1st day of soap making... A few trouble spots I would love some input on...

[Ryan]

I have been doing a lot of research & prep for making soap. Today was the 1st day i attempted to make some.
I have lurked these forums for a few weeks & tried to shorten my learning curve.

I have a 5lb mold but I figured if I mess up, I should probably mess up a smaller batch. I decided to make a few different combinations of oils also....

I didn't have any mold for a 1 lb (actually 500 g of oils) so I decided to try a 32 oz squeeze bottle (from a restaurant supply store) with the top cut off. The diameter of the bottle is around 2.25". The plastic is LDPE, with will get flimsy when heated but I read that it should be fine... since it won't be a heavily repeated piece of equipment.

I attempted a master batch I mixed 500 g of water to 500 g of lye

Anyway... the 1st batch (500g):

Organic Olive Oil - 40%
Organic Coconut Oil (RBD) - 30%
Organic, Sustainable Palm Oil - 20%
Natural Hemp Seed Oil - 5%
Castor Oil - 5%

143 g of 50/50 solution + 63 g of distilled water
15 g of Coconut Mango FO
5% superat

The Palm Oil was a little difficult to get all liquefied. I got the oil to around 120 degrees but there were still cloudy semi solid chunks in the bottle. Could this be (aerated oils) from shaking? I read that Palm Oil melting point was 95 degrees. I used it anyway * could still see little chunks of this on the inside of the measuring cup.

I accidentally poured an extra 7 g of distilled water in the mixture before blending. The soap in the mold looked to be separating after I poured it but I think it is the normal discoloration during the cure. It is difficult to mix this small batch without getting air into the soap. The container was about 6-7 inches in diameter.

Trace came kinda fast, possibly due to slightly higher than room temperature of everything
2nd batch (500g)

OO - 35%
CO - 30%
PO - 25%
AvO - 5%
Castor Oil - 5%
15 g Chocolate Espresso FO

Might be the best batch out of the 3. Aimed for 5% superfat and same lye concentration (I read this setting is more reliable than Water as % of oils) as the 1st batch. Slightly cooler liquids prior to mix.

3rd batch (500g)

OO - 80%
CO - 10%
Cocoa Butter - 5%
Hemp Oil - 5%
15 g of Lavender & Cedar FO

I attempted a Bastille but it came out very liquidy after lots of mixing. As I was writing this I may hae discovered why. I think I didn't double the "Total NaOH" weight when pouring the master batch solution. I did add the distilled after so there probably isn't enough lye to complete the reaction.... So I'll just have a super high super fat soap?

Main takeaways:
I need some pipets or droppers for the FO.
I need to figure out how to color soaps better.
Whats the deal with my Palm Oil?
I need to research quickest, most efficient ways to clean when making back-to-back batches like this because I intend to make about 9-12 more small batches to try the different soaps out.

I just wanted to share my first attempt & introduce myself...
Thanks for any input you are willing to give!

It started to harden, I may have been wrong about the mixing. Probably due to the 80% OO ?

 

[Lin19687]

You might want to move this into the Beginners Forum section.
1st things is to do your lye fresh, stop running and walk. that way you know your lye is what it should be

 

[lsg]

I suggest that you melt your solid oils/fats together in the microwave. I usually do 2 minute bursts. Many times I have small chunks still in the melting continer. I stir until the small chunks are melted before adding to the other oils.

 

[Ryan]

You might want to move this into the Beginners Forum section.
1st things is to do your lye fresh, stop running and walk. that way you know your lye is what it should be

Oh, my apologies. I saw many other posts similar to mine in that section of the forums.

Thanks for your input on the lye.

 

[Ryan]

I suggest that you melt your solid oils/fats together in the microwave. I usually do 2 minute bursts. Many times I have small chunks still in the melting continer. I stir until the small chunks are melted before adding to the other oils.

Thanks for the suggestion. I used an ice cream scoop to get the cocoa butter out and put it in a mason jar and boiling water to melt it. I will definitely microwave it next time.
I have to hear up the coconut oil in the original bottle because it won't come out room temp. But should I pour the melted oils immediately? Is there a difference in the oils that melt first vs. The oils that melt last? Like with the palm oil?
Maybe I shouldn't be concerned with this but I believe I have read suggestions about this to ensure the oil composition is uniform. I definitely won't do this for the cocoa butter that's too much work.

 

[Zing]

Ryan, welcome! When I started, I had problems pouring my essential oils but got good tips here: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/pour-without-spilling.70233/
and now use a chopstick.
I'm not sure what your question is about palm oil. I throw all my oils into a pot on the stove over low to medium heat. The palm is always the last to melt. As it melts, I use a spatula to keep cutting it into smaller chunks.
Yeah, I about broke my hand scraping cocoa butter out of a jar and now use the bulk-packaged kind (Whole Foods Market) that come in small chunks.

 

[Ryan]

Nice, ill check that thread out.

Before I made the batch yesterday the palm oil was around room temp. The palm oil was partially separated with the semi solid particles resting at the bottom of the bottle. I heated up the entire gallon try to get all the oils to mix. There was still a smaller portion of separated oils even after heating to a higher temperature than the melting point.

 

[Ryan]

The stick method is pretty simple and awesome. I remember seeing this on some cooking shows now... I just didn't think if it in the heat of the moment!

 

[lsg]

I don't worry about the difference in melting temp., unless I am working with something like stearic acid or bees wax. I just put all my solid oils/fats in one container and melt them together. I take them out after every 2 min. in microwave and stir. If there are just a few small chunks of solid fats left, they will melt with more stirring.