Another vinegar thread

[topofmurrayhill]

Then onward! I will try that. Thanks to all of you for your patience and advice.

EDIT: I had never heard of soap bending before! Thanks for that info.

Scooter

I forgot something important. Castile soap made with full water is in danger of separating in the mold (oil migrating up, lye migrating down). In fact, if it looks like it didn't separate, it probably still did, just a little. That's another good reason to consider a stronger lye.

(BTW, the primary definition of lye is not the solid caustic but rather the liquid solution. What we often refer to as "lye solution" is usually simply called lye, historically and outside of the craft community.)

 

[TeresaT]

Time to trace really does not matter to me. I got interested in the dual lye trick based on some things I read from Earlene, concerning slime reduction: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=62022&highlight=dual+castile

I am not averse to using less water. I am still enough of a newbie to be pretty conservative in how I do things, however.

Scooter

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You are welcome. I haven't read that thread. I will do it in a bit...

Thank you for this information, TeresaT...

Back to the castile being soft. I intend to cure it for a year, at least, so I'm assuming it will be plenty hard... again, I am more concerned with lather quality and slime reduction when it comes to the KOH.

Thanks again!

Scooter

I've discovered some 16 month old Castile and it is marvelous! Not snotty at all and hard as a rock.

Then onward! I will try that. Thanks to all of you for your patience and advice.

EDIT: I had never heard of soap bending before! Thanks for that info.

Scooter

Here's my 16 month old Castile. As you can see, it is quite warped. I ended up having to rebatch it because I made a mistake the first few times I used a 50% lye solution: I didn't double the NaOH amount and the soaps had a 50% SF. What a mess. However, they've turned out to be great quality if a bit ugly.

 

[TeresaT]

I agree that others have said 5% KOH reduces snot in 100% Castile so go for it.
However, Teresa is right in that using full water for Castile is a bit strange. When you cure full water Castile for a year if it is 1 inch thick it will bend as it cures and it takes a long time to trace. There are no colours or additives to 100% Castile so it is just a matter of mix and pour into the mold. There does not seem to be any logic behind using full water.

I would use 30% Lye concentration minimum for castile and even up to 33% lye concentration with vinegar for a first attempt would still be forgiving.

I'm definitely going to have to read that thread and possibly try this 5% KOH. I have some, but haven't used it yet. I keep putting off my liquid soap.

 

[Steve85569]

Now I need to get some KoH...:mrgreen:

 

[penelopejane]

I'm definitely going to have to read that thread and possibly try this 5% KOH. I have some, but haven't used it yet. I keep putting off my liquid soap.

It has the best effect on high OO soaps. Maybe someone will come along and tell you how it acts in lard soaps.