Lye Mix and Oils Temperature- Does it really matter?

[atiz]

hi atiz,
my total oil is 50 oz
the FO is a bit on the heavy side, but I figure with the lye water the total weight is around 72 oz
Therefore 4.688 oz of FO is approximately 6%
I agree that the 50 oz batch is a bit on the big side but all family and friends are waiting for these soaps.
My question is if I did had a false trace , how this would effect the end resold of the soap?

Well, this is not what makes or breaks a recipe, but we calculate the FO percentages as percentages of the total oils and not of the whole batch. Some FO's might cause irritation if used much above the recommended usage rate.
I agree with the others -- don't give away your soap yet. You can learn to make much better soap with a little practice, and your family will be grateful for it.

 

[Rune]

@maria kavathas The lye solution will not give you a burning sensation if you put a finger in it. I have done that by mistake (should check the temperature and forgot a minute it was not ordinary water), and it did not burn. I did wash it of really well immediately after realizing what I just had done. And my finger did not fall off, or anything. Nothing happened, really. Perhaps since I did hurry to the sink.

But yes, as all the others say, you must never ever again on purpose put fingers in your lye solution. It is definately not safe. You are not supposed to check if your lye is active or not. Just trust that it is active as long as you have mixed water and lye granules together, in the same way you trust that your baking soda is active when you add it to cake batters.

Lye safety is really important. And never forget to wear safety glasses or goggles, since a splatter of lye into your eye can give you serious eye damage or make you blind.

 

[maria kavathas]

dear Susie the soap is 4 days old ,I just did the zap test and unfortunately it did not zap my tongue. what do I do now?

I wash my hands with it and it makes beautiful suds and leaves the skin sooo soft, I just don't understand it???

 

[atiz]

dear Susie the soap is 4 days old ,I just did the zap test and unfortunately it did not zap my tongue. what do I do now?

The first thing you may want to do is read up on a few pages in the beginners thread.
If the soap did not zap, that means it is safe to use. You will need to cure it for 4--6 weeks for regular use though; it will just get better. But it sounds like a successful soap, after all!

 

[penelopejane]

I wash my hands with it and it makes beautiful suds and leaves the skin sooo soft, I just don't understand it???

I would follow Susie’s instructions in post 60.

 

[melinda48]

It was indeed odd, and I didn't expect it to happen. I think my oils were probably a lot hotter than 110, as I was doing hot process soap. I ended up putting the entire batch into a ziploc bag (after it cooled) and it's still very liquid. So odd.

There is an abundance of excellent information from the very generous people on this forum. I never fail to learn something new here. I will say, however, that I would recommend you purchase a few well-written books on Soapmaking. There are excellent resources out there. I honestly believe that soapmaking is an art and a craft. If you read, you will learn. Read more than one book and if you find discrepancies, ask questions here.

We all make mistakes, large and small, but I think they are rarely made due to flagrant disregard to the “rules.” Start small and enjoy the process. It will make your Soapmaking most rewarding personally and professionally.

 

[Susie]

dear Susie the soap is 4 days old ,I just did the zap test and unfortunately it did not zap my tongue. what do I do now?

I wash my hands with it and it makes beautiful suds and leaves the skin sooo soft, I just don't understand it???

I would probably set it aside to cure for 6-8 weeks, just as a learning experience. I would NOT encourage you to give that soap to anyone else, nor would I recommend anyone other than yourself use it. However, that "sooo soft" feeling is probably excess lye removing outer layers of skin cells. Neither an intended nor desired outcome of using soap. Let it cure. Time will fix any potential lye heaviness. If you wonder if I saw that you did the zap test, I did, I just don't know if you tested the interior or the exterior of the loaf, and that makes a huge difference.

What you need to do is start at the beginning. The Beginner's Forum. Learn about lye safety. Learn about making a good recipe. Learn about what others did that did not work. Ask for recipe help if you are determined to create your own. I would use someone else's tried and true recipe first so you have a known recipe to compare "your" recipes to. Believe me, it helps. Read at least 5-10 pages of threads. Not of one thread, whole pages of the titles of threads. Especially anything with the word "Help" in the title. If you haven't made those errors yet, just wait, you will. And you need to know how to recognize them and what to do to avoid/fix them.

You can do all this while waiting for that soap to firm up and help you figure out what happened.

Sorry, I know you had envisioned other results from soapmaking, but we all started here, and all of us that persisted got better. Hang in there, you will too.

 

[older69fan]

What would happen if I cook and hold for 4 hrs? Would I get a softer soap?

 

[shunt2011]

What would happen if I cook and hold for 4 hrs? Would I get a softer soap?

The temp of the oils/lye is irrelevant with HP. You would be better to start a new thread with your question. But no, you'll only end up with a really dry soap. Soap never needs to cook that long. Also, since it's your first post hop on over to the introduction forum and tell us a bit about yourself.