Soap Makers Help!

[cheeptrick]

Quote:
yep...I agree your coconut oil was high. Remember the Soap calculator is not an exact science though...I've run MANY a batch thru them and still came up with a botched batch. Once you find the exact recipe you prefer...STICK with it and TAKE NOTES always. I have a soap recipe journal that I keep....

I made a batch with liquid cholorphyll...I usually soap at 80 degrees and the last time I soaped with chlorophlly I soaped at 90 degrees and I've GOT live lye crystals with this 80 degree batch...I'm rebatching RIGHT now. I've got photos coming of the lye crystals...and BOY did it zap with the tongue test! I DID not prevent the gel either....which surprised me...when I cut and found the lye crystals.

Happy Thanksgiving all!!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Congrats on the notice, chiknwhisperer! Now you can obsessively check to see where your order is at any given moment instead of invading hubby's truck parts packages!

What did you order from them?

Morgaine - Thanks for posting that soap calc link. That was really interesting! I liked that they give some additional information like the ranges for the various properties. I've been winging it, making adjustments that I *thought* might work, so I was glad to see I was still within range AND it gave me an idea of what I need to tweak further.

Welcome back, Cheeptrick! You were missed! Wow! I can't wait to see the pictures of your bad batch. We've seen some of your such pretty soaps so it'll be interesting to see one that didn't work out, especially for us newbies to know what we're looking for in our own batches.

Also, when you have a spare moment, I finally got around to posting pictures of my slippery batch. I haven't checked them in a couple of days because I had to get them out of my living room so that company would have a place to sit tomorrow!

They were about 1 week old at these photos, and were still slippery on the top and bottom edges (not the big cut edges).
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=92933&p=49

If I don't get a chance to get on here tomorrow, wishing you all a fabulous Thanksgiving Day!

 

[redhead83402]

It's interesting ~ the recipes I put through MMS don't seem to agree with soapcalc. I wonder why this is? Perhaps they use a different formula? I have not used soapcalc yet to formulate a recipe, as I can't seem to get the recipes to agree. Personally, I prefer MMS, just because it seems easier to use ~ lol.

For instance, I put this recipe through MMS, & made it, & it turned out just great, but when I later put it through Soapcalc, just to see, it had some strange things about it, and it said that my soap would basically flop, which it obviously didn't. And it wanted to use a LOT more lye.

I wonder why this is?

canola oil ~ 30 oz
coconut oil ~ 12 oz
olive oil ~ 20 oz
soybean oil ~ 50
tallow ~ 30

water ~ 30 oz
crabapple juice ~ 11 oz

1.4 oz fo's in 1 oz carrier oil ( the fo's are very concentrate, & seemed to mix & hold much better when pre-mixed with a carrier oil, than when I just added the fo on it's own.)

If anyone has worked with both of these calcs, & wants to share the answer, lol, I sure would appreciate it. ;-D
~Red

Oh yes, And HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all my olfactory friends ~ my soapin' shnoz sistah's ~ ;-D

oops, forgot to show pic of soap ~ it did work, but according to soapcalc, it should have flopped completely.

And while my basement is filling up ~ I have already had several folks ask to buy soap!! YEAHH! I can justify my habit!!! WOOHOO!

 

[chiknwhisperer]

WOW They all look so great Redhead! My MIL hasn't even seen my soaps yet and she said she will buy some after I get going and have more so that she can use them as gifts for others.

LOL It's 6:30 am on Thanksgiving day and I already checked where my order is

I can't wait. I ordered 7 lbs of castor oil, 4 oz eucalyptus EO, and 2 lbs fine pumice. lol And I'm already figuring another shopping list in my head. I NEED more oils

I forgot to post pics of my chamomille and lemon tea soap. I'll have to do that later. On to washing dishes and making four more pies and bread lol HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Beautiful soaps, redhead83402! I hope Morgaine can answer your question about the soapcalc differences. Previously, I was using the lye calculator at Soaper's Choice. When I switched over to MMS, I ran the same recipe through both calculators and came up with different numbers as well, especially about how much lye should be added. I also wondered why the difference. The thing that's nice about the soapcalc site is how it will tell you the characteristics of your bar. By knowing the individual characteristics of each oil, it's possible to use the soapcalc to adjust subsequent recipes for more lather, creaminess, cleansing, etc.

I ran your numbers through and what I see is a softer bar that is more conditioning than cleansing. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I would guess that would mean that it would be a milder bar. Am I reading that right, Morgaine?

You're cracking me up chiknwhisperer! I so did the same thing. Heck, I checked it more than once a day. I bet you have, too!

The next time you need several oils, check out
http://www.soaperschoice.com/cgi-so...eb_store.cgi?query_price_low_range=0&cart_id=

Their prices are very good.

Need pix of the chamomile and lemon tea soap!

 

[chiknwhisperer]

The pics are coming later tonight lol. I have an apple pie in the oven and monkey bread rising lol. I already check it twice and I am getting ready to check it again LMBO.
Guess what everyone! I was lookin on Craigs list and I found a so handsome roo. He is a BO like my Buella and now maybe after he gets out of quarintine she was stop complaining to me all the time. I'm gettin him for $15. I could get 2 bantam roos to but I can't have more then one roo and as it is my DH doesn't know lol. He told me no more chickens until spring but I just couldnn't pass him up.

 

[redhead83402]

LOL BB & chicknwhisperer ~ I get a little OCD about MY orders too, lol. Right now I have all those bath junkie eo's & fo's coming in the mail, & it's just KILLING me how long its taking! It took the e-check forever to go through, and of course NOW its a holiday ~ so I am waaiittinggg.... ugghh~

I also found a lady near me who wants to sell off half her hens & all her roo's on craigslist.
She wants $10 for a pullet ( they aren't quite to laying stage yet ) But I don't know WHERE I'd put them ~ I was actually thinking about the roo's for meat birds, though. In fact, I emailed her & said I am sure the roo's wouldn't cost as much as laying hens, so she emailed me back & asked how much did I want to pay for the roo's. I really don't know ~ how much SHOULD extra meat bird roo's cost?

Uh oh, there's the timer ~ I have 2 blackberry/strawberry pies in the oven, plus I am making a pumpkin cheesecake, an apple sheet pie, & a spiced peach pie.
~Red

 

[chiknwhisperer]

Ok I just checked for the fourth time today and the order is in Jacksonville FL lol

The one on the left is the tea one and the right handside is the buttermilk one. Well ladies I hope you have all had a wonderful day and now its time for mine to come to an end lol. I'm frikin tired

 

[chiknwhisperer]

lol I didn't notice it till now but my labels are the wrong way lol. I'll have to fix that tomorrow. Night all

 

[Backyard Buddies]

You girls are so lucky! Congrats on the new Roo, chiknwhisperer! And congrats on the new pullets and future supper, redhead83402! I'm not the one to answer anything on prices. My three girls are pet birds - 2 1/2 years old and barely laying (only 1 girl laying and only a few eggs a week).

Ok I just checked for the fourth time today and the order is in Jacksonville FL lol

LOL. OK, so they haven't gotten very far, have they? I'm glad I'm not the only OCD person when it comes to the orders. When I placed my order with Soapers Choice, two of my containers were 50 lbs each and two were 7 lbs. After they went to their first destination, UPS gave the bigger ones some funky designation that I didn't recognize and I was certain they were lost somewhere. Nope, came on time with the others. Still, I worried about it for days!

chiknwhisperer, nice soaps! I love the beautiful white of the chamomile soap. Looks nice and gentle!

I hope you all aren't too stuffed from today! It's late and now I'm heading to bed. The best thing about that is that I don't have to get up early to get all that cooking going!​