Made my first batch of soap with pine tar

[Steve85569]

That was a real experience!
What I learned:
Pine tar soap needs more water - at least 2.5 : 1 in ratio and even 3:1 wouldn't have hurt.
Do NOT use a stick blender! unless you want soap on a stick.:???:
It gels FAST. As in still in the bowl and this stuff has blown up!:roll:

I'm a man so I didn't read up on it first but I will not forget the lessons learned. It did get into the mold and is setting up as I write . I will follow up with how it comes out of the mold and cuts. I zap tested it to make sure I hadn't completely blown the recipe and it tastes like soap. Even made suds when I cleaned up!

Thought I'd really messed up because I didn't expect the color change with such a small amount of tar. It's a nice chocolate brown.

Steve

 

[DeeAnna]

More water doesn't make too much difference in the rate of trace when making PT soap. More water just makes the soap softer -- I use 30% to 33% lye concentration for PT soaps with decent results. Since the PT itself can make the soap overly soft all on its own, unless you compensate for that with your choice of fats, why make matters worse?

I'd say some of the other conclusions you've drawn are valid but nothing new -- 30 minutes of research before starting to soap would have given you that knowledge. No one uses a stick blender after the PT meets the lye except with extreme caution and restraint.

 

[penelopejane]

Wrong thread!

 

[KristaY]

DeeAnna's right, the water won't make a difference with pine tar soap except, as she pointed out, softer soap, which might need a longer cure. I use 1.8:1 water lye ratio with no problems. I bring my batter just to emulsification, add tea tree EO, then whisk in the PT quickly, and pour. My tops are never very pretty because the speed PT traces doesn't allow anything fancy. I have just enough time to bang it on the counter and smooth it out with the back of spoon. But I'm fine with that as it adds to the rustic-ness of the look and scent.

 

[seven]

What DeeAnna said. I normally use 2:1 (water:lye), soaped cool, sb the pt to the oils 1st before lye, and just used spatula after the lye goes in.

 

[Steve85569]

You are all correct.
But then again I am a man so why would I look for the directions and do research first?:???:
Having done more research in the last few days I could have avoided the problems I had. It did still make good soap and since I was using Tallow and coconut the bars will be good and hard.

The cooling of the lye / water mixture is the real problem I had just because I didn't wait for the temperature to drop.

 

[snappyllama]

I think of PT as my exciting soap. I do a little different method... I bring my batter to light trace with a stick blender, then hand stir my PT in. I use an individual bar mold for them. My first 5 bars have a lovely smooth surface. Then things start to set-up faster than I can pour. Bar 9 is my super "rustic" bar - it gets smooshed into the mold. It's not going to win any beauty pageants, but it does the job.