Water Discount

[Moonbeam101]

Hello everyone! I'll be very grateful if someone can help me with this problem. So I recently learned that my recipes are in "low lye concentration" range (water as % of oil weight = 35% , which means lye concentration = 28%). But in all my recipes 50-60% of water amount is substituted by coconut milk ( in water, before reacting with lye). So my question is should I increase the amount of lye concentration in the recipes or continue using these proportions? If I should continue using same lye concentration should I increase my curing time (to account for more water %) or 4-5 weeks is sufficient ?
Thank you all.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I would still increase the lye concentration. Only about 5 - 8 % of the coconut milk is fat, so it's mostly water. Aim for 33% and see how you go.

 

[Moonbeam101]

Thank you.
I am making one batch today. Will try 33% lye concentration. Lets's see how it goes! fingers crossed.

Also, what is your opinion on curing time for my existing soap btaches?

 

[Moonbeam101]

Hello @KiwiMoose, I made a soap few days back with 33% lye concentration and 50% coconut milk.. It went well. Batter didn`t get thick at all. The soap hardened up nicely ( I follow CPOP method) and was able to unmold the next day. Thank you so much for the help. I am attesting a photograph of the soap I made. Cheers!

 

[cmzaha]

When I use Milk such as Coconut milk and Goat's Milk I compensate for the fat and also the added Coconut oil. Here is a link to an article by DeeAnna on how to do this from the nutritional label. There is a lot of useful on here site, you should spend time over there.
Nutrition labels | Soapy Stuff

 

[Moonbeam101]

@cmzaha Thank you for your input. I will definitely look into the article and the site.

 

[Sweetface81]

Hi All!
I’m playing around with lye concentrations or water discounts. I usually use a 33% lye concentration but thought I’d try 37%( not sure why I chose that number) but I soap anywhere between 85-90F with this new concentration and my soap batter reaches a light trace but doesn’t get any thicker than that until it’s in the mold and roughly 20 minutes later it’s ready to texture. When using the 33% concentration my batter would be able to reach medium/thick trace and I’d be able to pour in the mold and texture the tops. With the 37% concentration I can unmold the next day and my bars are hard surprisingly. These bars are nice and lather well. Is this normal? I thought when you use less water (water discount I suppose) your batter is supposed to thicken relatively fast. What would cause the batter to not reach a thick trace until about 20 minutes later?

 

[AliOop]

I also soap at room temp, and typically use 40% lye concentration. The phenomenom may be somewhat recipe dependent, but for me and my recipes, trace definitely slows down around 37% - 40%, and then speeds up again after that.

As you noted, there are lots of advantages to using a higher lye concentration, including faster unmolding, less shrinkage during cure, less soda ash, and less chance of glycerin rivers (although that may be a negative to some). Soap also doesn't gel as easily with less water, so if I want mine to gel (and I usually do), it goes under an insulated box and on a heating pad for an hour or so.

 

[Sweetface81]

Thank you for your response! This is good to know. I don’t mind the wait time for it to thicken up. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t doing something wrong as I never had tried it before. I don’t gel my soaps but I absolutely love that I don’t get soda ash

 

[Sweetface81]

I also soap at room temp, and typically use 40% lye concentration. The phenomenom may be somewhat recipe dependent, but for me and my recipes, trace definitely slows down around 37% - 40%, and then speeds up again after that.

As you noted, there are lots of advantages to using a higher lye concentration, including faster unmolding, less shrinkage during cure, less soda ash, and less chance of glycerin rivers (although that may be a negative to some). Soap also doesn't gel as easily with less water, so if I want mine to gel (and I usually do), it goes under an insulated box and on a heating pad for an hour or so.

I also soap at room temp, and typically use 40% lye concentration. The phenomenom may be somewhat recipe dependent, but for me and my recipes, trace definitely slows down around 37% - 40%, and then speeds up again after that.

As you noted, there are lots of advantages to using a higher lye concentration, including faster unmolding, less shrinkage during cure, less soda ash, and less chance of glycerin rivers (although that may be a negative to some). Soap also doesn't gel as easily with less water, so if I want mine to gel (and I usually do), it goes under an insulated box and on a heating pad for an hour or so.

Thank you for your response! This is good to know. I don’t mind the wait time for it to thicken up. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t doing something wrong as I never had tried it before. I don’t gel my soaps but I absolutely love that I don’t get soda ash