Recent content by Sudsmaster

Hi everyone, Similar topic, different question. I've been using the same silicone loaf molds for years now. The inner dimensions are 8 inches in length, and after pouring soap in and letting it sit for 24 hours, I pull out a nice loaf that's about 7 7/8 inches in length. Bit of shrinkage...

@Eve1374 thanks for the info. I ended up doing what you said you'd do the next time. I only did one level tablespoon of hops powder for 28 ounces (~794 grams) of oil. I added about 15g of a citrus essential oil blend. You can see how it turned out below. Interesting smell. It could be in...

@Eve1374 The batch you did above, was that HP or CP? When you say "2 big spoons," did you mean tablespoons, a regular eating spoon, or a bigger mixing spoons? My plan is to use hops powder in CP beer soap. Not infused in the oil, but mix it in at or before trace. Anyone who has used hop...

What if I want to go old school and use actual beer? I masterbatch my water/lye at 1:1, and I soap at 1.6:1, so I boiled down about 16 ounces of beer to about 2.4 ounces (68 grams) of beer syrup (about 15% of the original weight). Those 68-ish grams of beer syrup accounted for the other 0.6 of...

All great stuff, guys. Thanks for the input. Good to know you can go down to 1.5, 1.6:1 without any major problems with hitting trace too fast. And, yes, I agree, there are a lot of factors that can affect trace. E.O's and even the type of oils/butters you decide to use. I was just...

See, this is the kind of color mixing I do. I want to keep the soda ash and glycerin rivers out, but I worry that going too low or mixing too hot won't give me enough time to work with the colors like this.

@JuliaNegusuk 1.5:1? Wow. I started out soaping at 2.4:1 (water to lye) and now have gradually worked my way down to 1.8:1. I don't worry about soda ash anymore or glycerin rivers. I'd like to go down lower, maybe to a 1.6:1, but I worry about coming to trace too fast or being able to swirl...

@Albertina I agree, when I started I was a E.O. guy all the way, but Vanilla E.O. really doesn't exist. Well, it does, but it's one of those "Absolutes" that gets diluted with jojoba or is crazy expensive for a little 5 ml bottle. I like to mix and swirl different colors in my soap sometimes...

As a sucker for science, I wanted to see what would happen if I did the exact same recipe from my Feb 23rd post on this thread (with the Vanilla FO) but with a lower amount of stick blender time. Below are the photo results. Same loaves, just different angles. The left (darker) loaf you can...

Yes, please! I'm interested in the results skin-wise. I'm also working on some body butters and trying make one for the face. I know a lot of people blowing huge amounts of money on what a dermatologist recommends, but my handmade stuff works a lot better. Do you by chance have any before...

One question I'd like to pose to anyone on this thread: How does adding essential oils affect your superfat percentage? In this particular recipe, @starfire said they added 3 ounces of essential oil to 60 ounces of other oils/butters (so a 5% increase in oil). Does anyone ever adjust their...

@AliOop thanks for the advice, but for this particular recipe, tan to dark brown is the color I'm going for. You also bring up an interesting topic. I've seen a few threads on this site that talk about EOs and FOs that speed up acceleration, cause seizing and ricing, etc. I wonder if we could...

Thanks everyone. Solid information. @GemstonePony I see what you mean about Amazon FOs. Thanks for suggesting Elements B&B. $7.99 for 4 oz is not bad at all and I like the "No acceleration, seizing or ricing" claim. @TheGecko I'll try the same recipe again with new Vanilla FO and watch my...

@Arimara It's called Ola Prima Vanilla Essential Oil. Even though there's no such thing as Vanilla EO, it had a good scent and was reasonably priced. Do you or anyone else on this thread have a good Vanilla FO suggestion?

I've been going through the same problems with Vanilla FO. The picture on the right (with the two loaves standing up) I actually added Vanilla FO and Cinnamon EO. Very bad idea. Came to trace so fast, when I "poured" it out of the mixing pot into the molds, the mixture was already formed in...