Long Story ....
I was reading on there about making lye solution ahead of tme and then just adding the appropriate amount of water to equal the water that the recipe calls for ... so I decided to try it yesterday. I'm not sure what I did but WHAT A MESS!!!
I had 21.5 oz of lye left so I put it in a SS bowl and added 21.5 oz of water. Once it cooled I put it in my Tupperware pitcher that I use for lye.
I have a mold that makes 32 bars so I decided to put the divider in and make 1/2 castile the other half my regular soap recipe.
I made the Castile soap and did a water discount so it would trace quicker ... another tip I read on here and it worked perfectly for my first ever batch of Castile (will post pictures as soon as my camera battery charges) For whatever reason it didn't trace as quickly as the first time I did it, but, once it came to trace I poured it in the mold.
Batch #2 started Lard, coconut oil, castor oil and PKO ... I use this recipe all the time and LOVE it. Everything was at room temperature (first time doing at room temp). I added my FO (Oatmeal, Milk and Honey) to the oils before I added the lye solution. I did a water discount for this too.
I blended and blended and blended and could not get it past a light trace ... I let it sit a while, then started blending again ... still could not get a good trace ... let it sit again ... came back and blended some more. This time it got a little thicker so I poured it in the mold.
I stuck it in warm oven to do its thing, then I noticed that the soap was dripping out of the mold. My mold has slits in it for cutting and I lined it, but cut the lining too close to the bottom so the soap was seeping out ... I stuck a small stainless steel bowl there thinking it would stop dripping soon.
Today I came home from church, pulled it out of the oven and YIKES ... there was soap all over the place. The bowl was a little less than half full of what looked like oil. Thankfully I covered the bottom of the oven with my silicone baking mats, and there was soap all over them. When I took the mats out there was a puddle of oil under the mat.
The castile soap was very gooey and had what looked like a crust on top of it. I scooped what was of both batches into my Soaping Pot and set it in a pan of simmering hot water to rebatch it. I added half ounce of lye solution and a little water to loosen it up.
I stirred, stirred, stirred, let it sit then repeated the process again. Once I was sure everything was incorporated well I let it sit about 10 minutes then dumped it in my Crafters Choice Silicone molds and stuck it in the oven. I tested some of the soap out of the pot and it seemed fine, but, when I looked in the oven the soap looks like it still has oil floating around the edges.
The only thing I did different was I used LouAnns Coconut Oil from Wal-Mart because I was out of Soapers Choice.
The Castile called for 9.26 of lye and 27.36 of water. I poured 9.26 of the lye solution and added 17.36 of water.
The Lard recipe called for 10.26 lye and 27.36 water and I used 20.36 water.
I am not sure what happened ... any tips, thoughts?? If this still has oil floating on the top do I scrap it ... is there a way to save it???
UGH!!!!
I was reading on there about making lye solution ahead of tme and then just adding the appropriate amount of water to equal the water that the recipe calls for ... so I decided to try it yesterday. I'm not sure what I did but WHAT A MESS!!!
I had 21.5 oz of lye left so I put it in a SS bowl and added 21.5 oz of water. Once it cooled I put it in my Tupperware pitcher that I use for lye.
I have a mold that makes 32 bars so I decided to put the divider in and make 1/2 castile the other half my regular soap recipe.
I made the Castile soap and did a water discount so it would trace quicker ... another tip I read on here and it worked perfectly for my first ever batch of Castile (will post pictures as soon as my camera battery charges) For whatever reason it didn't trace as quickly as the first time I did it, but, once it came to trace I poured it in the mold.
Batch #2 started Lard, coconut oil, castor oil and PKO ... I use this recipe all the time and LOVE it. Everything was at room temperature (first time doing at room temp). I added my FO (Oatmeal, Milk and Honey) to the oils before I added the lye solution. I did a water discount for this too.
I blended and blended and blended and could not get it past a light trace ... I let it sit a while, then started blending again ... still could not get a good trace ... let it sit again ... came back and blended some more. This time it got a little thicker so I poured it in the mold.
I stuck it in warm oven to do its thing, then I noticed that the soap was dripping out of the mold. My mold has slits in it for cutting and I lined it, but cut the lining too close to the bottom so the soap was seeping out ... I stuck a small stainless steel bowl there thinking it would stop dripping soon.
Today I came home from church, pulled it out of the oven and YIKES ... there was soap all over the place. The bowl was a little less than half full of what looked like oil. Thankfully I covered the bottom of the oven with my silicone baking mats, and there was soap all over them. When I took the mats out there was a puddle of oil under the mat.
The castile soap was very gooey and had what looked like a crust on top of it. I scooped what was of both batches into my Soaping Pot and set it in a pan of simmering hot water to rebatch it. I added half ounce of lye solution and a little water to loosen it up.
I stirred, stirred, stirred, let it sit then repeated the process again. Once I was sure everything was incorporated well I let it sit about 10 minutes then dumped it in my Crafters Choice Silicone molds and stuck it in the oven. I tested some of the soap out of the pot and it seemed fine, but, when I looked in the oven the soap looks like it still has oil floating around the edges.
The only thing I did different was I used LouAnns Coconut Oil from Wal-Mart because I was out of Soapers Choice.
The Castile called for 9.26 of lye and 27.36 of water. I poured 9.26 of the lye solution and added 17.36 of water.
The Lard recipe called for 10.26 lye and 27.36 water and I used 20.36 water.
I am not sure what happened ... any tips, thoughts?? If this still has oil floating on the top do I scrap it ... is there a way to save it???
UGH!!!!
