Recent content by ericllucas

Done rebatching! Here is what I did - and remember I had two 25 pound chunks of soap. I rebatched them one at a time. I dumped out the first and saw that it wasn't mixed well. There were pockets of FO and the coloration was, well, let's just leave it at the fact that I didn't mix it well...

I think the concern about using containers that had lye in it for food is related to the possibility that some lye residue would remain, effectively poisoning the food, and thus the eater. I keep the lye containers completely separate, including the plastic container I mix the lye and water in...

Okay, I see a trend here. I need to find a large stainless steel pot. Thanks everyone! I'll come back and let everyone know how it goes once I'm done rebatching it all.

That DOES sound much simpler. Each of the two batches, however, weighs about 25 pounds. I would have to make around 50 one pound batches. I'm looking for a method that scales up and can handle 25 pounds at once. Thanks nonetheless, I learned something!

Ooooh, tell me more about boiling bags, please.

Hi: I made two batches of soap yesterday morning. They both have 280 ounces of oils in them. One of them still has lye water around the sides of the mold and the other one seemed to separate and has unincorporated fragrance oils. The latter one seemed to trace in about ten seconds - no I...

Hi - I also generally use a 2:1 Water:lye ratio. Soapcalc.net makes it easy to enter this ratio. If I have a lot of olive oil, I occasionally go down to 1.8:1. Here is the thing to keep in mind, however, when water discounting - it is going to go from Trace to Soap-on-a-stick real quick. If...

Hi: I believe you are thinking right. Saponification takes place largely in the first couple of days and then it is just moisture reduction. If you are looking to have CP soap faster, you can also water-discount and hot-soap. Water discounting is reducing the amount of water you use to mix...

Lye is an old-school pipe declogger. Lowes and Home Depot used to sell it until the Meth-heads bought it to excess. You can't get it at Lowes or Home Depot around here. You have to go to Ace Hardware and they restrict the number you can buy.

I also kept the emails and things, I filed a claim with the credit card company and many months later, I got the money back. I really would have much rather received the goods I ordered and I really did feel bad filing a claim, but after repeated and failed attempts at working with Snowdrift...

All of my Crisco soap turns a neat pinkish color. I also think you are soaping with ingredients that are too cold. Enjoy the color, soap hotter.

Hi Brandnew - suet implies that you have beef fat in chunks, cut away from the bone or skin or meat or whatever. Like most parts of the body, suet has entrained water. I melt down suet at a low temperature to melt out the fat and separate it from any connective tissue. Then, let it cool...

Lovely. Very nicely photographed. I always intend on taking just a series of pictures, but I forget as I get focused on watching the lye/fat blend and all. I'm envious!

I unmold the soap after a day. Then I let it set for a day or so. I wait until the surface of the soap is consistently hardened that a knife won't leave a mark when I set it on the top. The surface of the soap should not be displaced by the weight of the knife. I get no deformation in the...

Duh, I just reread your message. You were talking about using soap in hard water. Sorry about that. Still, I'd look at using more coconut oil and superfatting with some really nice skin conditioning oil. Also, your water softener service needs adjustment so you can get soft water all...