rosyrobyn
Well-Known Member
So I've just made my first few batches on my own (made some soap at a studio where everything was set up for me). I was a little nervous about doing it on my own so I wanted to set everything up perfectly so I wouldn't make mistakes.
First mistake - forgot the distilled water, had to go get some. Second mistake - didn't have the recipe in an easy to view area. Kept having to turn around to read it - I'll be taping my recipe to my kitchen cabinet from now on. First picture is my setup (just ignore the paprika - that was to color batch #4 and it turned out pretty ugly).
My first batch was fairly simple since it's for my son with psoriasis. 65% lard, 30% pomace olive oil, 5% castor oil, 6%SF, 2:1 lye ratio. Soaped at 115F. No additives. When I unmolded I put them on a metal tray and when I went to look at them they have little rust marks on them. Is this DOS? Should I cut the spots off? (Pic #2)
My second batch was the same recipe but I wanted to add oat milk for the liquid and powdered goat milk. More mistakes: oat milk + lye = bright orange, goopy mess. Had to dilute with water and pour down the drain with lots more water. Was this ok for disposing of bad lye mixture? Next I tried 1/2 of the water amount as just water to mix the lye with and added the other 1/2 water amount as oatmilk, blended with the oils. I also added 2 tbl goat milk powder and 1 tsp activated charcoal to the oils. This batch seemed to go ok. (Pic #3)
My third batch was a straight castille soap. 100% olive oil, 1.1-1 lye ratio (I had read that this was a better ratio for castille and high olive oil soaps). Got a little silly with the temperatures because I didn't take the time to wait for the lye water to cool down much (180F) and the oil was at 100F. It looked a little grainy when I first added the lye to the oils but smoothed out after I stickblended. Disaster avoided! When I poured the batter into a loaf mold I had way too much extra, had to use my other molds. One thing I noticed was the sides of the loaf have tiny bubbles on them. Could it be lye pockets since my lye was so concentrated? Or maybe it had something to do with when I tried to CPOP? Also it doesn't look like it gelled? Oven temp 170F, turned off after putting the loaf in and left overnight. (Pic #4)
I have lots of other little batches planned (1 lb) so I can see what works best for me and the family, making changes a bit at a time. How do I tell the different batches apart? Do I have to start using colorants (tried paprika and turned out pretty ugly)? I am trying to keep the recipes simple before I start adding scents and colors.
Sorry for the long post but it's all been so exciting for me and DH can only handle so much soap talk. Can't wait for the 6 weeks to be up so I can try some of these out!
First mistake - forgot the distilled water, had to go get some. Second mistake - didn't have the recipe in an easy to view area. Kept having to turn around to read it - I'll be taping my recipe to my kitchen cabinet from now on. First picture is my setup (just ignore the paprika - that was to color batch #4 and it turned out pretty ugly).
My first batch was fairly simple since it's for my son with psoriasis. 65% lard, 30% pomace olive oil, 5% castor oil, 6%SF, 2:1 lye ratio. Soaped at 115F. No additives. When I unmolded I put them on a metal tray and when I went to look at them they have little rust marks on them. Is this DOS? Should I cut the spots off? (Pic #2)
My second batch was the same recipe but I wanted to add oat milk for the liquid and powdered goat milk. More mistakes: oat milk + lye = bright orange, goopy mess. Had to dilute with water and pour down the drain with lots more water. Was this ok for disposing of bad lye mixture? Next I tried 1/2 of the water amount as just water to mix the lye with and added the other 1/2 water amount as oatmilk, blended with the oils. I also added 2 tbl goat milk powder and 1 tsp activated charcoal to the oils. This batch seemed to go ok. (Pic #3)
My third batch was a straight castille soap. 100% olive oil, 1.1-1 lye ratio (I had read that this was a better ratio for castille and high olive oil soaps). Got a little silly with the temperatures because I didn't take the time to wait for the lye water to cool down much (180F) and the oil was at 100F. It looked a little grainy when I first added the lye to the oils but smoothed out after I stickblended. Disaster avoided! When I poured the batter into a loaf mold I had way too much extra, had to use my other molds. One thing I noticed was the sides of the loaf have tiny bubbles on them. Could it be lye pockets since my lye was so concentrated? Or maybe it had something to do with when I tried to CPOP? Also it doesn't look like it gelled? Oven temp 170F, turned off after putting the loaf in and left overnight. (Pic #4)
I have lots of other little batches planned (1 lb) so I can see what works best for me and the family, making changes a bit at a time. How do I tell the different batches apart? Do I have to start using colorants (tried paprika and turned out pretty ugly)? I am trying to keep the recipes simple before I start adding scents and colors.
Sorry for the long post but it's all been so exciting for me and DH can only handle so much soap talk. Can't wait for the 6 weeks to be up so I can try some of these out!