Special Goat milks soap for my GF!

[jd_198818]

Thank you so much from the beginning to the end of this process do you think 24 hours in the freezer is long enough?

If this soap turns out in any way I would love to send you a bar if you're interested

Both to thank you, and get your critiques!

 

[Obsidian]

You are very welcome 24 hours is enough but I would also suggest putting it in the fridge for another 24 hour to slowly thaw it. If you bring it to room temp too fast, it can cause condensation on the soap.
I would absolutely love to try a bar, I've always wondered if I would like sandalwood.

 

[jd_198818]

Great! Deal!

 

[cmzaha]

Yes, grams are the most accurate. I'll work on a recipe and get back to you in a bit.

Ok, here is what I came up with. I personally don't use palm oil so lets see what other members think before you actually make this. This will make a 4lb batch.

Olive Oil 907.184 gr

Coconut Oil 290.299 gr

Palm Oil 272.155 gr

Avocado Oil 90.718 gr

Castor Oil 72.575 gr

Cocoa Butter 90.718 gr

Almond Oil 90.718 gr

water/milk 689.46 gr
Lye 240.32 gr

ground oatmeal- 4 tsp
scent 56.699 gr

Does this look ok to anyone else? I couldn't figure out how to harden the bar without making the cleansing number go up too much.

Personally I would lower the superfat. Even a 4% superfat gives a very nice bar of soap and all the conditioning is in the soap not free oils. My plumbing just will not take all the free oil with high superfatting. I balance my soaps by using high conditioning oils not free oil left in it.

 

[Saswede]

Looks really good! And you have enough photos to develop your own tutorial!


Sent from my iPad using Soap Making

 

[kazmi]

I think they will love this soap. The recipe that Obsidian came up is very similar to my standard recipe and my family and friends love it. JD what do you think of the sandalwood FO. I have a sample of it that I haven't soaped with yet so I'm glad to see that it's easy to soap with.

 

[jd_198818]

Looks really good! And you have enough photos to develop your own tutorial!


Sent from my iPad using Soap Making

Thank you so much now I am excited to look into what my next recipe will be

Thinking somewhere along the lines of.... Beer, oats, and honey...with some almond scent oil maybe?

 

[jd_198818]

I think they will love this soap. The recipe that Obsidian came up is very similar to my standard recipe and my family and friends love it. JD what do you think of the sandalwood FO. I have a sample of it that I haven't soaped with yet so I'm glad to see that it's easy to soap with.

I appreciate the positive words. I really enjoy the sensuous sandalwood from brambleberry. It does not smell exactly like sandalwood EO but smells scary close and very delicious. I added it at a very thin trace along with the colloidal oats and some whole oats before I separated some of the soap out to mix in the cocoa. I had absolutely no issues with it speeding up the trace. I ultimately had over 10 minutes working with it before I poured it into the mold and it still was at a pour-able trace.

Bottom line- it smells of sandalwood first, then I pick up cedar and a small mount of patchouli. At the price sandalwood EO sells for, I have absolutely no issue using this similar fragrance, and it was very easy to work with. I will be using it in the future on its own like a did here, and in combination with with other fragrances to find my own scent.

 

[Skatergirl46]

Looking good!

 

[jd_198818]

ok guys, so my mold has spent one night in the freezer, and another day in the fridge.. after about 6 hours of sitting at room temperature i decided that i was going to cut the soap.. but when i opened the mold i realized that it has not completely hardened up. I did not cut it yet as it is just a bit harder than softened butter right now... did something wrong happen or am i just not being patient enough?

 

[cmzaha]

Yep, that will work. Good find, I've not been able to locate pure palm shortening.

I you happen to live where there is a Smart & Final their shortening is 100% palm. I do still add in Palm when I use the hydrogenated type of palm (shortening)

 

[cmzaha]

If you can remove it from the mold without damaging it I would let it air dry for a day or two. It looks beautiful. I only leave my 5# soap batches in the freezer for 5-7 hours. I do not want to freeze them completely because it will slow down the setting up time. Like anything frozen when you thaw it out it has a lot of condensation. With a gm or beer soap just check the mold and see if it is cold.
Great job with your soap it will be fantastic.

 

[jd_198818]

If you can remove it from the mold without damaging it I would let it air dry for a day or two. It looks beautiful. I only leave my 5# soap batches in the freezer for 5-7 hours. I do not want to freeze them completely because it will slow down the setting up time. Like anything frozen when you thaw it out it has a lot of condensation. With a gm or beer soap just check the mold and see if it is cold.
Great job with your soap it will be fantastic.

thank you very much for reassuring me! i am hopeful!

 

[Obsidian]

It looks great, can't wait to see it cut. With soap, patience is a virtue. When I first started soaping, I always cut too soon and had gooey streaks on the bars. I still get impatient at times and do something stupid like stick my finger into bars that are way too soft and shouldn't have been cut in the first place.:roll:

 

[Skatergirl46]

That soap looks great. The recipe is very similar to one that I make and really like. Give it a good cure, it's worth the wait.

 

[jd_198818]

thanks guys! will attempt cutting in a day or two.

 

[jd_198818]

i want to cut this soap but it still does not seem like it would be hard enough to cut without it dragging. it has been one week today since i made this batch. i have messed with the sample bars that were excess to the mold.. they soaped up when i tried to wash my hands... and passed the zap test lol, but they are not hardening up. feel something like fairly hard clay.

is this typical? because of high superfatting maybe? or because i have it in the garage?? it is getting down into the 30s at night and generally in the high 50s to low 60s during the day

 

[cmzaha]

"...but one of my favorite recipes just has tallow, olive, and coconut with castor. Lard also makes a great bar. ..."

I agree with you. My soapmaking ingredients list is pretty simple too, with lard high on the list. But I remember the first couple of recipes I made where I just had to try several of the more exotic fats ... just cuz!That phase wore off really quick, thankfully. I made an "odds and ends" batch with the last of my fancy butters and oils and never bought more. I have truly enjoyed learning how to make quality soap with the more traditional soap-making fats. But I know many soap makers feel differently about this than I do .... so YMMV and all that.

I personally love lard, sunflower and palm soap. Super simple! Of course I also love pure lard soap

 

[Obsidian]

Bring it in where its warmer. It could still be softish because the excess water isn't evaporating fast enough. Personally, I would try and cut one bar, see how it does. Make sure to turn the loaf on its side so the oatmeal doesn't make drag marks.

 

[DeeAnna]

Yes, give it more time. It WILL harden up, just not as fast as you'd like.

If you haven't yet taken the log completely out of the mold, do so and set it (carefully!) on end to let air circulate over as much of the surface as possible. When you can cut it into bars, that will be even better. The soap will firm up a bit faster because you've given it even more surface area for evaporation. But use your good judgement on when you do that.

One batch of my soap (an experimental recipe coupled with a comedy of minor errors) took about 4 months to go from "dentable with a finger" to decently hard stage. I was very doubtful about it for the first couple of months, but the solution was simple patience and time. I personally don't care for soaps that take that long to harden, but given the circumstances of this particular soap, it worked out fine in the long run.