Recent content by sistrum

I will have to go back and look at the posts about partial gels to figure out how to get one so I can try this out.

Did they say why they put soybean oil in their tallow? I've looked at their site and never noticed that before, good catch.

I render my own because I use only kidney suet ( ordered from groc. store meat guy $1.00 lb, from local custom slaughter place 50 cents lb.) which makes better tallow than what you get from places that sell "tallow" made from body fat, bone fat and the kinds of fats you get from rendering up the...

Do you check to see if the the soap heats enough to go to gell again? If so, could this be a way to correct a partial gel? Sounds very interesting.

IMO lids are to cover the mold to keep the heat in and keep your tops from being damaged. So It should sit on top not inside. When you do HP if you flatten the top instead of mounding it up when it dries the top will sink in and you end up with "shrunken head syndrome"

It also depends on your formula. I left one of mine for two days and I ended up having to use a hammer and chisel to break it into chunks.

I fought this for years and tried every way and every thing to get consistent and smooth cuts. I finely broke down and bought a "Tank" wire cutter. It was the best decision ever!

Cool, thank you. Sissy

Just to keep things clear, soap can not have a ph of 7, it won't be soap if it does. It will just be a bunch of oils. Soap is a high ph product. Ph strips don't work correctly on soap. All you need to do is make sure you have no unreacted lye and that can be checked by doing a zap test with...

Could you explain this further? I know why sugar was first added to soap and I know it was found to increase lather but I have never heard that it makes bubbles tougher and would like to know where this info came from so I can add it to my research. TYIA

I use a canning jar funnel when I fill my PVC pipes. It gives a bit more room to pour and the bottom part is plenty big. I also have a dowel that I push up and down in my pipe to help get rid of air bubbles. Just a couple of tips.

There is really no reason to try and keep your lye and goat milk that cool. It's going to heat up anyway when you add it to your oils. Heat is part of the process. Are you only using liquid oils you don't have to melt? Just add your lye slowly to your milk you don't even have to freeze it...

I've seen a lot of "spam" soaps but you are right about yours looking more like Head Cheese! If it's just the look that is wrong for you I'd just leave it as is. But if you rebatch I like the idea of adding a bit of charcoal for a change in color.

I've mentioned many times how I feel about the "numbers" on soap calc and why I don't think people should depend on them to figure out the outcome of their soap. If you don't understand the fatty acid profiles of the oils you use and how soap calc interprets them you can be misled on your...

Totally agree about not using coconut oil! I found plain olive oil soap to be just fine, although adding some kind of flavor I'm sure would be better. Mine is a low superfat with a 40% lye solution poured into a small flip top container. Just a bit poured off from my regular batch of Castile...