Forgot the sugar in lye water, when can I add ?

[Lin19687]

For I was going to do the powdered sugar in my Water like I have been doing that past couple batches.
Welp, this morning I wanted to get the lye done and cooling so I can get the batch done before I have my Market later today.

Yup, forgot to add it when I did the water And I just mixed in the Lye. Darn it !

Now I am wondering when I could add it.

To the cooled Lye water or will this heat it up too much? to the oils ?
I would rather not leave it out as I may just keep it in there now

 

[SaltedFig]

Lin, you'll need to dissolve it first, so you can't add it to the oils directly (it might not dissolve) and I'm pretty sure it might just sink now the lye is mixed (from memory - it's been a while since I've done it back to front ).

If you are comfortable adding a tiny bit extra water, dissolve the sugar in about half of it's weight of water.
(Powdered sugar easily dissolves in a small amount of water. If you use room temperature water, 2 parts sugar to 1 part water by weight; warm the water and you can make it take even more sugar)

Add the sugar water to your slightly cooled lye solution, it shouldn't make a noticeably difference to the overall amount of time it takes for your lye to cool. Or just add it to your oils when you add the lye (which is what I would do, but my recipes are usually pretty easy to manage, heat wise).

 

[Lin19687]

Thanks I can add a bit of water, no issue. I do a 33% lye concentration.
I think I was more afraid of it heating up for some reason.

I will mix the sugar and a little water then add.

 

[SaltedFig]

I thought it was a bit odd you were asking.

So what soap are you making today?

 

[Lin19687]

Years ago I added some Honey to lye water and MAN did it ever get hot. I never did it again after that. I don't normally add sugar either so, Once bitten....

I decided to wait to soap till I got home tonight. Oils are all measured out and covers, Lye is in and covered (will add sugar later, **** cat is bothering me today). And I will cut in the morning.
But I am just about out of Cracklin Birch so that will be one.

Snowman Balls- D to Lt Beige so I might do a light blue swirl in it
Oatmeal Raisin- no color as it will D to milk chocolate
Twilight in the Woods - having a hard time thinking about a color for this one. It seems sweet and pink comes to mind. I am sure I will change the name lol

 

[jcandleattic]

you probably already have this done, but you could have dissolved it in a small amount of water, but instead of adding that to your lye water to potentially heat the lye up again (which it wouldn't have been bad, maybe a degree or 2) add that little bit directly to you oils.
That's what I do if I want to add salt or sugar to my lye water, because I masterbatch my lye solution.

 

[jcandleattic]

Twilight in the Woods - having a hard time thinking about a color for this one. It seems sweet and pink comes to mind. I am sure I will change the name lol

I make my twiltight woods scented soaps dark blue and dark brown and a splash of white in there.

 

[cmzaha]

I do the same add any sugars or salt to water, or in my case my vinegar. I also 50/50 masterbatch lye and add nothing to my lye solution

 

[Lin19687]

I have not added it yet due to leaving for FM.
I still have to add my yogurt to the oils. Maybe I can mix in the yogurt first.
Dk blue is nice and I would not have thought about brown

 

[soapmaker]

It is impossible to dissolve sugar in lye water. It will turn into a hard disc at the bottom of your lye pitcher. Agree with dissolving in water and adding to oils.

 

[Dennis]

It is impossible to dissolve sugar in lye water. It will turn into a hard disc at the bottom of your lye pitcher. Agree with dissolving in water and adding to oils.

Fo sho! Learned that the hard way

 

[Lin19687]

I mixed 1 to 1 sugar/water, then mixed it in with the Yogurt and will mix That into the oils.
I still have not soaped yet, back is sore and hoping it gets a bit better before I start to play

Thanks all.
I am sure this not only helped me but others as well

 

[KimT2au]

Anothe newbie question. Why add sugar and yogurt? I am guessing the sugar speeds saponification but why yoghurt? Simply for the extra oil and cool down or another reason?

 

[SaltedFig]

Anothe newbie question. Why add sugar and yogurt? I am guessing the sugar speeds saponification but why yoghurt? Simply for the extra oil and cool down or another reason?

Sugar boosts bubbles - add a little sugar and you get more prolific "fluffier" bubbles (sugar can be from cane sugar, or beverages or honey, so it's sugars in the chemical sense, not just cane sugar ). Adding sugars can heat up the soap, too much will make the soap soft. 1 or 2 teaspoons per 500g of oil is plenty.

Milks, yogurt and other ingredients containing lactic acid make the soap harder, creamier, easier to unmold, and for hot process soaps, makes the hot soap batter more fluid (easier to pour). Lactic acid reacts with the sodium hydroxide to form sodium lactate - some people use sodium lactate directly in their soap for the same benefit. 1 tablespoon of yoghurt per 500g seems to be a common amount to add to hot process soap at the end, to make it more fluid - the same can be added to cold process soap at the start.

These two ingredients go very nicely together in soap, the amounts are just a general idea to get you started

There are other details, but that's the bones of it Kim.

 

[KimT2au]

Sugar boosts bubbles - add a little sugar and you get more prolific "fluffier" bubbles (sugar can be from cane sugar, or beverages or honey, so it's sugars in the chemical sense, not just cane sugar ). Adding sugars can heat up the soap, too much will make the soap soft. 1 or 2 teaspoons per 500g of oil is plenty./QUOTE]

Do you think that it would be possible to achieve the same bubbling effect using sugar in liquid soap? It just got me thinking about how lovely a honey smelling liquid soap would be.

 

[SaltedFig]

Do you think that it would be possible to achieve the same bubbling effect using sugar in liquid soap? It just got me thinking about how lovely a honey smelling liquid soap would be.

I use sugar in some of my liquid soap recipes and it does make the bubbles better. I don't use honey in liquid soap.

*edited* I answered in reply before I saw Kim's expanded question in this thread:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/thr...aw-in-th-hp-forum-work-for-liquid-soap.71190/