OK, got the concept? 50g olive oil, Batter divided into 3 portions. It melts palm, coconut and shea cocoa butter is harder so I dont know if it would work as well or not. The entire process is truly fun and addictive. what could be reason and how I can deal with it? If your house is hot because of summer temperatures, you may want to run a fan on that mold as it saponifies. Read more tips for preventing soda ash in this post: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/explaining-and-preventing-soda-ash/. , Read more about false trace here: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/spot-prevent-false-trace/. Take a long time to add the lye water. Lol. oven is off and no heat previous when you put it in oven? We have reviewed some of the best lye options available for those who are fond of DIY soapmaking. That creates a barrier that protects the top. This site is owned and operated by Elli & Tee Inc. Thecreativefolk.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. You will have a lot of molecules which are completely saponified and some which are partially saponified. If youre using LabColors (promote gel phase) I generally soap at around 118-120 degrees. Almost nothing else will work to convert oil into soap. Higher chance of emulsification failure and separation in the mold. That is very true Ana! If your soap recipe calls foradding sugar or salt to the lye solution, add it to the water before you mix in the lye. We have reviewed some of the best lye options available for those who are fond of DIY soapmaking. If your lye is at room temperature and you have hard oils and butters in your recipe, the lye water can start to solidify the oils before theyre emulsified. Does the soap thicken as soon as the lye is added? thanks so much for any ideas. You can! Hello my name is sam ive been wanting to make soap but am having a difficult time understanding soap calculators i honestly check online and on youtube i even looked for books but i havent found anything that will help me understand i really want to make soap but cannot one of the reasoms being i dont understand soap calculators which makes it difficult to run recipes through them please help me, Hi Sam! In fact, many experienced soapmakers use lye solutions that are quite concentrated so that they dont have to wait so long for their bars to get dried-out and hard. , Ive been using this technique for the past few months, as well. I then used a stick blender and blended for an hour with no trace. Did you notice the soap started to harden as soon as the cold lye was added? To learn more about insulating your soap, check out the When to Insulate Handmade Soap blog post. However, the more you practice, the more you know exactly what works for you! How To Use This Soap. Now dont get scared off by the math. You finish by adding extras and pouring the soap batter into the mold. Easy, right? best lye concentration for hot process soapsec regulations selling private stock. How old is your lye? Its the perfect recipe for the beginner soaper. All we have to figure out is how many parts of water do we need for the amount of NaOH in our recipe to get a given percentage. LyeCalc.com. I just love soaping! This lye works well with both plant-based fats and lard to give a perfectly nice bar of soap. Its so weird. Notice the bumpy, wavy temperature? This two-pound jar is packed with these white caustic beads. If you find it difficult to manage caustic soda in the liquid form or as flakes, then you will certainly love using this pure lye soap bar. Also soda ash happens almost every time for me. This is problematic if the soap design involves lots of layers, swirls or other complex techniques. Learn more about working with honey here: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/adding-honey-to-cold-process-soap-tips-tricks-recipe/, Cracking can also be caused by other factors, like a high amount of butters in the recipe. When to Insulate Handmade Soap . That said, you should never stick the blender right into the lye and water mixture. How can I test the pH of my soap? Hi Kelsey! Melt them over low heat and heat them up to 130-140 degrees. Or you just like doing the calculations yourself. Because salt bars are a much harder recipe, there is a higher chance that they can crack. A good rule of thumb is that your mixture of oils should be clear, with no cloudiness. What do you think? FO had no vanilla and behaved extremely well and let me play for a long time :((, Hmm! David Fisher is a highly regarded professional soaper with over 15 years of experience, sharing his knowledge of the craft, science, and chemistry of saponification. Following instructions, I weighed out my tea and froze it. Instead, it may be heat related. Hi do you have to heat a 76 degree coconut oil & palm oil when making cold process soap in a 90 degree room temperature? It was uniform when I cut it. For most soapers, the preferred temperature of soaping lye and oils are 120-130 F. In addition, many soapers and books believe it is helpful to have the lye and oil within 10 degrees of each other. I ran out of cosmetic coconut oil the first time I tried it, so I used store bought extra virgin coconut oil that I use for food. . Set it aside for 12-24 hours, or until it sets completely. Soaping temperatures are definitely personal preference. Does this mean I dont have to heat them up at all since my oils stay liquid & clear all the time? The lye water may take a bit longer to cool in the warmer temperatures. My room temperature is on the cool side but not cold. And trust me when I say, making a batch of homemade lye soap does not have to be complicated. We conducted an in-depth analysis to weigh the options and study the pros and cons. Its a property of the oils and cant be changed without affecting the outcome of the soap, sometimes in really bad ways. We melted the hard oils and butters and mixed them with the other oils. , Hi Im the same..when I got taught to make soap it was to weigh the hard oil (cocoa butter and coconut oil) then make the lye and add it hot to melt the hard oils, then add liquid oils (rice bran usually) and blend awayIve never read temperaturesbut after reading this Im wondering if I shouldbut am confused about at what part am I checking temp? For beeswax, we recommend soaping around 160-170F. It may be the amount of butters in your recipe. Wondering about water discounts and the meaning of 'full water soap'? I cant find the happy medium.. too cool causes soda ash but too hot causes cracking. Add the cold solution as is (I like to strain it into another container before I pour). Soap already has a naturally high pH (generally over 9). Prepare the Lavender Infused Olive Oil by following the steps outlined in the above text. I kept it open as here its very hot in India. Lye technically refers to sodium hydroxide, which is ideal for soapmaking. It is always 60F or colder in my apartment-type area. , pls my soap look gummy to hand what will be the posible cause I actually like to cold process my soap so o usually stick milk soaps in the freezer straight away. (100 minus 34) divided by 34 = 66 divided by 34 = 1.94. thank for for provinding solution to my question, What is in your recipe, and how long did the soap cure? The mixture will start to heat up and might even steam or bubble. Sorry about any confusion, my answer wasnt very clear! Also is it okay if I prepare the lye water solution a few days before so I wont have to wait for it to cool down or just a few hours before is advisable? lavender, jasmine, and lily of the valley are some of the best floral flavors that can be used in a vanilla scent. The unit of weight can be ounces or grams or whatever, but you must use just one unit of weight. , Coconut oil: https://www.brambleberry.com/Coconut-Oil-P3196.aspx, Avocado oil: https://www.brambleberry.com/Avocado-Oil-P3198.aspx. If your soap recipe calls for adding sugar or salt to the lye solution, add it to the water before you mix in the lye. You can see the results from our 100% palm oil test here: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/single-oil-cold-process-soap-lather-tests/, And this post has more information on how to formulate recipes: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/formulating-cold-process-recipes/, You can make 100% olive oil soap! (But it stayed cloudy). If everything stays around 85-90F, it should be just fine to use! You may try using less butters in your recipe and see if that helps! Im not entirely sure why thats happening usually soap does the opposite and gets darker! But we recommend to every new soapmaker that they monitor their temperatures if they opt to stop later, thats their decision , That is very true, everyone has a slightly different method! , I tend to soap at 80-90 degrees when doing intricate swirls/designs between a light-medium trace. Well get this figured out. . I am so not think it would be wise to put it in the microwave to heat it up. Seasonal temperatures definitely play a role in the soapmaking process. This time I tried putting the lye in a hot water bath to try to get the temp up, but after 5 minutes it only went up to 83 degrees. Ingredients for Making Soap The most basic ingredients you will need are water (distilled is best), lye (sodium hydroxide), and some type of animal or vegetable fat (such as olive oil or tallow). If its a bit too cool, you can soap around 100-130F. But I doubled the batch exactly, even checked it on a lye calculator, but each time it is very soft, doesnt even come out of the molds. I melt the oils and butters as usual and mix with the lye water when they go below 130 but lately the oils have been separating out and sitting on top. When the lye is added to the water, it gets really hot up to 200F. It looked even and was still pourable, so I got the batter into a tray mold quickly and started searching the web. Clean up any spilled lye immediately. If youre getting heat cracking and glycerin rivers, it sounds like your soap may be overheating as it sits in the mold. Lowest lye concentration I recommend for cold process (CP) bar soap. I tried the zap test, even leaving my tongue on the soap for 30 seconds and no zap, no soda ash either. Hence, you need to be careful while working with it. On the bottom left is a soap volcano. These are quite consistent in quality and offer perfect batches of soap to the users. This lye bar has been certified by Mayo Clinic as safe for skin. This recipe makes a simple cold process soap which you can then adapt to be more creative as you gain confidence. This is called false trace. We tend to soap at higher temperatures to avoid false trace. Do you always have to heat the oils? Blend in your colour . It works for whatever concentration you want. Ive also noticed that soda ash sometimes happens to me not until after unmolding and cutting. One thing you do have to watch out for is false trace. If you have hard butters or oils in your recipe, the room temperature lye water can cause them to harden before theyre fully mixed together. Mix 72g of NaOH and 216g of water and you get 288g of a lye solution that is at 25% concentration. If your house is really warm and you soaped at higher temperatures, you may only need a piece of cardboard for insulation. Ive heard people do that with success. Its several weeks out now and the soap is a nice uniform brown. If its too hot, you can adjust from there. Caustic soda releases fumes upon coming in contact with water and other reagents, which makes it suitable for cleaning drains. Learn more about making lye solution with milk instead of water in this blog post. If you'd like to use an image, please be a friend and credit the photo and link back to Soap Queen. That sounds like false trace. No. I find that when I try to soap at a very light trace, my soap tends to have super fine hair line cracks on parts of the soap. As the name suggests, no additional sources of heat are applied. Last Day to Sign Up to Make 40 bars of soap for Holiday Gifts! So, 72g X 1.94 = 140 gr of water, which is what you need to make a 34% solution. You can find those online, at a kitchen supply store, a department store like Target, a second-hand store and on BrambleBerry.com. Well, you could use a lye calculator that can figure it out. Because olive oil is liquid at room temperature, false trace isnt a concern! It readily saponifies fats into water-soluble sodium soaps. As soon as the lye hit the oil, it began to cloud and thicken. Try our beginner soap making lye calculator to easily create solid, liquid and cream soaps. Let me know and Ill help you troubleshoot. The lye is discounted to 96%, so 4% of the oils will freely remain unsaponified in the soap. I used frozen cubes of aloe vera 99.8% as my water. The first is false trace. good bulldog puppy food; lafayette, california map; best way to farm covenant bookmarks Feeling confused about calculating water amounts for soap recipes? Using food-grade lye seems a lot safer as it has been tested for safety. The lye solution triggers a chemical reaction that turns the oils of a soap recipe into solid soap. It helps colors become more vibrant. Not only that but i have three batches that developed a layer of what looks like oil on top and seemed to be like custard and turning hard when blending but seemed to be separating as i poured it. And in that process, the lyewhich is a caustic chemical that can burn skin and eyes, as well as be harmful when inhaledbecomes neutralized. Place the mason jar on the scale, and zero out the weight. Soap came out amazing. % Lye Concentration % Liquid as a percent of oils 4 Super Fat % Super Fat - recommended 5% Super Fat after cook for hot process 5 Oils, Fats and Waxes Select Oils Abyssinian Oil Almond Butter Almond Oil, sweet Aloe Butter Andiroba Oil,karaba,crabwood Apricot Kernel Oil Argan Oil Avocado butter Avocado Oil Babassu Oil Baobab Oil Beeswax Remeber, if your soap overheats or is cold as it saponifies in the mold, as long as it is not lye heavy, the soap is safe to use. Thick trace. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Its important to also consider the temperature of your surroundings when making soap. As general tip, melt & pour embeds seem to achieve the best adherence to cold process soap when the embeds are freshly-made, and the cold process soap is freshly cut, so I would strongly suggest not waiting too long to attach the newly-made embeds to your soap bars (Especially with CPOP soap, where the bars come out harder from the get-go. Both the oils and the lye-solution were at 90F when we started stick blending them together. I think the lye is the culprit. This was caused by the soap being insulated in a hot room. Just make sure your ratio answer has at least 2 decimal places to be more accurate. Perfect, thank you! Gel phase helps soap look more colorful and shiny. To help soap saponify quicker Why I Love Hot Process Soap by Jen Grimes, https://thenovastudio.com/what-is-superfat/, https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html, https://thenovastudio.com/how-to-use-a-lye-calculator/, https://thenovastudio.com/product/cp-soap-101-recorded-eclass-ruth/, https://thenovastudio.com/product/free-soapmaker-resources/. Hi Kelsey, I didnt get to use a stick blender at all because it began to trace as soon as the lye when into the oil. On the other hand, soaps made with only olive oil aren't as cleansing and don't provide much of a lather. You want topromote gel phase Stir the water well to make sure the sugar or salt is completely dissolved. Some call room temperature 72 degrees and for some 80 degrees is what they are comfortable with and set their thesmostat to. Did everything the same as before except that this time I used brambleberry coconut oil and avocado oil. We We have been soapmaking for about 7 months now, usually around 130F. Heres the formula: The difference is subtile and to explain, I will define the two terms: Lye discount means that you calculate the amount of lye needed to saponify all the oils in your recipe and than discount part of it - e.g. Combine your lye & oils 4. Learn how to insulate the soap to heat it up here: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/when-to-insulate-handmade-soap/. Kept store bought stuff out. It can, its a great option for those who dont want to deal with the lye flakes. Thats normal with false trace! I superfatted with castor oil but did not include any fragrance or essential oils. Do you just have to mix up a new batch? Some people prefer soaping at room temperature! When working with afragrance oil that heats up I hope all is well with everyone! These are suitable for use in both cold process and hot process. Helps the soap to reach trace faster. Thanks. What about sodium lactate? I am using frozen goats milk instead of water. Rinse hands and body abundantly. How long did you stick blend your soap, and do you notice any separation? Always add lye water to oils - not oil to the lye water. Feel free to share, tweet and pin to your hearts content. The solution is a strong lye soap. Thats awesome, glad that batch turned out well! Lard - 24 oz. . If you come across an issue, the Bellingham, Washington-based company has staff available to answer your questions. Cover with a cloth and let it cool until about 110-120 degrees F, can take 1+ hours. Because of that, it may not be warm enough to melt the oils in your batch. If the lye solution istoo cold, it can solidify the oils and butters upon contact. I live in a very hot climate, it gets over 100 degrees out side, can I still mix the lye with the water outside in extreme hot weather? You mix them together typically between 100-130F (38-54C) and then bring the mixture to trace. , Learn more about insulating soap here: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/when-to-insulate-handmade-soap/. But, if the soap gets too hot, it can form alien brains, glycerin rivers or volcano. I use coconut oil, shea butter, palm kernel flakes, palm oil and olive oil in my soaps. I have trouble getting my lye solution to heat up. I had left a cupful of soap batter to one side and just mixed the fragrance (no colour) for a few minutes then it turned super thick. You will find through experimentation what works for you, and thats what makes your soap unique! Click here to read more about this incident. The temperatures you soap at are personal preference! . Read more in the Soap Behaving Badly post: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/soap-behaving-badly/, Id love to help you troubleshoot further! Too much of a temperature differential while mixing the lye water and the oil? We like having our oil and lye around 100-130F. Thats really helpful for me. You are making soap with alternative liquids (milk, juice, tea, etc) instead of water So don't place it near anything heat sensitive. Absolutely! Bye. While the lye solution is cooling, measure out the oils and butters and combine them in a large stainless pot. This can also be used for making natural face cleanser, body wash, and more. The oils above are the perfect soaping temperature, 120-130 F. Notice there is no cloudiness in the oil mixture. If the temperatures in your larger batch were lower and the soap was poured at a thinner trace, it can take longer to harden and unmold. I often see/hear about those who soap at room temperature, is there any concern about soaping that cool? I recently saw a recipe that added lye solution to hard oils in order to melt them. That happens when cool lye water starts to resolidify hard oils in the batch. . (optional) If you aren't using a silicone mold, line your mold with a trash bag or a grocery sack with the inside of the bag toward the soap (so the print on the sack doesn't get on your soap). Oz ) superfat: 5 % less lye than the required amount body using the ingredients and sure! Child-Proof cap and has become immensely popular in recent years accelerate, separate or rice soap an! Alkali in 100 grams of water in proportion to alkali ( NaOH or or! Its because the coconut oil and olive oil heat it up to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit short 3-5 bursts Adding my lye to the water goes in, stick blenders: https //nurturesoap.com/blogs/nurture-soap-blog/lets-cpop! Cracking is purely aesthetic, and will vary slightly depending on the soaper and the water preserving the benefits plant-derived! 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