Salt

[penelopejane]

I would like to add salt to my soap to harden the bars.

I have added it to the batter and it leaves little spots.
I am using 1/2 the water so I can add goats milk to the oils.
I added it to the water/lye mix after I added the lye and it didn't dissolve.

I just added 2 tsp salt to 159 g water before the lye. It dissolved but when I added the lye the salt (I assumed) has solidified in little flakes. This is not more than 25%. I think it is only 6%.

What can I do to this mix? Or should I throw it out?
What am I doing wrong?

 

[Arimara]

I say keep it and see how it comes out. You never know until it's cured. Gram wise, I have no clue how much a tsp is perse but I would probably say measure 10% of you water weight for salt and see how that comes. If that's a success, bump it up to 15% on up.

 

[penelopejane]

I say keep it and see how it comes out. You never know until it's cured. Gram wise, I have no clue how much a tsp is perse but I would probably say measure 10% of you water weight for salt and see how that comes. If that's a success, bump it up to 15% on up.

Hi Arimara,

1tsp = 5g

The flakes are really hard and they won't dissolve with a SB. I wish I knew if it was lye or salt. I don't really want to waste a whole mix. I could strain it and use it and see how it goes.

 

[Arimara]

I think it's likely to be salt. Thanks for the measurements. It seams you're used a safe amount. I would try it anyway but I advise keeping track of lye solution temperatures. It's when the solution's temperatures stop increasing and begin to fall that it's generally considered fully dissolved. You can also dilute the solution more and use it for your plumbing if it is a little slow.

 

[Steve85569]

When I use salt brine in the lye water I usually get a mix that looks milky after the lye has been added.
I have found that when I am using a lower water batch that if I don't leave enough water available to the lye it will cause the salt to drop out. Looks kinda like flakes of sugar glaze.

I don't seem to have the problem at 1.5:1 but if I go lower it shows up. 1:1 is a disaster.

 

[penelopejane]

When I use salt brine in the lye water I usually get a mix that looks milky after the lye has been added.
I have found that when I am using a lower water batch that if I don't leave enough water available to the lye it will cause the salt to drop out. Looks kinda like flakes of sugar glaze.

I don't seem to have the problem at 1.5:1 but if I go lower it shows up. 1:1 is a disaster.

Steve,
I am not sure what flakes of sugar glaze look like (even after googling them!) but they were like very thin tiny pieces of slivered almonds.

Is that the same?

The problem is I only used 10g of salt to 159g of water (before I added the lye) this is only 6% ratio I think. So this shouldn't be a problem. The lye was still about 100-110 degrees F.

How am I supposed to add salt if I want to try and use goats milk (so only use 1/2 water with the lye)? I am using plain cooking salt is that the wrong sort?

 

[Seawolfe]

I would dissolve the salt to the goat milk.
It sounds like your lye and water solution is strong enough to precipitate out the salt again. You don't want to use salt with iodine (which most table salt has) or anti-caking additives, which is why plain canning salt or sea salt is a good choice.

 

[penelopejane]

I would dissolve the salt to the goat milk.
It sounds like your lye and water solution is strong enough to precipitate out the salt again. You don't want to use salt with iodine (which most table salt has) or anti-caking additives, which is why plain canning salt or sea salt is a good choice.

Hi Seawolfe,

It's plain salt, no additives. Last time I tried to mix the salt in with the main batter it came out as spots on the soap. Do you think 10g of salt will dissolve enough in the 135 g of milk to not come out spotty? I also add goats milk powder to my goats milk but I can keep some water out and mix that and add it directly to the oils if you think that is a better option.

Problem Solved (I hope).
I don't know if this will help anyone else because it is the sort of thing that only happens to me but I will tell you anyway, just incase it helps someone.

DH (ex high school science teacher) and dissolved my salt (which is "cooking salt" and says only "salt" on the ingredients) in water and there were grains still left in the bottom of the glass which he couldn't get to dissolve no matter what he did. He poured some acid (vinegar) in and the grains dissolved immediately.

He mixed another salt solution and this time the salt dissolved completely. When he added lye something precipitated out and formed a cloudy solution with some grains in the bottom of the glass.

Not sure what is happening but the "salt" is contaminated with something.
From now on I am going to stick to the more expensive sea salt.

Thanks to you seawolfe, I will also dissolve my salt in the little bit of water that I reserve to dissolve the powdered goats milk and see how that goes. If all else fails I will just stick to 1/2 goats milk and 1/2 water in the recipe.

I will confirm this tomorrow when I try a mixture of Sea salt with my recipe.

 

[Bamagirl]

I don't know if this will help or not, but years ago when I first started canning, I looked up what the difference in canning salt and table salt was and from the research I done, I found out canning salt is supposed to dissolve easier in liquids. I don't know if that is true or not as I got it from the internet. I am planning a salt bar soon and on my thread someone put that they use canning salt, and when I was reading your post, I remembered looking that up.

 

[paillo]

I use up to 20% salt to liquid in all my CP batches. Then I refrigerate my liquid of coconut milk/distilled water/salt/clay/sugar/silk before adding the lye, to prevent overheating. I use sea salt with no additives, or extra-fine Himalayan (going to try canning salt next). 'Cuz I have so much stuff in there it often solidifies right after I add the lye. I keep stirring it after I've added the lye, that helps. If it does solidify, I break it up with a spoon and stir it back into solution. Sometimes it takes a while. After it's liquid again I've found it's fine, does not solidify again, and behaves perfectly even if it's on the thick side.

 

[Susie]

Add your salt to some of the GM before it goes into the oils. You can even mix that up ahead of time if you like. It really does not take much liquid to dissolve 5-10 g of salt. I would try 28 g of liquid to start, and adjust from there.