PuzzledSoapmaker
Member
Hello everyone. Before I get to the big question, I would like to share some of my experiences regarding honey in CP with you. I apologize in advance for the long post but I am hopeless.
My first honey CP soap was a recipe from a book whose author gels all her soaps and soaps in high temperatures. I followed her recipe to the dot and added the honey at trace and the soap ended up nice, but unfortunately, despite being liquid, the honey did not properly disperse, as I could see one or two tiny specks of liquid honey after I cut the soap.
After going through the CP beginner phase, I learned what I like and I generally don't gel my soaps (it depends, really). I also soap at low temperatures, around 25-30°C (77-86°F). I decided to make another attempt at CP with honey, and following another recipe, I added it at trace again. I used the same honey, although older because it had been a while, and the soap turned... blood red. The soap itself is amazing, but my goal was a honey color, so, you know.
This made me do some research on other methods and I found out you can add honey to lye. I tried that, but not only did it not properly disperse, it again turned blood red. It looked like it scorched and became candy-hard, even though the lye water stayed at a very low temperature. I tossed it. My guess is that it didn't disperse because of the high lye concentration I use, but in any case, the color remains a problem.
My recent attempt was the same recipe but I decided to add the honey in a different way, one that I saw in Holly's Soapmaking video - dispersing honey in some warm water, and adding it to oils before the lye solution. Everything looked perfect, the batter couldn't have been smoother, and it was a dream to work with. Like Holly, I put the soap in the freezer for a few hours and in the fridge overnight. It looked like nothing could go wrong
This morning I took it out and as I am writing here, I have just finished cutting it, and I am at a loss. I don't mind the partial gel, I actually wanted to achieve a honey-colored soap so I will let this one gel in the future. But... does anyone have an idea what those red specks could be? They are exactly the same color as my honey when it scorched, and the blood-red soap. Also, they look wet after cutting but dry after a while.
I'm confident they are not lye spots, I'm thinking it could be the honey. But why did this happen? Do you think there is a problem with the honey I'm using? Should I use a different honey, or change my method entirely?
In case anyone needs it, here is my recipe:
Olive oil 42%
Coconut oil 23%
Castor oil 17%
Cocoa butter 9%
Shea butter 9%
It is an amazingly creamy shaving bar, so use 15% superfat for it and my lye concentration is 47%. I have never had an issue with either. The recipe itself is one I have mastered, but since I will start selling my soaps soon, I am perfecting my recipes and thus also the colors.
I should also add that to achieve this color, my lye solution was not made with water but with a mix of milk and brewed coffee. The very tiny brown specks are the coffee residue that cannot really be strained out (I don't think they should be a problem but feel free to share your thoughts about it).
Thank you in advance,
The puzzled soapmaker
My first honey CP soap was a recipe from a book whose author gels all her soaps and soaps in high temperatures. I followed her recipe to the dot and added the honey at trace and the soap ended up nice, but unfortunately, despite being liquid, the honey did not properly disperse, as I could see one or two tiny specks of liquid honey after I cut the soap.
After going through the CP beginner phase, I learned what I like and I generally don't gel my soaps (it depends, really). I also soap at low temperatures, around 25-30°C (77-86°F). I decided to make another attempt at CP with honey, and following another recipe, I added it at trace again. I used the same honey, although older because it had been a while, and the soap turned... blood red. The soap itself is amazing, but my goal was a honey color, so, you know.
This made me do some research on other methods and I found out you can add honey to lye. I tried that, but not only did it not properly disperse, it again turned blood red. It looked like it scorched and became candy-hard, even though the lye water stayed at a very low temperature. I tossed it. My guess is that it didn't disperse because of the high lye concentration I use, but in any case, the color remains a problem.
My recent attempt was the same recipe but I decided to add the honey in a different way, one that I saw in Holly's Soapmaking video - dispersing honey in some warm water, and adding it to oils before the lye solution. Everything looked perfect, the batter couldn't have been smoother, and it was a dream to work with. Like Holly, I put the soap in the freezer for a few hours and in the fridge overnight. It looked like nothing could go wrong
This morning I took it out and as I am writing here, I have just finished cutting it, and I am at a loss. I don't mind the partial gel, I actually wanted to achieve a honey-colored soap so I will let this one gel in the future. But... does anyone have an idea what those red specks could be? They are exactly the same color as my honey when it scorched, and the blood-red soap. Also, they look wet after cutting but dry after a while.
I'm confident they are not lye spots, I'm thinking it could be the honey. But why did this happen? Do you think there is a problem with the honey I'm using? Should I use a different honey, or change my method entirely?
In case anyone needs it, here is my recipe:
Olive oil 42%
Coconut oil 23%
Castor oil 17%
Cocoa butter 9%
Shea butter 9%
It is an amazingly creamy shaving bar, so use 15% superfat for it and my lye concentration is 47%. I have never had an issue with either. The recipe itself is one I have mastered, but since I will start selling my soaps soon, I am perfecting my recipes and thus also the colors.
I should also add that to achieve this color, my lye solution was not made with water but with a mix of milk and brewed coffee. The very tiny brown specks are the coffee residue that cannot really be strained out (I don't think they should be a problem but feel free to share your thoughts about it).
Thank you in advance,
The puzzled soapmaker
it's an adventure on its own...
In addition, I also often blend my essential oils into my room temperature oils before adding my lye, but this does depend on what type of soap I'm doing. Works just fine.
