Teach Soap

I made a batch of soap using half & half two days ago.
The recipe was as follows:
5 oz half & half, frozen
10 oz olive oil
6 oz coconut oil
.5 oz castor oil
2.25 oz lye
It called for .5 oz vanilla fragrance oil but since i was using BB Vanilla Select, i followed the usage rate from the fragrance calculator & used 1.44 oz since i wanted a stronger scent.

I slowly combined the lye into the frozen half & half. it turned into a pudding like consistency which was my first indication that something wasn't right. I combine the the oils & lye solution at 80 degrees since that is what the lye solution ended up at. Yesterday I noticed some liquid dots on the top, zap tested & sure enough it was lye. Today I'm noticing crystal like specks in the log. I haven't cut it yet but it still does zap when tested. I'm thinking if I shred it & add it to the oils of a second identical recipe & use water instead of half & half I should be able to salvage it if I soap it at a higher temperature.

Thoughts?

Half and half has a lot of fats and sugars. The fats will change your superfat. I would have gone with a lower superfat to account for the half & half. When you added your lye to the H&H, the fats started to saponify. For this size batch, I would not have gone above 1 oz. of fragrance. At 80 degrees, some of your soaping oils started to solidify. When you added the lye (with H&H) and the oils together, there wasn't enough heat for the soap to start saponifying. I would say at this point try to rebatch. If you don't want to rebatch, chuck it and start over.

PS. For smaller batches, it's easier to convert the ounces into grams for better accuracy.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to attempt to rebatch it & see what happens.

Good luck!

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Personally, I would thin that half and half with some water. I think you'd have an easier time with it if you did. And I agree with Irena about the scent load. 5% would be 0.8 so I would not go over 1 oz.
Good luck with rebatching!

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

I generally take my lye amount (say 500g, for example) and use that much plus 100g as water, then add the rest of the liquid portion as milk after emulsification. Theoretical: recipe calls for 500g lye and 1000g liquid. I would have 500g lye, 600g water and 400g milk. Mix the lye into the water, then at temperature add the lye/water to the oils and stick blend until emulsified (very light trace) then blend in the 400g milk.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I would not recommend using that high of a lye concentration until and unless you have a good amount of experience soaping. Until then, I would stick to at least double your lye amount in liquid, if not more. It makes it easier to be assured that you reach trace and have proper emulsification, it also gives you more time to add your colorants, blend in your scent, and do designs. While I do like adding the milk at trace, all good things in good time, imho. Trying different things and finding your limits is part of the journey, so, by all means, try new and different methods. Just crawl before walking and walk before running.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

On several occasions, I have found that adding frozen liquid, whether milk or just ice cubes, seems to lead to my lye not dissolving completely. Something that can help with this is to have a second lye-safe pitcher and pour your lye water from one pitcher to the other to check for undissolved lye, such as a lye cake stuck to the bottom.

When I make milk soap, I use canned milk (make sure it is not sweetened). You can use cow milk or goat milk. A can of milk is 14.5 ounces (I think), so I create a recipe that calls for 28-29 ounces of water. I am not sure what lye calculator you are using, but if I use The Sage I choose the highest recommended water amount. If I use soapcalc, I up the water from 38% to 40%.

So, assuming I have a recipe that calls for 28-29 ounces of water, I use half of that amount as water to dissolve my lye. While the lye is coolling, I put my can of milk in the freezer to get cold. (This may not be necessary, I did it the first time and the soap turned out great, so I still do it.) When the oils and lye are at the desired temp (I like to soap between 90-100 degrees), I pour the can of cold milk into my oils, then add my lye. I have had good success with this method. This is also how I make oatmeal, milk and honey, and I also add the honey and the oatmeal to the oils before addiing the lye water.

If you prefer a smaller batch, you can do that. I just prefer to not have part of a can of milk floating around.