80% Lard Soaps..OK, I Get it Now.

[kisha]

I've discovered that soaping while tired is a I tried making a salt brine 80% lard bar and added double the salt to the water. Needless to say, I had to strain out the excess salt but so far it's really nice. I scented it with rosemary and spearmint. Even with my blunder, I can tell that this is going to be a staple recipe for me!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

To update, this is currently my shower bar and, as a short-haired chap, I use it as shampoo. It is really quite good for that! As well as being a generally lovely bar, of course.

 

[leilaninoel]

So, curious - I read that salt kills lather, thus the high CO use in Salt bars. For salt brine bars, is that less of an issue? Or does the 80% lard bar just not lather as much?

 

[silverette]

80% lard, 15% coconut oil, and 5% castor oil

We made this soap last Saturday for the first time and my husband (the soapmaker) had a couple questions:

1)With those percentages what percent would the lye and water be? ie. when making soap the ingredients are by weight so my question is how much lye and how much water would I use with the 80, 15, 5 recipe?

Also, he took out of mold and they appear chalky and fall apart easily.

Any ideas?

Thank you

 

[DeeAnna]

Hi, Silverette -- Mostly we don't say much about lye and water, because those depend on the preference of each soaper -- what superfat and what lye concentration each person likes best. I know some websites and books specify everything in the recipe, but that limits you to only what the book author or website owner thinks is best -- and that's not always a good idea. Even when everything is spelled out, it's a wise thing to always, always run the recipe through a soap recipe calculator to make sure there is no typo or other mistake -- if you don't double check someone else's recipe, you run the risk making a batch of bad or unsafe soap.

If you have never used a recipe calc, then now may be a good time to consider learning. It's not hard to do once you've tried it a time or two and it will be a huge help in your soaping to be able to do these calculations. Here's a link to a tutorial for SoapCalc: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=49627

To figure the lye and water for YOUR version of the 80-15-5 recipe, you would put the percentages of the fats into the calculator, choose a total weight for the fats, set the superfat to your desired amount (the default is usually 5%, but typical range is 3% to 8%), and choose your preferred lye concentration ("full water" is about 28%, but typical range is 28% to 33% lye concentration). Once all that is set, then let the calculator figure out the amount of lye and water.

As far as the soap you made looking chalky and falling apart -- we need to know the specific weights of everything in your recipe and how you made the soap. Without good information, it's nearly impossible to give good advice. Also a picture would help to show exactly what you mean.

 

[silverette]

Thank you very much DeeAnna for your input and advice

 

[noodle]

Thanks for the inspiration... I'm very keen to try my own lard based soap after my first foray into soap making a few months ago (goats milk).
Would this sort of recipe be possible to make without a thermometer? It's late summer here and my CO is liquid at room temperature - was wondering if I could use the heat from the lye solution to melt the lard?

 

[Susie]

Thanks for the inspiration... I'm very keen to try my own lard based soap after my first foray into soap making a few months ago (goats milk).
Would this sort of recipe be possible to make without a thermometer? It's late summer here and my CO is liquid at room temperature - was wondering if I could use the heat from the lye solution to melt the lard?

I never use a thermometer. If it is winter, and my house is too cool, I melt my solid oils. If it is summer, and my house is 76 degrees (25 C) or more, I use the heat from the newly mixed lye water to melt my oils. If your house is warm enough to have your CO liquid at room temperature, it is warm enough to use the heat transfer method. But if you choose to use cool lye water, melt your lard first.

 

[Arimara]

I never use a thermometer. If it is winter, and my house is too cool, I melt my solid oils. If it is summer, and my house is 76 degrees (25 C) or more, I use the heat from the newly mixed lye water to melt my oils. If your house is warm enough to have your CO liquid at room temperature, it is warm enough to use the heat transfer method. But if you choose to use cool lye water, melt your lard first.

I use a thermometer to help be determine when to pour my lye solution. After that, I get lazy with it mostly. :mrgreen:

 

[noodle]

Thanks for your help everyone...
I made my soap Monday afternoon, the temp had dropped about 5 degrees so I did help my lard along to get it more liquid. I also cooled the lye water a little before adding it.

80% Lard
15% CO
5% Castor oil

5% SF
175g water
70g Lye

2 tsp sugar in lye water

EO 60% Sandalwood and 40% Neroli

I mixed by hand at first but was taking a while, so got the hand blender out to bring it to a light trace. It stayed relatively runny even after adding the oils.
I wrapped it up warmly ( wasn't sure it needed help to gel )
Checked on it the next day, it set up enough to cut but still soft enough to leave fingerprints. There was also a layer of 'sweat' on top? Not sure if it's a problem... Pretty happy with the lather and the scent so far!

 

[LisaAnne]

I didn't want to start a new post, so I will ask here. I've been upping my lard as you all suggest, thank you very much by the way, I've learned so much here and my soap is definitely improving. Everyone is patient and generous with your knowledge. I have a slow moving recipe I believe for a wood grain soap I'm going to attempt. I read that sugar can speed things up, what I'm wondering is if anyone still adds their sugar for bubbles. I'd hate to leave it out, but I will. I guess what I'm asking is if I should use all water with no additives.

 

[Susie]

I use 1 teaspoon of sugar PPO in most soaps. I just like lots of bubbles, and I like not using much CO. You can do one batch with sugar and one without, so that then you will know which one you prefer.

 

[LisaAnne]

I use 1 teaspoon of sugar PPO in most soaps. I just like lots of bubbles, and I like not using much CO. You can do one batch with sugar and one without, so that then you will know which one you prefer.

Thank you Susie, I use less than 15% coconut and I also love my bubbles. So I will keep the sugar in.