Cutting Soap

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romangoat

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I'm guessing I'm not waiting long enough to cut my soaps, but I would like a second (or third) opinion. Here's my recipe:

126 g Lye
283 g (Frozen) Goat Milk

232 g Refined Coconut Oil
166 g Shea Butter
463 g Olive Oil (the bottle says Refined and 15% Extra Virgin)
58 g Castor Oil

My last batch was some lavender soap. Made it on Wednesday, stuck it in the fridge, took it out and unmolded it Thursday, then cut it today. The bars are getting stuck on my knife, and take some patience to get off without causing too much dragging. And this has happened with my two previous batches. Am I just not waiting long enough to cut them due to my olive oil content? I had figured three days would be enough time. Should I leave them in the fridge longer, or let them sit on the counter longer?

And perhaps it's partially the cutter? I was using a dough cutter, but my first soap batch a couple weeks ago drug REALLY badly, so I thought maybe it was because of the dull blade. I switched to a butcher's knife after that, and it seemed to help some, but it is obviously not the cause of the soft soap. I want to invest in a good wire cutter, but I want to know if that really makes that much of a difference when cutting.
 
I make GMS. First of all, too much liquid. You're using a 31% Lye Concentration when you should be between 33%-35%. Between the extra fat and natural sugars in the milk, you don't want to give your soap any more reason to overheat...especially if you took the time to make sure GM Lye Solution is nice and creamy.

Overall your recipe is okay...Coconut Oil is a bit higher than a lot of folks like (except for men, they seem to be able to tolerate it better and they love bubbles). I am concerned about the Olive Oil. OO should be 100% Olive Oil...whether it's Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Olive Oil or Olive Oil Pomace. That the bottle says "15% EVOO" tells me that you're using a blend that contains other oils...like canola, soybean, grapeseed and/or safflower. Every oil and butter has a 'saponification value' (SAP)...this is the amount of Sodium Hydroxide or Potassium Hydroxide that is needed to turn that particular oil or butter into 'soap'. Using too much Lye results in a lye-heavy soap, using too little results in a soap that is really soft. Also, soaps higher in Olive Oil will tend to need a longer cure time.

A few of options: 1) Make sure your Olive Oil is 100% Olive Oil. You don't need to use EVOO...save it for cooking. I purchase my Olive Oil from Costco...2-3L bottles for around $24.00. 2) Consider adding Sodium Lactate (1 tea PPO)...it does help with unmolding. 3) Let you soap sit for a week. It will be ready to cut when it feels like a good cheddar cheese.

As for a wire cutter...yes and no. I know folks who use a knife or a pastry cutter...I'm not that coordinated. Some use a set up where they have a wire cutter that looks like a hacksaw. I used a cheese slicer for a long time...$15.00 on Amazon. I did modify it a tad bit buy sanding some of the finish off and then sanding a dowel flat and gluing it on so my soap wouldn't move. I eventually bought a good wire cutter, but only because I got a really good deal on a used one. The only thing I don't like about it...it takes up a lot more room than my cheese cutter (which I still have and use for my test soaps).
 
Thank you for the reply. I'll definitely try tweaking my lye content. I have been having trouble with my soap accelerating, so perhaps that has been the main cause. I will probably leave my coconut oil amount alone for now though. I like how the soaps handle, and haven't heard any complaints about it yet from anyone who has gotten a bar, but I will keep this in mind if I do hear anything about them being drying (I assume that is the problem with too much coconut oil, but I could be wrong).

As for the olive oil, I think it was all olive oil. Not 100% the same type, of course, since it said 15% EVOO, but the label actually says "Refined Olive Oil and 15% Extra Virgin Olive Oil." I would think all of the other 85% is some other type of olive oil, but I will definitely make sure to use some sort of olive oil that says 100% from here on out. That was just what was cheapest in my area at the time.

I had considered sodium lactate before, but since my soap unmolds really easily after a day I had decided not to use it yet. I'm not completely against it, but I would like to try to not use it for now.

So I think my game plan is to up my lye content, use different olive oil, and let my soaps sit longer before cutting. Hopefully that will do the trick, and if not I will come back to these other suggestions.

And thank you for the tips about the soap cutters!
 
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