Lye Concentration

[Anthony0327]

Hi,

Quick but dumb question. I was told to use a lye concentration of 30% to get a harder bar quicker. That 30% might be a bit much as it gives me not a lot of time to work. On soapcalc, is the higher the number the more water? If I made it 35% will that give me more time to work but get harder faster? I am not sure if the higher the number the more water or the lower it is the more water. Not sure if that makes sense

Thanks,

Anthony

 

[dibbles]

A lye concentration of 30% will have more water than a lye concentration of 35%. I may have suggested 30%. If it was me, it was in terms of thinking it's newbie friendly, and I use 30-31% often if I want a lot of time to work. Now that you've made some successful batches, you can increase the lye concentration. I'd try 33% - seems to be a sweet spot for a lot of people.

In terms of a harder bar quicker, do you mean getting harder during cure or just for purposes of unmolding?

 

[Anthony0327]

A harder bar for quick unmolding. Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[earlene]

If you check out a recipe in SoapCalc or Soapee, you will find that the default lye concentration (full water) is around about 28%. 30% is not that much different and IMO doesn't really take away much time for doing swirls and so forth, unless you're really slow. Nothing wrong with slow. I am still slow, but was much slower when new, so I understand the need to have more time for doing new stuff like mixing colors and learning a new swirl, etc.

But it's not just the lye concentration that affects how much time you have to work. Certain recipes are considered fast movers or 'quick to trace' while others will be slower to trace, giving you more time to work. So if you want to practice new techniques, choose a slow moving recipe. Here is a link with some more information and some sample recipes for slow moving soap recipes to use for practicing new techniques or swirls.

http://www.bathalchemylab.com/2014/08/slowing-trace-plus-5-slow-moving-soap.html

Other factors can also affect trace and here's another link on that subject:

https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/controlling-trace-in-cold-process-soapmaking/

and another one:

https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/trace/

 

[dibbles]

A harder bar for quick unmolding. Thanks for the quick reply.

The best way I've personally found to being able to unmold more quickly is to ensure gel and use sodium lactate. The ratio of hard to soft oils can be a factor, but I find that if my soaps gel I can usually unmold the next day.

 

[DeeAnna]

Be careful that you're looking at lye concentration and not "water as % of oils." It's easy to get these two numbers confused if a person doesn't have a lot of experience. Confusing the two will get you in trouble, so I thought I'd mention this just in case.

 

[IrishLass]

Ditto what DeeAnna said!


IrishLass