# Oat Extract



## mommycarlson (Nov 1, 2016)

Hello,
I have a recipe that calls for 1.0 oz of oat extract.  Aside from the fact that I do not even know what it is, I looked it up and it's kinda pricey, 10.00 for a 1/2 oz bottle.  Can I leave this out?  Do I need to sub in an ounce of other oils for the oat extract?  Thanks for the help!
Beth


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## kchaystack (Nov 1, 2016)

what are you trying to make?  If it is a lotion, then yes you can.  just increase your water amount by the extract amount.


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## mommycarlson (Nov 1, 2016)

Ohhhh, oops, sorry.  Cold process soap is what I'm making.


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## kchaystack (Nov 1, 2016)

Um...   That sounds like a strange recipe.   Post the whole thing and we cam pick it apart. 

I'm  not sure what they mean by oat extract.   I thought lotion because oat hydrolyzed oat protein is a common ingredient in lotion and other bath and body recipes.   

It's a water soluble ingredient.  So it would be part of the lye solution.  If you leave it out just add it to the amount to the water would be my suggestion.


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## Dahila (Nov 1, 2016)

using it in soap is a waste,  It will not carry any benefits of oats after lye monster do it's job
I use it in lotions, body butters,  shampoos,   conditioners but never in soap


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## doriettefarm (Nov 1, 2016)

I don't think I'd waste a pricey additive like oat extract in CP.  Why not use some colloidal oatmeal instead?  Or you could try making your own oat milk by soaking oatmeal in water.


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## mommycarlson (Nov 2, 2016)

Great ideas!  Thank you so much, I was looking for options and now I feel like I have some.  Here is the recipe:

Palm Oil 30%
Coconut Oil (76) 25%
Cocoa Butter 2.11%
Castor 2.89%
Olive Oil 10%
Rice Bran Oil 10%
Sunflower Oil 20%

Oat extract 1.0 oz
1/2 c oat flour

I am out of palm, but I was reading that I can substitute lard for palm, is this okay?


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## kchaystack (Nov 2, 2016)

Yes,  you can use lard instead of palm. That's also a bunch of different oils.   I don't think that little cocoa butter is going to give you anything.  And the RBO and sunflower (unless it's high oleic sunflower) at that level might make it DOS prone


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## mommycarlson (Nov 2, 2016)

The label says the sunflower oil is from high oleic seeds, will that make it more stable in the soap?  I just saw a picture of the bar and liked it, plus I have those oils and would like to use them up if I can.  I don't want to make a soap that is going to get DOS and be useless though, so I welcome suggestions and opinions    thank you!


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## doriettefarm (Nov 2, 2016)

This is probably what I would do to tweak the recipe:

Lard 30%
Coconut Oil (76) 20%
Cocoa Butter 5%
Castor 5%
Olive Oil 20%
Rice Bran Oil 10%
Sunflower Oil 10%

Basically I swapped the palm for lard, reduced the CO by 5% (25% is too much for my skin), bumped the castor & cocoa butter up to 5% each (like kc mentioned that small amount won't change the soap drastically) and finally swapped the OO/sunflower percentages.  Definitely use the high oleic sunflower to increase your shelf life and decrease chances of DOS.


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## mommycarlson (Nov 2, 2016)

Wow!  Thank you!  I sure appreciate your help, I will change my recipe.  Planning to make it tomorrow. DH made me a multi bar wire cutter, I'm anxious to give it a whirl


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## doriettefarm (Nov 2, 2016)

No problemo.  Be sure to post pictures of your soap and the multi-wire cutter . . . we love pics!


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## kchaystack (Nov 2, 2016)

Also run the recipe thru a lye calculator.  You'll need to determine the new lye amount since the oils changed


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## mommycarlson (Nov 2, 2016)

Thanks KC, already done, and the lye and water amounts did change.  I hope the cutter works, I can't stand crooked soap, and the miter box helped but it isn't remarkably better.  Fingers crossed!  Thanks again for your help!


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## mommycarlson (Nov 4, 2016)

I have not made the tweaked recipe yet, I'm waiting for some fragrance oils so stay tuned on that soap.  I did make some soap yesterday and I hate to even post what it looks like because it is literally the ugliest soap I have ever made!  I dislike it.  A lot.  It's made with alkanet infused olive oil, I believe now I will throw out the alkanet powder and the rest of the infused oil.  Yuck!  Any suggestions on what I can do with this loaf of soap would be welcome.....I hate to throw it out, can I rebatch it and change the appearance?  It might make a good camouflage soap?


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## mommycarlson (Nov 4, 2016)

What you see on the surface is either oil or moisture of some sort, the soap sounded wet when I cut it.  I have never had this issue before.  The wires on the cutter stretched a lot after just one cutting. I have some cheese cutting wire ordered that we will be switching out when it arrives, the only other issue with the cutter is that it does not go all the way through the soap, it gets down to the end and it has stretched so it doesn't go flat against the board DH made me to set my soap on.  Other than that it worked great, soooo much better than my miter box and stiff spackle tool.


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## DeeAnna (Nov 6, 2016)

Seven oils is a lot of measuring for me!  

I want to mention that olive and HO sunflower are quite similar, so if you want to tweak the recipe to make it simpler without hugely changing the outcome, you could combine the % of these oils and use just one or the other rather than both. 

Same goes for the rice bran oil if you want to simplify even further. It is often used as an alternative to olive oil although its fatty acid profile isn't quite as close to OO as the HO sunflower.

Edit: As far as rebatching to change the appearance of the alkanet soap -- I think rebatching makes the appearance muddier rather than better. Personally, I'd let it be and use it. I see the color is changing -- the "rind" on the outside is more like how the entire soap will eventually look. On my monitor, the rind is a soft brown. While it's plain, it's not bad looking. I understand the desire to make pretty soap -- I feel the same -- but in the end, it's how the soap lathers and feels on the skin that is more important.


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## penelopejane (Nov 6, 2016)

mommycarlson said:


> What you see on the surface is either oil or moisture of some sort, the soap sounded wet when I cut it.  I have never had this issue before.  The wires on the cutter stretched a lot after just one cutting. I have some cheese cutting wire ordered that we will be switching out when it arrives, the only other issue with the cutter is that it does not go all the way through the soap, it gets down to the end and it has stretched so it doesn't go flat against the board DH made me to set my soap on.  Other than that it worked great, soooo much better than my miter box and stiff spackle tool.



Your cutter looks great this might help:
Wire cutters use the "g" guitar string. 
Wire cutters also use a slotted bottom so you can pass the wire through the base of the soap.


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## mommycarlson (Nov 6, 2016)

Thank you Penelope and DeeAnna   The cutter is great, I'm hoping the cheese cutting wire works and thanks for the "g" guitar string info, that will help when I order more wire.  My husband is going to make me a slotted board for the bottom to allow the strings to go through.  It works really well on hot process soap that is still just slightly warm.  
The alkanet soap....well, that isn't really growing on me, it's now all one solid color and my daughter came over and said "I love it, it'll match my bathroom perfectly!"  So at least someone loves it   
I agree, 7 oils is a lot of measuring, I just have all those oils and would like to use them up.  My very favorite soap that works well for me in either cold or hot process is just my basic lard soap.  But I hate to waste all these oils that I bought when I was first starting to make soap before I knew anything, now I just know a little bit  haha!


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## mommycarlson (Nov 6, 2016)

I just grouped up my newest soap babies, all using my new cutter.  I've been dabbling in hot process and so far I am loving it.  You can see on the one soap in the front what happens when the wires stretch, then they curve and don't make it all the way through the soap.  We are working on this issue. That particular bar is a cold process, the rest are all hot process.


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## DeeAnna (Nov 7, 2016)

mommycarlson said:


> ...My husband is going to make me a slotted board for the bottom to allow the strings to go through.



Oh, I really think that will help a lot.



mommycarlson said:


> ....my daughter came over and said "I love it, it'll match my bathroom perfectly!"  So at least someone loves it



There's a special person for everyone (and every soap)!



mommycarlson said:


> I agree, 7 oils is a lot of measuring, I just have all those oils and would like to use them up...



Fair enough -- I've done the same thing too. Sounds like you're as thrifty as I am.


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## mommycarlson (Nov 25, 2016)

Hi DeeAnna,
I forgot to let you know how the cutter turned out.  We had to make some modifications, stiffer wire (we ordered cheese cutting wire) and special bolts on the side so we could tighten the wires.  It works beautifully!  DH made me a board with "relief" cuts in it so that the wires pass all the way through the soap.  I LOVE it!  DH is pretty fascinated by it too, he wants to be here whenever I cut soap so he can watch it work.  I'm sure the newness will wear off!


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## DeeAnna (Nov 29, 2016)

Nice! I'm glad it's working well for you. If you have been able to entice DH to get involved (at least for a bit), I'd say your soaping career is safe.


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## mommycarlson (Nov 29, 2016)

He makes me the things I need, not always happily, but I'm okay with that


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