Loved the sounds of OO Pomace properties especially re better shelf life and hardness relative to EVOO.
Bought some to make first ever castle a few days ago and did a small batch based on the following.
- 1% SF in soapcalc
- 99% OO Pomace grade
- 1% EVOO after emulsion. Figured it would be a way to still get the EVOO goodness! Happy for any thoughts.
- Water conc to lye was 1.7:1 with 3.5% sea salt brine (variation inspired by Zany's 'no-slime' recipe)
At 10 hours post pour, it was too soft to cut ... but not too far off.
However, I wasn't able to return to the soap until 72 hours post pour. It was too hard to be cut. When I tried, I had to give up because it was too brittle and breaking away in hard chips. So I have a block of soap.
Eager to use it, perhaps within 2 weeks?!
Please excuse my very slight digression; soap is sweating slightly given salt in my ultra high humidity rainforest climate. I wonder whether the sweating will be any less with the baking soda as part of Zany's brine recipe. Unsure whether the oil type makes the sweating better or worse or the overall effect on hardness.
Unfortunately, having never used any other (commercial) Castile soap, I do not have a benchmark with which to compare. Happy for comments.