Small batch for newbie...

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ALRIGHT! I can post now! Was just doing my regular test to see if I can post and it finally happened!

Anyways...here is a recipe I got from another forum and have a few questions. Will this below recipe fit in a 3.3 quart crockpot? The person that gave me the recipe said to wait 4-6 weeks to completely cure...I thought that it could be used as soon as it dries? Also will this type of lye product work fine
http://www.lowes.com/pd_146450-331-HD-C ... facetInfo=
Also, is there any cheap fragrance or something I can add to it to make it attractive? I had an idea of adding the contents of some Bigalow peppermint/speriment tea bags to it...or steap the bags and add it to the mixture? Please advise and thanks!

12.8 oz Olive Oil
12.8 oz Crisco
6.4 oz Soybean Oil

11.2 oz water
4.1 oz lye.
 
I'm another newbie. So for what it's worth that is a fairly large first batch.

What you are talking about making is hot process and yes you can use it immediately. But the longer it cures the better it gets.

Check out essentials depot for lye.



My opinion is to keep it simple until you understand the process.
 
Welcome!

Yes that lye is fine (though expensive, check Ace Hardware if you have one close).

Get comfortable with a lye calculator like at

http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/soapcalcwp.asp
or
http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php

and always run the oils through to make sure you have the correct lye amount. One person's typo can result in a lye heavy batch.

You won't be able to scent it "cheap", by default, skin safe soap fragrances aren't cheap. For your first batch, just use your oils, lye, and water. Future batches, when you're comfortable with the basic process, can use tea and other fun stuff.
 
Is there a simple recipe someone can give me with soybean oil, olive oil and maybe some lard that will fit in a 3.3 quart crock pot?
 
Do you use the lye calculator to come up with your own recipe? If so, how do you know what amounts of oils to include? Sorry for all the dumb questions...
 
As a newbie, I'd go first to: www.millersoap.com Lots of good recipes and basic soapmaking advice. I started there. Her castille II recipe (olive, palm, coconut) is simple and makes a nice bar of soap. If you can't find palm, she also has some recipes with lard and tallow if you don't mind animal fats. Lard is pretty easy to find locally.

When you find a recipe you want to try, then run it through a lye calculator to double check the lye amount. There are lots of recipes on the internet that are incorrect. If your recipe has too much lye, it will result in a harsh caustic soap.

Miller's recipes are large. You can size your recipe up or down using this calculator:

http://summerbeemeadow.com/content/lye- ... pe-resizer

When you get more comfortable with the properties of various oils, you can then begin formulating your own recipes on soap calc.

For a beginner, I recommend a batch of 1.5 lbs of oils, and certainly no less than a pound. The recipe you posted which was about 2 lbs should be fine. If you're not sure if it will fit in your crockpot, measure out the weight of your ingredients in water and try it out. Water does not weigh the same as oils but it will give you a rough estimate.

There are lots of good soapmaking books out there. Alicia Grosso's The Everything Soap Book is a good place to start.

Have fun and enjoy!
 
If you have a True Value nearby, they will have lye. If not, they will order it for you and they get it in store within a couple days. I called on a Wednesday and they didn't have any so they ordered a couple bottles and I picked them up by Friday morning, it was less than $5 (with tax) for about a pound.

Why not just do a 100% olive oil soap? That's what I did for my first batch and from there I began to add a new oil and combination with each batch thereafter. It's a good way to acclimate.
 
misslavey said:
If you have a True Value nearby, they will have lye. If not, they will order it for you and they get it in store within a couple days. I called on a Wednesday and they didn't have any so they ordered a couple bottles and I picked them up by Friday morning, it was less than $5 (with tax) for about a pound.

Why not just do a 100% olive oil soap? That's what I did for my first batch and from there I began to add a new oil and combination with each batch thereafter. It's a good way to acclimate.
Click to expand...

100% Olive oil sounds good....it will make a good soap? What quantity would I need for the 3.3 quart crockpot?
 
barred rock said:
100% Olive oil sounds good....it will make a good soap?
Click to expand...

Just so you know what to expect, 100% olive oil soap is definitely an aquired taste. Plus you have to wait at least 6 months to a year for it to be really good. I make special batches of it only for myself and another person because nobody else likes to use it. :lol: When using it directly on the skin or with just your hands to lather (i.e. no wash cloth), the lather is quite sparse to non-existant and has a goopy, 'egg-white' consistency to it. Why do I make special batches of it then? Because if you use one of those nylon puffy things to get some friction going, it's like a miracle has taken place to the lather. It's now rich, luxuriant and bubbly/creamy. And it's very gentle to my skin.

I second on looking over at Miller's soap site to get some good beginner recipes. In looking at the recipe you posted- that's a lot of soybean oil. Soybean oil is very high in linoleic acid which is notorious for causing soap to go bad if you use it at too high of a %. Also- the recipe as written doesn't look like it would produce much in the way of bubbly lather which could be very disappointing if you like bubbly lather. If you still want to use soybean oil, I would go lower on it or eliminate it altogether and add coconut oil in its place instead for some bubblage. You can buy coconut oil over at the Walmart Superstores (LuAnn Brand).

I calculated your recipe to put it into %'s and came up with 40% olive oil, 40% Crisco and 20% soybean oil. If I were to re-write the recipe for a 1 lb batch (which I think would be better for your size of crockpot if I'm not mistaken) and swapping out soybean for coconut oil, here is what it would look like, compliments of SoapCalc:

Olive oil (just the regular kind) ......40% (6.4 oz)
Crisco (the new Crisco with palm oil in it)..40% (6.4 oz)
Coconut Oil (the 76 degrees kind that Walmart sells)........20% (3.2 oz)

As for lye amount- if you superfatted it at the default 5% that SoapCalc (and most calculators) recommend, it comes to 2.2 oz lye.

As for water amount, I gave it a 30% lye solution rate which I think is absolutely fine for a beginner recipe (not too much as to cause warping as your bars cure, and not too little as to cause fast trace). This comes out to 5 oz water.

This will give you a good beginner soap that will cure hard in 4 weeks with a nice balance of conditioning/cleansing and lather.

To check to make sure I got the right amount of oil, water and lye (and you always want to double-check any recipe anyone gives you), just go over to SoapCalc, type in that you want to make a 1 lb batch under The Weight Of Oils section at the top. Then go to the Lye Concentration box and type in 30%. Leave the superfat % as is (it's always 5% unless you change it). Then go to where the oils are listed in a column. Scroll down and click on your chosen oils (one at a time) and hit the + button over in the Soap Recipe section, and then type in the % you want to use for each oil. Then scroll down to the bottom and hit Calculate and then hit View/Print Recipe. Once you hit View/Print, it'll bring up another screen with all your amounts in weight written out that you can print out if you want.

If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to ask!

IrishLass :)
 
Dear barred rock,

Judymoody is right on with www.millersoap.com -- really great info there. 100% olive oil soap is also known as Castille soap. I have a friend who will only use 100% olive oil soap because of its gentleness. The only problem is that this soap tends to be a bit on the soft side, and will practically melt away in the shower unless given ample time to cure. Once you get more into making soap, you will learn that each oil provides its own, unique properties. Coconut and palm oils provide a lot of cleansing lather as well as increased hardness to the bar. Unfortunately, these two oils also tend to be drying. That is why it is good to learn and experiment with different oils to get the right balance of cleansing, stable lather, and conditioning/ moisturizing properties. If you wanted to, you could make soap by using 100% of ANY oil or fat -- but not many of these would produce a desirable product. I saw a website where someone did this very thing as an experiment -- she made many batches using 100% of a single oil, and posted the results -- I believe it was a soapmaker called Zen Soaps, but I'm not totaly sure about the name -- I'll have to double check.

Also, you will find that using essential oils usually does not produce a bar with a strong scent. If it comes through initially, it will tend to fade quickly. When I first started, I was all about natural only, using no artificial fragrances. I got over that quickly. Once you start giving away, or selling your bars, you will observe that the FIRST thing people do is pick it up and give it a sniff. Fragrance is more important than I realized at first. As a warning on fragrances, some will change the color of your soap. Almost anything with vanilla, or vanillan will turn your soap brown. A good fragrance supplier will tell you about any potential color changes, or acceleration, etc. in their fragrance descriptions. (See Sweet Cakes fragrance oils.) I like your tea idea and I've done this myself -- just don't expect the scent to hold up very well in your soap -- sorry.

One final note: Please use a tried and true recipe for your first batch. Many recipes you will find are for a 2-pound batch - FYI, but they will usually tell you the size of the batch.

Best wishes!
 
I just noticed that IrishLass beat me to the Post Reply button. She REALLY knows her stuff. Listen to every golden word of IrishLass. I've learned a great deal reading through her posts!
 
IrishLass said:
barred rock said:
100% Olive oil sounds good....it will make a good soap?
Click to expand...

Just so you know what to expect, 100% olive oil soap is definitely an aquired taste. Plus you have to wait at least 6 months to a year for it to be really good. I make special batches of it only for myself and another person because nobody else likes to use it. :lol: When using it directly on the skin or with just your hands to lather (i.e. no wash cloth), the lather is quite sparse to non-existant and has a goopy, 'egg-white' consistency to it. Why do I make special batches of it then? Because if you use one of those nylon puffy things to get some friction going, it's like a miracle has taken place to the lather. It's now rich, luxuriant and bubbly/creamy. And it's very gentle to my skin.

I second on looking over at Miller's soap site to get some good beginner recipes. In looking at the recipe you posted- that's a lot of soybean oil. Soybean oil is very high in linoleic acid which is notorious for causing soap to go bad if you use it at too high of a %. Also- the recipe as written doesn't look like it would produce much in the way of bubbly lather which could be very disappointing if you like bubbly lather. If you still want to use soybean oil, I would go lower on it or eliminate it altogether and add coconut oil in its place instead for some bubblage. You can buy coconut oil over at the Walmart Superstores (LuAnn Brand).

I calculated your recipe to put it into %'s and came up with 40% olive oil, 40% Crisco and 20% soybean oil. If I were to re-write the recipe for a 1 lb batch (which I think would be better for your size of crockpot if I'm not mistaken) and swapping out soybean for coconut oil, here is what it would look like, compliments of SoapCalc:

Olive oil (just the regular kind) ......40% (6.4 oz)
Crisco (the new Crisco with palm oil in it)..40% (6.4 oz)
Coconut Oil (the 76 degrees kind that Walmart sells)........20% (3.2 oz)

As for lye amount- if you superfatted it at the default 5% that SoapCalc (and most calculators) recommend, it comes to 2.2 oz lye.

As for water amount, I gave it a 30% lye solution rate which I think is absolutely fine for a beginner recipe (not too much as to cause warping as your bars cure, and not too little as to cause fast trace). This comes out to 5 oz water.

This will give you a good beginner soap that will cure hard in 4 weeks with a nice balance of conditioning/cleansing and lather.

To check to make sure I got the right amount of oil, water and lye (and you always want to double-check any recipe anyone gives you), just go over to SoapCalc, type in that you want to make a 1 lb batch under The Weight Of Oils section at the top. Then go to the Lye Concentration box and type in 30%. Leave the superfat % as is (it's always 5% unless you change it). Then go to where the oils are listed in a column. Scroll down and click on your chosen oils (one at a time) and hit the + button over in the Soap Recipe section, and then type in the % you want to use for each oil. Then scroll down to the bottom and hit Calculate and then hit View/Print Recipe. Once you hit View/Print, it'll bring up another screen with all your amounts in weight written out that you can print out if you want.

If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to ask!

IrishLass :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the above post! Will do! And also thanks to jiroband. I will let you guys know how it turns out.
 
Irishlass: Hey how about replacing the water with Bigelow all natural mint herbal tea? I don't know why, but I like soaps that have a minty invigerating feel/smell to them.
 
morena_mama said:
I'm another newbie. So for what it's worth that is a fairly large first batch.
Click to expand...

actually 32 oz is perfect for first batches, and later ones too, in my opinion. the smaller you go, the greater the impact of any errors - even small ones. I would say absolutely don't go below 16 oz oils, but I am most comfortable - especially when experimenting - with 32 oz so that I can be sure I'm changing only what i think I am! :)
 
barred rock said:
Irishlass: Hey how about replacing the water with Bigelow all natural mint herbal tea? I don't know why, but I like soaps that have a minty invigerating feel/smell to them.
Click to expand...

You could certainly do that, but based on others' experiences that I've read who have tried the same, the scent will be very weak to non-existant, and if by chance any of the scent does come through, it won't last for very long. Your best bet to have that cool, invigorating mint come through is to add peppermint EO or FO. EOs and FOs are very concentrated and will pack way more of a punch than tea leaves (FO more so and more lasting than EO in my experience). For my mint soap I like to use a FO called Peppermint Stick from WSP. That stuff is powerful (go careful, it's easy to go overboard) and will give you a nice, cool, tingly feeling. It's great for showering with after a long, hot day.


IrishLass :)
 
IrishLass said:
barred rock said:
Irishlass: Hey how about replacing the water with Bigelow all natural mint herbal tea? I don't know why, but I like soaps that have a minty invigerating feel/smell to them.
Click to expand...

You could certainly do that, but based on others' experiences that I've read who have tried the same, the scent will be very weak to non-existant, and if by chance any of the scent does come through, it won't last for very long. Your best bet to have that cool, invigorating mint come through is to add peppermint EO or FO. EOs and FOs are very concentrated and will pack way more of a punch than tea leaves (FO more so and more lasting than EO in my experience). For my mint soap I like to use a FO called Peppermint Stick from WSP. That stuff is powerful (go careful, it's easy to go overboard) and will give you a nice, cool, tingly feeling. It's great for showering with after a long, hot day.


IrishLass :)
Click to expand...

What is FO and EO and where is WSP? lol!
 
Can't find any lye anywhere in my town. The closest to me is 30 miles away at Lowe's and it is $12 for 2lbs. Any on-line places you guys no of that would be cheaper than my Lowe's?
 

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