Want to make Zany's No-Slime

[singingsoapgirl]

This is my first post here. I'm a newbie to soap, but not to chemistry...

I want to make Zany's No-Slime Castille using an unconventional long-way-round method. Please read for the full story.

2 weeks ago, I made a cold process goat's milk castille soap after reading some people say it was their favorite and before reading about slime... I made my own recipe after reading for weeks using SoapCalc to get the lye amount as follows:

200g olive oil (not extra virgin, just the yellowish cheap stuff from walmart)
76g frozen goats milk (yes, I recognize this is an "intermediate" ingredient, but the point of soaping for me is to use up milk my goats produce that is undrinkable, like hoof-in-the-bowl)
26gNaOH

Method: Slowly add lye to frozen milk, and stir until the milk melts then dissolves the lye, add a little more lye, etc, until all the lye is added. slowly pour lye milk down my stick blender into weighed out olive oil. Stir alternating with SBing until light trace, then pour into individual bar molds. I unmolded 48 hours later. I planned on curing for at least 6 months.

I REALLY don't want to use slimy soap. I have texture issues. I really don't want to gag while washing my hands.

Question: Is it possible for me to rebatch the above recipe by adding 1 part Zany's faux sea water per 3-4 parts grated soap to a crockpot or microwave bowl, melt it all together, and then cure???

ANY hints, tips, tricks I should know. I don't want to wait 6 months just to throw it all away.

The other option I've thought of is to start making another soap (like lard, or tallow), at light trace, pour in a melted down slimy Castille, hand mix really well, and then pour into molds. Possible? Useful? Pointless?

 

[atiz]

Not much experience with rebatching here... but I would think option 2 (making a new soap with different oils and adding a bit of castille to it) might be a better option. I'm not done with the proper cure yet, but even Zany's castille is a bit slimy for me.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...adding 1 part Zany's faux sea water per 3-4 parts grated soap..."

That's a lot of water for a rebatch. Not to say it won't work, but the soap will deform and shrink a lot as all that water evaporates over time. The result will be functional but not pretty. I'm not entirely sure that will eliminate oleic slime.

I suggest you follow @atiz' suggestion instead.

 

[singingsoapgirl]

Fair enough. I'll try option 2 and make Zany's as a stand alone some other time.

On option 2, is it better to rebatch ASAP, or can it be after the 6 month cure?

 

[DeeAnna]

The sooner the better. You don't have to scramble to get it done -- no rush exactly -- but don't let it cure for months. It's going to be easier to rebatch if the soap is still high moisture.

 

[Dawni]

I found that incorporating fresher soap into new oils blends better than if it were cured, hardened soap. You have a greater chance of having a smoother batter.

I tried it once with 2 month old soap and it looked like I had speckled soap.

 

[atiz]

You could also try making confetti soap out of it, which is probably the easiest: just grate or chop up the soap, and mix it into the fresh soap batter. I don't have much experience with this one either, since the soap I was planning to try it on somehow "fixed itself", but maybe you can experiment.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

ANY hints, tips, tricks I should know. I don't want to wait 6 months just to throw it all away.

Hiya SSG! Thanks for that excellent description of your process. I ran your recipe through SoapCalc:

200g olive oil
76g frozen goats milk 38% (water as percent of oil weight)
26gNaOH 5% SF

TIPS to reduce slime: Choose "Water to Lye Ratio" at 1.7:1 (note decimal point)
Choose 0% SF to saponify as much of the olive oil as possible.

REBATCH: For that small of a batch, and since it's new soap, you don't need to add any liquid. I would grate up the soap as soon as it's grate-able. I often rebatch small batches in the microwave. Use your best judgment.

I would nuke 100 grams of gratings at half-power for a minute. Let it rest at least a minute before stirring. If it's molten enough, add a 1/4 teaspoon of dry ingredient (corn starch, oat flour, clay, etc), stir for one full minute and mold it up. If too lumpy, give it another shot -- maybe 30 seconds or less. Hard to say without seeing it. (Sometimes, when the soap is cool enough, I'll knead it and shape it with gloved hands before pressing into a mold... ) Hopefully, adding a dry ingredient will absorb some of the oil and excess water and give the bar more bulk and a smooth texture.

Is it possible for me to rebatch the above recipe by adding 1 part Zany's faux sea water per 3-4 parts grated soap to a crockpot or microwave bowl, melt it all together, and then cure???

I think it's possible, but I'm not sure the result would be that much better than what it is now. What might work is making a batch using 1/2 faux sea water and 1/2 goat milk for your lye solution. OR consider adding not-frozen goat milk to the olive oil before adding the lye solution. I'm at a loss because I use powdered GM and it's been ages since I've used the real thing, so I'm not much help there.

Whatcha think?

ETA: Oh, forgot to mention my credentials... I rebatched so many soaps when I first started out that I was known as the "Rebatch Queen!"

 

[singingsoapgirl]

Hi, Zany, aka Rebatch Queen! I'll try some powdery starchy something on 100g of this batch and see what it does.

For future soap tries, what do you think of a salted goat's milk? Add the salt and sodium bicarbonate for faux sea water into an equal weight of goat milk, then freeze and proceed with the recipe? I know acids make milk separate, but Sodium bicarb is an alkali, and the lye doesn't make the milk separate, so it should be safe to add, right?

 

[singingsoapgirl]

BTW, Thanks for all the informative replies everyone! I appreciate it!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

...what do you think of a salted goat's milk? Add the salt and sodium bicarbonate for faux sea water into an equal weight of goat milk, then freeze and proceed with the recipe?

I'm sorry, SSG, I don't have any experience with salt + real GM. Maybe someone with more experience will weigh in...

 

[Primrose]

If you haven't even tried your soap yet, why are you in such a hurry to destroy it?

You don't even know if you will like Zanys version of castile any better. Several forum members have reported it to still be slimy.

I think if you want to try it you'd be better off just making another batch following the Zany approach.

While you are at it, if you haven't made other soaps before I'd suggest you also try a balanced 3 or 4 oil recipe.

Let them all cure including your original castile and see what you think

 

[singingsoapgirl]

I have made other soaps. They're curing. One GV animal-based shortening (my cheap tallow source), one castille, one 30/30/30 GV/ CO/ OO mix, one GV shortening oat and honey.

Zany, no worries. I figured it might be at least a very uncommon variant if not unique. I'll let you know how it works out someday.

Primrose, I do understand your point. I have extremely limited resources and can't afford many pounds worth of failed (like, super fail gag-me-with-a-spoon-level-fail) experimental soaps, thus my small batch sizes. I have 3 bars of the castille. If I got ideas from this thread, I was planning to keep one as is, play with 2 in other ways, and compare them in 6 months to a year all without having to buy more oils. It seems that rebatching isn't guaranteed to make it like a true "Zany's" so I'm definitely not going to rebatch with that in mind, but I might add a starch to one of the bars, and melt the other down into a very small amount of coconut soap for a 70/30 OO/CO Bastille attempt.

 

[Primrose]

I really don't see why you wouldn't just wait until you've actually tried it, but hey your soap. Best of luck with whatever you decide, and I hope you find your perfect soap recipe. One thing I will say is that soapmaking demands patience, and long term investment. I don't really consider myself intimately knowing a soap until we've been friends for at least a year if not more.