What to do with a mistake?!

[Debs]

hi
I have been making soap for about 8 months and made my first real error last week. I have a recipe I like ,
OO 50%
CO 25%
CB 10%
SB 10%
Castor O 5%.
I have just bought some sensitive scales to get my measurements of my oils correct and must have lost concentration some where as the finished product didn't fill my mould where as it has always filled it up...think I may have messed up the Olive O. It has set really hard and the EO of bergamot, pettigrain and geranium are evident on the finished soap. the soap itself feels oily when you touch it. I tried to cut it but it just crumbles. So - do i ditch it or is there something I can use it for??? Pleased I am still making small batches as I am experimenting with EO but if I could use it for something......any suggestions greatly appreciated

 

[IrishLass]

Does the soap zap at all when you apply the tongue test? If not, you can grate it up and use it as 'confetti' in a new batch.


IrishLass

 

[queennikki]

Yeah The first thing is to see if it zaps, then if not it might be usable but you would need to test it or you can re purpose it

 

[Debs]

hi
I got a little sting....it didn't taste of soap. I made the batch 29th Sept so unsure if that makes a difference? should i wait a while and do it again or ditch? thanks for your help

 

[Susie]

If you got a zap, then it is lye heavy. That is not to say that it is unusable, just that it is lye heavy.

You could grate it up (use gloves) and rebatch it, adding the amount of oil you think you forgot.

Or you could wait a really long time for it to get milder before using as is.

Or you could grate it up and use as confetti in a batch with a high enough superfat to balance out the lye heaviness of this batch. You will want to use 2 parts new soap to 1 part confetti.

 

[Debs]

Thanks Susie - how do i work the maths out for that? would i have the original batch as it was supposed to be, then grate the 'old' soap into the oils before adding the lye?
and - what would a good superfat be..i assume i work the superfat out on the new batch using soapcalc or something similar?
so many questions sorry!!

 

[Susie]

First you need to figure out what you have. Did you forget the whole of the olive oil?

If so, use the lye calculator to re-figure the recipe minus the olive oil amount. Put the oils in that you know you have, and keep adjusting the superfat amount until the amount of NaOH is correct. Then you will know how lye heavy it is.

Then, make a recipe that has a superfat high enough that if you add 1/3 confetti from the lye heavy recipe, you still have a total superfat that you want.

Example:

Lye heavy soap has -5% superfat, and you want 5% total superfat for the batch.

Make a new recipe that has about 7.5% superfat, then mix 1 part confetti to 2 parts of the next recipe.

There are some really pretty confetti soap pictures floating around the forum recently. Make the new soap with a contrasting color so that it looks like you meant to do this all along.

 

[penelopejane]

Thanks Susie - how do i work the maths out for that? would i have the original batch as it was supposed to be, then grate the 'old' soap into the oils before adding the lye?
and - what would a good superfat be..i assume i work the superfat out on the new batch using soapcalc or something similar?
so many questions sorry!!

Follow susie's post. You make the new mix batter taking it to light trace. Then you mix in the confetti by hand into the new batter. You can reserve some of the plain batter and put some plain batter into the mold and put some of the batter/confetti mix in and swirl it, or you can do bands. Totally up to you. You just need to mix the grated confetti into double the weight of new light trace batter first.

 

[Kamahido]

hi
I got a little sting....it didn't taste of soap. I made the batch 29th Sept so unsure if that makes a difference? should i wait a while and do it again or ditch? thanks for your help

Wait! Your soap is from the future?! :think:

 

[earlene]

Wait! Your soap is from the future?! :think:

Back to the Future! I though the same thing. Chuckle.