Olive oil cold processed

[angel01]

Hi everyone
Can we talk about Castile soap. Your thoughts on discounting water and cure time. I have heard it can take up to 15 months to cure? Is this true. Thoughts please and any ways to speed up the cure time just a bit lol What do you guys do

 

[Dawni]

Hi everyone
Can we talk about Castile soap. Your thoughts on discounting water and cure time. I have heard it can take up to 15 months to cure? Is this true. Thoughts please and any ways to speed up the cure time just a bit lol What do you guys do

This is the Castile I made. If you read the comments you'll find info and tips from the other members on water and curing.. Might answer some of your questions

I also made a hot processed version, and there's input from others there too. If you do a search there's lots more info on the forum. That's what I did before making mine.

 

[angel01]

This is the Castile I made. If you read the comments you'll find info and tips from the other members on water and curing.. Might answer some of your questions

I also made a hot processed version, and there's input from others there too. If you do a search there's lots more info on the forum. That's what I did before making mine.

Thank you.

 

[cmzaha]

Hi everyone
Can we talk about Castile soap. Your thoughts on discounting water and cure time. I have heard it can take up to 15 months to cure? Is this true. Thoughts please and any ways to speed up the cure time just a bit lol What do you guys do

I make my Castile 100% OO with a 40% Lye Concentration. It really does not help cure time but does help it trace quicker. Cure time is just not drying out the soap, but giving soap the time to finish its full process of building the crystalline structure inside. When OO soap is cured a year the soap will be a milder, lather much better, and last longer. Milder does not necessarily mean lower ph just feels much nicer on the skin.

 

[earlene]

I have made Castile as HP and as CP. I've made it with the default settings in lye/soap calculators (aka 'full water' to some) and with reduced water (aka 'water discount' or higher lye concentration). I've made it with regular OO and with pomace OO. EVOO is popular with some for Castile but I don't use it due to the high cost of the oil, but for some folks, EVOO is less expensive. I don't think the grade of OO has any real effect however (at least not on the cure time anyway.) I've made single lye Castile with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and dual lye soap with 95% NaOH and 5% KOH (potassium hydroxide). I believe I've even made it with vinegar added (I'd have to double check to confirm, but I do recall at least one batch). I've made it plain without added color or fragrance and sort of fancy with colors and swirls and fragrances. I've made it in a traditional way with only hand stirring and I've made it using a SB (stick blender). I've made it with added salt (but not Zany's faux sea salt method.)

In my experience (and realize I've only been making soap just under 5 years) the longer cure time improves all of them. Any Castile I have has always improved with age; every last one of them. So when you read about a 15 month cure (or whatever long cure you read, as it can vary with source) I would support that.

A higher lye to water ratio, although it makes the soap harder faster, doesn't reduce the time required to improve the soap, or 'cure time' as it is often called. Like cmzaha, I like the [40% lye] as it sets up faster for molding and the bars don't warp at all while they cure. The default water setting in lye/soap calculators (or 'full water' as some call it) has so much water in the bars that I found that if I cut bars with the common rectangular shape, the bars warp during cure, but that can happen with other recipes as well, so it's not just with Castile. That's one reason I started cutting into cubes are other larger chuncky sized shapes because I don't like warped looking soap. But with a higher lye to water ratio, I can cut into any shape and not worry about my soap warping during cure.

 

[angel01]

I make my Castile 100% OO with a 40% Lye Concentration. It really does not help cure time but does help it trace quicker. Cure time is just not drying out the soap, but giving soap the time to finish its full process of building the crystalline structure inside. When OO soap is cured a year the soap will be a milder, lather much better, and last longer. Milder does not necessarily mean lower ph just feels much nicer on the skin.

Thank you so much. So helpful

Thank you

I have made Castile as HP and as CP. I've made it with the default settings in lye/soap calculators (aka 'full water' to some) and with reduced water (aka 'water discount' or higher lye concentration). I've made it with regular OO and with pomace OO. EVOO is popular with some for Castile but I don't use it due to the high cost of the oil, but for some folks, EVOO is less expensive. I don't think the grade of OO has any real effect however (at least not on the cure time anyway.) I've made single lye Castile with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and dual lye soap with 95% NaOH and 5% KOH (potassium hydroxide). I believe I've even made it with vinegar added (I'd have to double check to confirm, but I do recall at least one batch). I've made it plain without added color or fragrance and sort of fancy with colors and swirls and fragrances. I've made it in a traditional way with only hand stirring and I've made it using a SB (stick blender). I've made it with added salt (but not Zany's faux sea salt method.)

In my experience (and realize I've only been making soap just under 5 years) the longer cure time improves all of them. Any Castile I have has always improved with age; every last one of them. So when you read about a 15 month cure (or whatever long cure you read, as it can vary with source) I would support that.

A higher lye to water ratio, although it makes the soap harder faster, doesn't reduce the time required to improve the soap, or 'cure time' as it is often called. Like cmzaha, I like the [40% lye] as it sets up faster for molding and the bars don't warp at all while they cure. The default water setting in lye/soap calculators (or 'full water' as some call it) has so much water in the bars that I found that if I cut bars with the common rectangular shape, the bars warp during cure, but that can happen with other recipes as well, so it's not just with Castile. That's one reason I started cutting into cubes are other larger chuncky sized shapes because I don't like warped looking soap. But with a higher lye to water ratio, I can cut into any shape and not worry about my soap warping during cure.

Thank you for your help. I’ll wait out the cure time the longest.

 

[dibbles]

Thank you for your help. I’ll wait out the cure time the longest.

There’s nothing wrong with cutting a piece off of a bar every so often so you can see for yourself how the soap changes as it cures.