Oh Lard, What's That Smell?

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cgsample

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Been soaping for about a year now, exclusively shaving soaps, and ran out of beef tallow. Thought I substitute lard in a recipe since the lard was easily obtainable. Oh god it stinks!

Hate to waste the KOH and stearic acid, but this batch has to be dumped.
 
Whoa! Not so fast!

The smell can be covered by almost any fragrance or essential oil. What about rebatching it with some smell good?
 
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I agree, I wouldn't toss it. The only time I get a piggy smell is if it over cooked/heated. But with a FO or EO I the mix it will cure out generally.
 
I have the opposite problem. I make all my batches with lard and never have any odor issues. I made one batch with tallow and it stinks. I rebatched it and it still stinks. I should have used a stronger scent. Not sure what to do with it now. I don't want to rebatch it again.
 
I have the opposite problem. I make all my batches with lard and never have any odor issues. I made one batch with tallow and it stinks. I rebatched it and it still stinks. I should have used a stronger scent. Not sure what to do with it now. I don't want to rebatch it again.

I hate rebatching. I shred soap up and use it as confetti in a couple of other batches. Just make sure to use a strong contrasting color. That way you can claim you meant to do that.
 
I hate rebatching. I shred soap up and use it as confetti in a couple of other batches. Just make sure to use a strong contrasting color. That way you can claim you meant to do that.

I've never done this, so it might be a good time to try. So do you basically just add shreds to the bowl and mix in right before you pour into the mold?
 
Yes, pretty much. I've found I can use a maximum of one part soap shreds to two parts new soap. Any more than that and you get clumping and your bars will be weak and crumbly.
 
Also the lardy smell does fade away after a good cure. I made some lard soaps over a year ago that smelt absolutly horrid for a good couple months. I found a bar on the shelf a couple weeks ago and man is it good. No piggy smell, just the FO I used. This prompted me to make a few more batches of lard soap to be "forgotten" about for the next year or so.

But yeah during the making process boy does it smell bad. All the lard I have found here smells so piggy even before I melt it
 

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