This weekend I discovered that you can leave your hardening soap too long before cutting it into bars. 1-2 days is ideal. 7 days is too long
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Intriguing - 125F is 51C, so it's close to the working temp I was aiming for of 54C.
My instructions emphasise that you must have both the lye and the fats at the *same temperature*, whatever temp you aim for, and the working temp ranges from 43-70C.
So I've been mixing the lye, and letting it cool, watching it like a hawk til it reaches close to 54C, while having to cool the melted fats by sitting it in ice water to bring it down quicker.
Re. harshness - my guidance says
a) leave your soap for 2 months to cure, because the chemical reaction takes time - did you use it right away?
b) most sources online recommend 'superfatting' which is adding slightly more fat than the lye can process chemically, to prevent the soap being too harsh. I've used soapcalc online to work out quantities of lye, water and fats, and so far it's been very useful.
Yup - combining temps need to be the same, no matter what temp you choose. We used a candy thermometer to make sure.
The calc table we used is now gone, but would have been much the same as what you used. We were aiming for 5-6% superfatting with the lard and 11% with the beef tallow.
However, the page where got the recipe (ratios of fat:lye) is still there and - duh! - it's called laundry soap! Why didn't I see that when we were making it? No wonder it seemed too harsh for hand soap even with the extra fat! :)
My instructions emphasise that you must have both the lye and the fats at the *same temperature*, whatever temp you aim for, and the working temp ranges from 43-70C.
So I've been mixing the lye, and letting it cool, watching it like a hawk til it reaches close to 54C, while having to cool the melted fats by sitting it in ice water to bring it down quicker.
Re. harshness - my guidance says
a) leave your soap for 2 months to cure, because the chemical reaction takes time - did you use it right away?
b) most sources online recommend 'superfatting' which is adding slightly more fat than the lye can process chemically, to prevent the soap being too harsh. I've used soapcalc online to work out quantities of lye, water and fats, and so far it's been very useful.
http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp
There's also ways to rebatch soap that didn't quite work, so it's not lost, if you ever wanted to try to rework it with more fat or scent.
I have to be careful not to go nuts on this - I don't really need any more work-intensive hobbies! but this has proved a lot of fun.
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The calc table we used is now gone, but would have been much the same as what you used. We were aiming for 5-6% superfatting with the lard and 11% with the beef tallow.
However, the page where got the recipe (ratios of fat:lye) is still there and - duh! - it's called laundry soap! Why didn't I see that when we were making it? No wonder it seemed too harsh for hand soap even with the extra fat! :)
Reply
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