Soap Makers Help!

[Bettacreek]

Quote:
I've been seeing a lot of tea soaps lately. I've been thinking about testing some out. I've heard that most of the teas don't have a scent after it's soaped though.

Also hoping to get wine FO and making a small batch of wine soap. Should be interesting. I'm wondering how much of it will be polished off in my belly while trying to cook some down for soaping, lol.

 

[ChicksterJo]

I would be super disappointed if this wonderful raspberry smell doesn't stay. I am trying to order some samplers (FO's) from BB but I can't choose one. I'd like their Best Of sampler but I also like the fall fragrances because it is fall after all. I may eventually want to sell these soaps so I am thinking about what kinds of fragrances people will like too (besides myself

). I am just unsure which kit to order and I don't want to spend too much money on FOs or any fragrances right now.

 

[WomanInTheWoods]

Out of the three tea soaps I made, only one of them held the scent.

It was the Cinnamon Apple, which my boys LOVE.... I was really rooting for the Sugar Plum one, too... that tea smells soooo good. It's my 9 yo dd's favorite. Oh well, I ordered some FO's to help give them a bit of a boost next time.

In other news... I FINALLY CAUGHT UP TO THE END OF THIS THREAD!!!

Cyndi, you were right! It didn't take long before the insides of those dog shampoo bars turned a nice tan to match the outsides. No cheating on this one, I'll wait until they've fully cured before taking them for a test run... even though my little ankle-biter could really use a b-a-t-h. lol Yeah, his little heart's just a breakin' over that one, I tell ya

(They're not actually curing laying down like this... my 5 yo bumped them and I snapped a pic before righting them again)

I did read up on gelling, the dwcp link you (Cyndi) posted a while back helped. I bookmarked it and took lots of notes there (after reading this entire thread, plus links, my binder is getting filled fast!), but will be taking that one slowly. It'll be a while before I'm confident enough to trust my own judgment on that one.

Question: In my FO's that are coming this week there is an OMH... I can't wait to make this soap! Do you all find there is any scent in an unscented (no fo) oatmeal, milk, & honey soap, or does the fo really give it a special boost? Part of me wants to go ahead and make up a small test batch w/o fo, but a bigger part of me just wants it to be as perfect as possible the first go-round. So, opinions???

It's gotten incredibly late. My eyes are sticking shut, so I'm off to bed. G'night y'all!

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Quote:
As are CP soaps that have gone through gel stage and cooled.

"Cure" time is the amount of time needed for excess liquid to evaporate from both CP & HP soap.

The same recipes can be used as HP or CP, so I'm not sure where the extra water is coming from...

I discount the liquid in my lye solution for my CP soaps. I do not discount the liquid for HP soaps, hence extra liquid in HP soaps that need time to evaporate.​

I'm still not sure why your HP soaps take longer... Are you adding extra fluids to the HP batches? I use a 3:1 water:lye ratio and HP is ready to go the next day. My CP takes eight weeks to be ready, and this is the exact same recipe.

No, I'm using less milk in my CP batches.

Let's say I'm making soap that contains 20 oz of lye (my standard 9 lb batch)

For HP batches, I'll use full liquid amount, 37.5% of total oils, or 54 oz of milk for my lye solution.

For CP batches, I use 65:35 ratio (65% milk to 35% lye), or 37.1 oz of milk for my lye solution.

I also insulate my milk soaps well to bring them to a full gel. Temperatures will get up to 170* F during gel.

When either of the batches have cooled down, I unmold the soaps and leave them on a rack to dry.

Both soaps are safe to use, but the HP soaps, since they needed more liquid to make the soap glop-glop, bang into the mold, they have more liquid to evaporate out of them.

 

[ChicksterJo]

I think I should try making some dog shampoo bars. I think I have decided I will forgo BB and instead order from purefragranceoils. The shipping to me is slightly cheaper lol.

 

[ParadisePoultry]

Have any of you read Casey Makela's book "Milk Based Soaps" ? She uses A LOT of milk in her recipes. On page 52 she states:

"Well-made milk soap is created with the maximum amount of milk that can be included in proportion to the lye and fat used per batch, not just a smattering of the ingredient to justify saying it's in there. If milk is going to be expected to perform as an active ingredient, then it has to exist in each barin a substantial amount. Ideally each 4-ounce bar should be able to claim 1.5 to 2 ounces of it's weight in milk."

I like that idea, but when her recipe is run through soapcalc, the numbers are kind of weird. Her basic recipe is:

3 lbs vegetable shortening
17 oz olive oil
12 oz safflower oil
8 oz canola oil

3 lbs. goat milk

12 oz sodium hydroxide
1 oz borax
1/2 oz sugar
1/2 oz glycerin

when I run this through soapcalc, the milk is 57% of the weight of the oils. Also the bar qualities are
Hardness 20
Cleansing 0
Condition 77
Bubbly 0
Creamy 20
Iodine 100
INS 98

What do you all think of this recipe?

I would like to try it, because I like the idea of using the most milk possible in my milk soap. I may try a 1 or 2 lb batch tomorrow and see what happens.I realize this is going to be a very soft bar and will probably take a long time to cure. Please let me know your opinions, and what you think would be a better recipe, yet still using the maximum amount of milk possible.Thanks !!

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! Being a novice soap-maker myself, I'm curious to know how 3lbs of milk could be used in that recipe. I could make it now and it would be hard in 2015 if I took it to AZ to cure?

Dipsy,
How much liquid (water, milk, et al) are you using for your soap recipe? I don't need to know your oils, just the amount of lye and the amount of liquid you are using. To make a quicker 'cure' for CP soaps, you need to decrease your liquid amount. That is easier said than done. You need to accommodate the types of oils you are using (solid vs liquid oils) and the FO or EO you are using. They can all play a part in how far you can discount your liquid.

Read both pages of this to help get you started

lye=5.42
liquid=12.65
And that was the minimum recommended. Another calculator recommend more liquid.
The Q was mostly has anyone put gelled soaps in a fan box with dessicants and is it possible to cram 6 weeks of 'water loss' into 2 weeks.

Lisa​

 

[Morgaine]

Question: In my FO's that are coming this week there is an OMH... I can't wait to make this soap! Do you all find there is any scent in an unscented (no fo) oatmeal, milk, & honey soap, or does the fo really give it a special boost? Part of me wants to go ahead and make up a small test batch w/o fo, but a bigger part of me just wants it to be as perfect as possible the first go-round. So, opinions???

OMH is one of my personal favorites! You can't get the exact scent of the fo with just oatmeal, milk and honey. But the unscented bars to have a natural nutty scent to them that is nice.

3 lbs vegetable shortening
17 oz olive oil
12 oz safflower oil
8 oz canola oil

3 lbs. goat milk

12 oz sodium hydroxide
1 oz borax
1/2 oz sugar
1/2 oz glycerin

Wow, that is a LOT of liquid. I have never used that much liquid ever in making soap so I have no idea really how long it is going to take that sucker to cure. The oils are not that great of a combo either. There won't be much of a lather, even with added sugar. My personal preference would be to use lard instead of the veggie shortening, I think it makes a better soap than shortening. I would also skip the canola for a couple of reasons. 1. It can cause rancidity in you soap pretty fast. And since this one will have to have such a long cure, you are taking your chances on getting DOS before you even use the soap. 2. Rapeseeds are very heavily genetically modified and I don't like that.

I don't know why they have included the borax. I see that often in laundry soap but not soaps intended for the body or face. If you want to use for yourself, leave it out.

Overall, this isn't a recipe I would use. I know what I want out of a soap and that isn't it.

lye=5.42
liquid=12.65
And that was the minimum recommended. Another calculator recommend more liquid.
The Q was mostly has anyone put gelled soaps in a fan box with dessicants and is it possible to cram 6 weeks of 'water loss' into 2 weeks.

Lisa

Oh you can use way less liquid that, lol. A fan is not going make the soap loose that much water and the dessicants will help with the moisture already in the air but isn't going to pull it from the soaps faster. Really the only way is to use less water. next time try 8oz of water as long as the fo is well behaved.​

 

[mom'sfolly]

I'm going to ask my question again...

Do you change the amount of lye you use when you use an acidic liquid like apple juice, vinegar or oj instead of water? If you do, how much do you change your lye values? Do you have a soap calculator that takes into account the acidity of the liquid? Or am I overthinking this? I want to use apple cider vinegar for a recipe, but I don't know how to modify it for allow for the acid content. I'm afraid that if I do this wrong I will end up with a batch of slimy unsaponified soap.

 

[ParadisePoultry]

Thanks Morgaine, after thinking it over, I don't think I will use this recipe after all. There are lots of great recipes out there for GM soap that are more balanced and use better oils. I think I will go with one of those.