Note: admin - if this should be in the FO forum, please move for me.
I’m using the method shown in the I Dream in Soap YouTube video. She tested 10 FOs in 10 cups, but I went with six. After three rounds of testing (but only 12 FOs, see below), the citrus smelling FOs and the green tea I’ve used frequently in the past were the slowest, while the florals tended to move more quickly. This isn’t surprising, but knowing the timeframes for trace stages is very useful. An oil substitution (by mistake, for round 1) and technique also seemed to make a difference, but more testing will be needed before I can say much about that. It wasn’t until this morning that I realized that I had picked up the HOSunflower oil instead of RBO for the round 1 batter. The soap is definitely whiter than it is with RBO and everything seemed to move a little more slowly than expected. For round 2, I was careful to use RBO, but then I couldn’t control myself and hit the batter with the mini blender one more time, which took my beautiful emulsion to light trace. I added the FOs, but the soap in all of the cups was already firming up. For round 3, I used the same FOs as round 2, and was super careful to stay at emulsion. Much better results! Some of the FOs we’re still at a light med trace after 20 min (for me this means that I can make a ribbon of batter on surface that disappears when I tap the cup on the counter). Other cups/FOs were making what I call “Future Prim” peaks by the 5-6 min mark, so pretty fast, but still workable. I didn’t observe ricing or seizing with any of the FOs, but that’s probably because I tend to stay away from FOs known for bad behavior. I’m using my highest stearic & palmitic recipe (tallow & shea) because it‘s one of the fastest to come to trace without FO added.
other details: I’m making 40g test soaps in #5 plastic condiment cups from the dollar store. The FOs are at 3% ppo. My starting oil temp is 90F and lye MB is more like 70F. After I put the lids on, the cups are going on a heating pad set to medium for 2 hrs. I’m not sure if they’re gelling, but I’m confident that I will be able to pop 5 of 6 round 1 soaps out of their cups by later today.
The best news for me so far is the perfect performance, and possibly even deceleration, of NS Satsuma Orange. I was disappointed to get little lumps in a recipe test soap I recently made with that FO. The oils were a bit warmer for the recipe test.
I still have dozens of FOs to test, but I think it will be well worth the time.
I’m using the method shown in the I Dream in Soap YouTube video. She tested 10 FOs in 10 cups, but I went with six. After three rounds of testing (but only 12 FOs, see below), the citrus smelling FOs and the green tea I’ve used frequently in the past were the slowest, while the florals tended to move more quickly. This isn’t surprising, but knowing the timeframes for trace stages is very useful. An oil substitution (by mistake, for round 1) and technique also seemed to make a difference, but more testing will be needed before I can say much about that. It wasn’t until this morning that I realized that I had picked up the HOSunflower oil instead of RBO for the round 1 batter. The soap is definitely whiter than it is with RBO and everything seemed to move a little more slowly than expected. For round 2, I was careful to use RBO, but then I couldn’t control myself and hit the batter with the mini blender one more time, which took my beautiful emulsion to light trace. I added the FOs, but the soap in all of the cups was already firming up. For round 3, I used the same FOs as round 2, and was super careful to stay at emulsion. Much better results! Some of the FOs we’re still at a light med trace after 20 min (for me this means that I can make a ribbon of batter on surface that disappears when I tap the cup on the counter). Other cups/FOs were making what I call “Future Prim” peaks by the 5-6 min mark, so pretty fast, but still workable. I didn’t observe ricing or seizing with any of the FOs, but that’s probably because I tend to stay away from FOs known for bad behavior. I’m using my highest stearic & palmitic recipe (tallow & shea) because it‘s one of the fastest to come to trace without FO added.
other details: I’m making 40g test soaps in #5 plastic condiment cups from the dollar store. The FOs are at 3% ppo. My starting oil temp is 90F and lye MB is more like 70F. After I put the lids on, the cups are going on a heating pad set to medium for 2 hrs. I’m not sure if they’re gelling, but I’m confident that I will be able to pop 5 of 6 round 1 soaps out of their cups by later today.
The best news for me so far is the perfect performance, and possibly even deceleration, of NS Satsuma Orange. I was disappointed to get little lumps in a recipe test soap I recently made with that FO. The oils were a bit warmer for the recipe test.
I still have dozens of FOs to test, but I think it will be well worth the time.