat's milk soap last night. I replaced 6 ounces of the lye water with 6 ounces of canned goat's milk, for a 5 pound batch. But I think I forgot to tare out the scale for the plastic pitcher I used to measure out the goat's milk. If I did forget, that means that my lye water/milk was 2 ounces shy. Have I really messed up? If I have ruined this batch, I'm going to be really upset! I was using an herb-infused olive oil! Thank you for any advice from more experienced soapers!

Rebecca

 

[amd]

Rebecca,
It will depend on your water to lye ratio - or water discount. Lye will dissolve in an equal amount of liquid, so as long as the difference between your pitcher and what you measured isn't less than the weight of the lye, you should be ok. (I think I said all that right, speaking math isn't always my best suit) Basically, as long as your lye isn't over 4 ounces you should be ok. Having less than 1:1 water to lye, I would be worried about having undissolved lye in the mixture.

 

[rebeccab]

Thank you, everyone, for your words of encouragement. I've been making soap for about a year, but I'm not very adventurous! My recipe called for 20 ounces of water and 7 ounces of lye, so even without the missing two ounces of goat's milk, I think I'm safe. I was aiming for a very gentle face soap, and I think this will still work. I cut it, and have it up to dry now. I really, really appreciate your knowledge and support on this! Thank you, again!