zap test?

[chandler Trev]

What is this zap test I read in the threads?

 

[Overthemoon]

It's the test to see if the soap is lye heavy. Most people I have spoken to use the taste test, some use a ph test (like a chemist). The trick with hp is just to roll a small amount of the soap in you fingers to see if it is waxy (it should be) and that flick the soap ball with just the tip of your tongue. You'll feel an uncomfortable sensation, a zap if there is any lye active.

With cp you do the test after the curse and just... uh lick the bar.

 

[tamarajane]

It's like sticking your tounge to a battery, sort of. :shock:

 

[Half Caper Farm]

With cp you do the test after the curse and just... uh lick the bar.

Really? I curse after I lick the bar!

 

[tamarajane]

Ditto!

 

[Overthemoon]

**** typos. Gimme a break. I was on a break on my grave yard shift.

But ya, curse after you lick the bar, either because it is lye heavy or because it tastes gross.

 

[Half Caper Farm]

We're just joshing ya! You've got to admit, it was a funny typo! :wink:

 

[carebear]

It's the test to see if the soap is lye heavy. Most people I have spoken to use the taste test, some use a ph test (like a chemist). The trick with hp is just to roll a small amount of the soap in you fingers to see if it is waxy (it should be) and that flick the soap ball with just the tip of your tongue. You'll feel an uncomfortable sensation, a zap if there is any lye active.

With cp you do the test after the curse and just... uh lick the bar.

yes, you lick.

but no, Overthemoon, you cannot use "a ph test". The pH of soap is naturally very high and will be whether there are small amounts of free caustic or not.

I make CP. I lick. If it zaps it feels like I've put my tongue to the end of a 9v battery. If not it still tastes like crap but doesn't have that kinda metallic zing. Don't do it with RAW soap though - ask me how I know.... (wait - no don't. please)

 

[chandler Trev]

Did not know licking the bar had a name. Thanks all.

It was indeed a funny typo

 

[lovethyscent]

Husbands are always good zap testers lol

 

[Deda]

Husbands are always good zap testers lol

That's how I do it.

 

[dagmar88]

lol, mine has learned not to. He's always hanging around when I'm baking & soapmaking and constantly annoyingly standing in my way and tasting stuff...
Untill last time he took a big lick of raw soap :? Now way he'll lick it ever again!

 

[Half Caper Farm]

That'll larn 'im!

 

[Overthemoon]

It was a funny typo. My wannabe zap tester is my dad's cat. She loves the smell of the cooking soap and is always trying to jump on the counter at ever stage. Kandi is now always locked away when I'm soaping.

 

[soap_rat]

By pH test, I thought she meant pH paper, which has been working for me so far (pH 11: keep cooking. pH 9-10: now try the zap test). But yeah, phenolpthalein wouldn't work.

Recently, instead of doing the pH paper first, I was burning my tongue on soap that was still hot under the cooled "skin," and thinking I was getting zapped. Sigh. But I did cure that case of stupid.

 

[chandler Trev]

I read some place that the pH strips could be thrown off by the surfactants in the soap.