Castile questions

Obsidian · Jul 29, 2013

I've been using castile for a couple weeks and I love it. My skin is finally flake free and isn't breaking out either.
I want to make a couple more batches but was wondering about what kind of additions I could use. Any advice on these?

Is there anything that will help reduce the slime? That's the one thing I do have a bit of trouble with.

Sugar- will it help with bubbles? If I use it will it still be castile or would it be proper to call it bastile?

Salt water-would this help with the slime at all or would it make the lack of bubbles worse?

Pine tar-I really want a pine tar bar I can use but I need something mild. If I reduced water and used the tar, would a 3-6 month cure be ok? Wonder what the tar would do to the texture?

Mockingbird Ramble · Jul 29, 2013

How long are your bars curing? I made a batch 2 months ago and they are still slimy, most people suggest a 5+ month cure on castile bars.

I love pine tar soap, I find a great lather no matter what my oils are and the texture does not really change.

Obsidian · Jul 29, 2013

My bars are only a couple weeks old but I bought a bar that is over a year and was gifted another that is also over a year.

engblom · Jul 30, 2013

I have made two batches of bastile tar soap. I did not use "normal" pine tar. I used "pitch oil" = oil extracted from the pine tar. For some strange reason, my pine tar bastile soap takes longer time to cure than pure castile.

I am curing them in a small dry and heated up room that is between 50C-60F (120-140F) in order to see the results as soon as possible. It takes maybe 7 weeks for it to be ready enough for my own daily use. Without that extra heat, it would probably take a lot longer so I can imagine them being slimy even after 2 months.

robtr31 · Jul 30, 2013

engblom said:
I have made two batches of bastile tar soap. I did not use "normal" pine tar. I used "pitch oil" = oil extracted from the pine tar. For some strange reason, my pine tar bastile soap takes longer time to cure than pure castile.

I am curing them in a small dry and heated up room that is between 50C-60F (120-140F) in order to see the results as soon as possible. It takes maybe 7 weeks for it to be ready enough for my own daily use. Without that extra heat, it would probably take a lot longer so I can imagine them being slimy even after 2 months.

with that high of heat they may sweat some , do you have a fan in the room may dry out faster

engblom · Jul 30, 2013

I have not been noticing any sweat yet. When it comes to *astile soaps I'm using reduced amount of water according to a recipe I found (32% in soapcalc).

Obsidian · Jul 30, 2013

I think with my next batch of castile, I'm going to separate out small amounts and experiment. Will use pine tar in some and a bit of salt in another. Most likely I will add a bit of sugar to the whole batch and possibly a touch of castor.
I used 33% water with my last batch and it set up fast, I was able to cut in 12 hours.

savonierre · Jul 31, 2013

Using a bath pouff will give you incredible bubbles and lather with no slime. I let my castile ( 100% OO soap) cure for at least 1 year.

judymoody · Aug 1, 2013

I find Castile slimy, even after a year's cure but that's just me.

I would opt for a Bastile personally. If you did 20% coconut and 80% olive oil, you'd see a big difference in lather. Try it at 10% superfat and it would be very mild. I have some soap that is close to 3 years' old made with this recipe and it is lovely. It was also very nice at 2 months' cure.

An alternative way to do this would be to use coconut milk as part or all of your liquid instead of water. The first recommendation would be much easier to soap, though.

Some people add sugar to boost lather.

hoegarden · Aug 1, 2013

i have recently done 2 batch of milk castile... and... i think is slimy... and hard to demold... it still too soft to be out of the mold.. perhaps its my method or measurement that went wrong.. and thus my next batch will be a bastile...

Obsidian · Aug 1, 2013

How long has it been in the mold? Castile can take longer to set up, especially if you used full water. I'm off to make my second batch of castile, using a round mold this time.

Obsidian · Aug 1, 2013

Second batch is done. Lets hpe the sugar and castor oil helps improve the lather some. I did learn a lesson about olive oil though, don't buy it in metal canisters if you care about color. Got nearly a gallon of EVOO, wasn't sure if it would be really green or not, it is and my batter looks like a greenish lemon meringue.
Decided these will be body bars so I added amaretto scent, the whole house smells fantastic now. Oh, cross your fingers it doesn't get stuck in the PVC.

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