Guest EMercier Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 I'm curious. I made two batched last night and when I got up this morning, they were hard ans crumbled again. I did two recipies (1lb). One was straight palm, the other was a mixtiure of soft oils. I weighed everything and my lye was correct. Maybe I'm leaving them in the mold too long. It's like if I got a bar of soap from the store and cut it. I has swirls and everything. One thing, just never use Merlot is soap, it smelled food at first. It turned my stomach after a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janis Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 I wait anywhere from 12 to 24 hours to unmold, it depends on the recipe. It's difficult to get accurate measurements on small batches of soap, usless you have a scale that measures to the hundredth ounce. Maybe that's the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slow-burn Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 Curious as to what you mean about one being straight palm, and the other being all soft oils :undecided Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 She made 2 1lb batches. Here is the link to her question about an all palm soap.http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14422 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugenia Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 Crumbly could by indicative of lye heavy. I'd stick with 2 lb batches at the smallest; there is a lot more wiggle room.e Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slow-burn Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 Thanx Carrie! I thought I saw that, that is why I was curious. Did you make a soap that was 100% Palm and one that was 100% soft oils? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EMercier Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 I put the lowest amount of lye possible. I did two batches. One was 100% palm oil and lye with water. The other batch I used casor oil, shortening, and palm oil. I think that's all with the second batch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slow-burn Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 I am new to this too, what do you mean the lowest amount of lye? I know many do a discounted water (which I do too) but I thought that you needed the lye to saponify the oils, unless you were doing a superfat. Then it is only in percents. I see in your second recipe that you used palm and shortening. I was thinking that you used all soft (liquid) oils, more like a castille soap. Let us know how they turn out, and post pics!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunny Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 I put the lowest amount of lye possible. I did two batches. One was 100% palm oil and lye with water. The other batch I used casor oil, shortening, and palm oil. I think that's all with the second batch.Whoa EMercier.. Were you using MMS for your lye calculator? And used the lowest lye value? If I'm reading into this correctly - You used a 1% superfat on a 1 lb batch of soap? Ok.. please be careful using this in the tub, if at all. Use it for a stain stick pretreater for your laundry. Next time, please use the 5% discount. Doing it in small batches like that even at 5% leaves little margin for error. You MUST have a super precise scale with 5% and a lb batch. With your crumbly bar.. I have no doubt it's lye heavy - meaning there's still free lye in it and it could burn you. The reason for the 5% superfat is to saponify 95% of your oils, leaving 5% free oils to mousturize. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mystical_angel1219 Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 I would recommend that you never do less than a two pound batch when it comes to soap. Even using a gram scale, there is no room for error. The description you are giving on this soaps properties would seem to make it unsuitable for use on the body, as it is lye heavy. Better safe than sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slow-burn Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 Whoa EMercier.. Were you using MMS for your lye calculator? And used the lowest lye value? If I'm reading into this correctly - You used a 1% superfat on a 1 lb batch of soap? Ok.. please be careful using this in the tub, if at all. Use it for a stain stick pretreater for your laundry. Next time, please use the 5% discount. Doing it in small batches like that even at 5% leaves little margin for error. You MUST have a super precise scale with 5% and a lb batch. With your crumbly bar.. I have no doubt it's lye heavy - meaning there's still free lye in it and it could burn you. The reason for the 5% superfat is to saponify 95% of your oils, leaving 5% free oils to mousturize.That is what I was trying to figure out, but couldn't put it so elequently Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EMercier Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 So what lye calculator should I be using if the one on MMS is not that accurate? I need something to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugenia Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 That's not what Bunny meant. MMS is fine. Make sure that you use the lye values in green, preferably 5%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EMercier Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 OK, I have used the amount of lye in the green part. I normally go for the lower end of the range, like the 8. Which number should I normally shoot for when using the lye? Also, maybe I'm letting it get to heavy with the trace? I pour when it is thick. Should I wait until it's light to medium? In my research I've seen different methods of making CP soap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugenia Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 I'd stick with the 5% number. 8% can leave a pretty soft bar. As soon as it looks like thin pancake batter, you are tracing. As far as the trace, people like it different ways. To swirl, it must be fairly thin. You can texture nicely when it's thicker. Depends on what you are trying to do.I prefer soap calc; http://soapcalc.com/calc/SoapCalc.asp that's because I make up my own recipes in percentages. I like the way you can change the ingredients and amounts and watch the properties of your soap change accordingly. If you have a set recipe, MMS is easier to use. I do note that the water given for MMS is higher than soapcalc.e Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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