Bubble number, average or good?

[Lissa Loo]

What's a good or average bubble number on the lye o meter? I am really struggling getting bubbles in my conditioning bars. I do not want to give up the good stuff in the recipes for bubbles. I want to know what's an average, pretty good number? like 24? maybe... help me.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

If you are finding in use that the bubbles are too low, try adding a tablespoon of sugar per pound of oils. Dissolve the sugar in your water before adding the lye. This will increase bubblage without having to swap out oils.

Do watch out, though - it will also increase the heat during saponification. So if your normal process means that you don't get a gel, you might well get a partial gel using added sugar. If you normally get a full gel, you might want to watch out for over heating....................

 

[mintle]

I aim at bubbly factor around 20-24 and found out it works very well when creamy factor is well-balanced. There is a trade-off between the cleansing, hardness and bubbles - too much castor and your soap is not that hard; too much coconut and you end up with not-so-mild bar.
The additives do boost lather significantly; sugar as mentioned above is good. I found this Lather Lovers experiment really educating:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/amathiasoapworks/sets/72157629324839760/
I have had spectacular result with beer 50/50 (and if you use light coloured one you can still get a creamy white soap), powdered sugar and sorbitol, they all work very well.

 

[seven]

i usually aim at 20 minimal. but then, a good, long cure will give great improvements in the bubbles/lather department.

 

[LanaBanana]

Mintle-that was a neat experiment. I think there are a couple of additives I am now interested in trying and a few I will not bother with.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

 

[shunt2011]

I too try for 20-24. I've noticed that after a long cure the lather and bubbles get better with time as well.

 

[cmzaha]

Mine run from 17-20 and no one complains about the bubbles. It does not give large fluffy bubbles but thick creamy lather

 

[Dennis]

I use 1 Tbls sugar ppo and 5% castor oil in almost all of my recipes. I get good results and better after curing time. More curing time often seems to result in a better overall bar. At least very different in a positive way. It's all a balancing act and the balance you prefer may be different from others.

 

[judymoody]

My recipe gives 25-30 for both bubbly and creamy.

 

[Nevada]

Butters will lessen bubbles.
++ on adding Sugar & Castor