I had no idea (first CP)

[Arimara]

How fast my soap would trace. I accidentally got some on my arm and in the time it took me to rinse the area and apply vinegar, I found a thick soap-to-be in my crockpot.

I used a chocolate stout pictured here and my recipe was

35% Palm oil
30%olive
15% Palm kernal
10% Babassu (I actually meant to save this for when I had a better handle on soaping but I was vent-soaping)
10% Rice Bran oil

Water to lye- 2:1, Superfat between 5 and 10%.

6+ weeks of curing to go... I think I rather HP already.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

..............6+ weeks of curing to go... I think I rather HP already.

If that needs 6 weeks to cure CP, I would give it about 8-9 weeks when it is HP. HP still needs to cure like CP does, but HP usually needs a longer cure to get to the same place in terms of longevity than CP.

 

[Sonya-m]

I'm curious about something - were you just using your crockpot to mix in but it wasn't actually on? Just with you saying its CP?

 

[Susie]

There is no need to use vinegar for accidental splashes. A thorough rinsing in cold water is all that is required. Putting vinegar on a spot of lye water or soap batter creates lots of heat that will give you a thermal burn to go with your chemical burn. Not worth it. Just use lots of water.

Also, your superfat is a bit vague. You did use a lye calculator, right?

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

 

[Arimara]

If that needs 6 weeks to cure CP, I would give it about 8-9 weeks when it is HP. HP still needs to cure like CP does, but HP usually needs a longer cure to get to the same place in terms of longevity than CP.

There is no need to use vinegar for accidental splashes. A thorough rinsing in cold water is all that is required. Putting vinegar on a spot of lye water or soap batter creates lots of heat that will give you a thermal burn to go with your chemical burn. Not worth it. Just use lots of water.

Also, your superfat is a bit vague. You did use a lye calculator, right?

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

Dually noted. No burns, thankfully. Susie, it was 5%. I have one recipe where it was put on 10% superfat and it was crossing into my mind.

I'm curious about something - were you just using your crockpot to mix in but it wasn't actually on? Just with you saying its CP?

The crockpot was on only to melt my oils. After my soap traced, I just poured it into my molds (individual bars).

 

[Sonya-m]

Dually noted. No burns, thankfully. Susie, it was 5%. I have one recipe where it was put on 10% superfat and it was crossing into my mind.







The crockpot was on only to melt my oils. After my soap traced, I just poured it into my molds (individual bars).

I'm wondering if the residual heat in the pot had something to it tracing fast

 

[Obsidian]

I have a lot of trouble using palm, even when I soap at low temps it traces super fast for me. I would guess it was a combo of the heat, the palm and the water discount.
I've used the exact same kind of beer, it was my go to brand until I discovered http://pikebrewing.com/our-beer/pike-xxxxx-stout/ it makes the best beer soap I've tried.

 

[shunt2011]

I'm thinking it was likely the residual heat. I use palm all the time, however, I do RT soaping and have all the time in the world to work with it usually. You've been given some excellent advice to work from though

 

[Arimara]

Thinking about it, it probably was. I cannot invest in another container strictly for blending oils and lye solution. I'm low on room at the moment.

Obsidian, that might take some searching to find that stout. I only know two distributers who may have it. There is another one but I am not making a 4 hr drive to get there (even if it meant getting some good wine XD).

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

You could heat your oils in a normal saucepan and then mix the batter in the cold slow cooker - no extra purchases, no hot slow cooker.

Or try the heat transfer method, where you use your freshly made lye water to melt the hard oils, then pour in the liquid oils and away you go

 

[Arimara]

I did think about the latter method, TEG. I think I will try that next time... or tonight.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Even if you have very hard oils in there, or keep your coconut in the fridge and so on, you can kick start it with the slow cooker but turn it off when it is warm.

For cp, I actually have a plastic bucket that was really not expensive, which works well enough.

 

[Susie]

I use empty lard containers for mixing CP. They are free, and easy to use.

 

[Arimara]

Not too keen on lard. Will use for laundry soap I guess.

 

[Susie]

Don't go buy lard on my account. I am just pointing out that your lye/soap making containers need not be anything expensive. Just make sure that plastic containers have a 2 or a 5 in the little triangle on the bottom, and they should be fine.

 

[Arimara]

Oh yes. Those plastics are cheapest and the best for these type of projects.