A Good Soap Recipe...Not

[cmzaha]

:headbanging: someone in a FB soap group wanted to know how to increase this batch of "Great Soap". Per her recipe she posted I ran soap calc. It amazes what people think is a good soap

 

[CaraBou]

Eek! Is that for real??

 

[BattleGnome]

The INS# checks out. Must be a great recipe. ;p

The thing that gets me is that 30 cleansing with a -20SF

 

[Susie]

Yep, recipes such as that are why I left some of those groups.

 

[Kamahido]

I sincerely hope this was a sick joke on the part of the original Facebook poster...

 

[Arthur Dent]

Yikes! :shock:

 

[Gerry]

After a good lengthy cure that will make perfectly fine laundry soap. I don't see a problem... :-?

 

[earlene]

Maybe they have very oily skin? (And are young and not elderly like me.) Perhaps the excess lye is lost during the water loss phase just as it is with the lye-heavy Andalusian style Castile soap? I probably would not make this soap myself to try out that thought, though.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...Perhaps the excess lye is lost during the water loss phase just as it is with the lye-heavy Andalusian style Castile..."

Nope, that won't happen, so don't feel any great rush to experiment. :mrgreen: With a lye concentration of 41% and a -20% superfat, that soap from the FB poster is going to stay lye heavy until it's old enough to vote. The Andalusian recipe you're talking about works ONLY because the lye concentration is so unusually low -- lots of water is the key. If you want to make a lye heavy soap but with a more typical lye concentration (28% to 40%), you'd best stick to a zero to -5% superfat setting if you want the lye excess to cure out.

Edit -- I can't believe the FB poster was truly serious about this. Really???? What did the other posters say about the recipe, Carolyn? Not fishing for quotes -- just curious about the gist of the reactions.

 

[cmzaha]

"...Perhaps the excess lye is lost during the water loss phase just as it is with the lye-heavy Andalusian style Castile..."

Nope, that won't happen, so don't feel any great rush to experiment. :mrgreen: With a lye concentration of 41% and a -20% superfat, that soap from the FB poster is going to stay lye heavy until it's old enough to vote. The Andalusian recipe you're talking about works ONLY because the lye concentration is so unusually low -- lots of water is the key. If you want to make a lye heavy soap but with a more typical lye concentration (28% to 40%), you'd best stick to a zero to -5% superfat setting if you want the lye excess to cure out.

Edit -- I can't believe the FB poster was truly serious about this. Really???? What did the other posters say about the recipe, Carolyn? Not fishing for quotes -- just curious about the gist of the reactions.

She stated she wanted to double the batch but was not sure if she could just double it, and had already made 3 batches from the recipe. We know for sure that it will not cure out because there is just not enough liquid. I would have to find my notes but I remember my lye heavy castile did not cure out using around a 40% lye concentration and I figured it was the lack of liquid. Maybe you remember DeeAnna the minus superfat and lye concentration. I do not have time to look for the test recipe. I ended up salting it out. She posted a picture of the soap, of course that does not mean anything. Maybe it was not a legit post butI would not bet on it

 

[DeeAnna]

I don't remember either, Carolyn. What I do remember is we decided a "normal" amount of water would not work to cure out a large lye excess.

If the FB poster really does mean Minus 20% superfat, then she's got the hide of a rhino.

Another thought -- maybe she's using very impure NaOH? Soapcalc (and the other calcs I've looked at) assume NaOH is 100% pure. If she's using 80-85% pure NaOH but basing the recipe on a -20% superfat at 100% NaOH purity, then the soap as made would actually have a zero to -5% superfat. That would probably cure out okay. Still not a recipe I'd care to use, but it would be safe after cure.

 

[cmzaha]

I don't remember either, Carolyn. What I do remember is we decided a "normal" amount of water would not work to cure out a large lye excess.

If the FB poster really does mean Minus 20% superfat, then she's got the hide of a rhino.

Another thought -- maybe she's using very impure NaOH? Soapcalc (and the other calcs I've looked at) assume NaOH is 100% pure. If she's using 80-85% pure NaOH but basing the recipe on a -20% superfat at 100% NaOH purity, then the soap as made would actually have a zero to -5% superfat. That would probably cure out okay. Still not a recipe I'd care to use, but it would be safe after cure.

Maybe she left out that fact. Is 80-85% a reasonably common NaOH? Mine is not less than 96% according to the COA and MSDS sheets

 

[doriettefarm]

Holy crap! Do they have any skin left? I think mine would just melt off with the -20% SF and that much coconut! :shock:

 

[DeeAnna]

"...Is 80-85% a reasonably common NaOH? Mine is not less than 96% according to the COA and MSDS sheets..."

Mine too. I get the impression that soapers in North America, Europe, and the UK, usually get NaOH with a fairly high purity as you and I are doing. A few posters on SMF from (I think) some Asian countries have mentioned their suppliers are selling NaOH around 85% purity, however.

 

[Seawolfe]

In my head she also says it only needs a one week cure? Im with Gerry in that would make an ok laundry soap, or patio cleaner...

If the Asian soapers only get 85% purity that might explain it - but my friend in China did not mention this problem when making his lard soaps (a crazy superfat like that would be noticeable) AND olive oil in any quantity is as expensive as all heck there. He can get sunflower oil sometimes, but Im not at all sure safflower oil is common there.

 

[Buckscent]

Good gracious, some people just don't get it

 

[DeeAnna]

Even if I assume this person is using low purity NaOH so the soap is actually safe the way she's making it, I shudder to think of the FB soaping newbies who will blindly make the soap with higher purity NaOH without checking the recipe first in soapee or soapcalc. Ugh. :silent:

 

[newbie]

I just read this from someone wondering what might be wrong with their soap. They use NO WATER at all and learned it from some forum. Holy cow. Who even put crap like that out there for anyone else to see and try?

"Tallow 2.5, Lard 2.5, Coconut 92, 1. Melt oils in crock pot, add dry lye 1.11 oz to oils mix until light trace add color, add fragrance, mix to heavy trace, pour into raisin box molds. Wrap up in an old coat, let sit for 2-3 days, unwrap, consistency is doughy and speckled. Lick test no zap (sour and salty). Small soaps under 1 oz (small raisin boxes) are perfectly perfect and rock hard, all soaps over that size such as loafs are speckled and troubled with cracked dough surfacing, soft surface that rises over time, but behaves when heated with hands or hair dryer and settles back. I was testing speed and viability which turned out really well with tiny bars but now I'm doing it in small batches and just pouring it in larger containers it's being a nuisance. They might need more time? But that doesn't explain the speckling even in the small colored bars it was uniform not speckled."

 

[doriettefarm]

I just read this from someone wondering what might be wrong with their soap. They use NO WATER at all and learned it from some forum. Holy cow. Who even put crap like that out there for anyone else to see and try?

"Tallow 2.5, Lard 2.5, Coconut 92, 1. Melt oils in crock pot, add dry lye 1.11 oz to oils mix until light trace add color, add fragrance, mix to heavy trace, pour into raisin box molds. Wrap up in an old coat, let sit for 2-3 days, unwrap, consistency is doughy and speckled. Lick test no zap (sour and salty). Small soaps under 1 oz (small raisin boxes) are perfectly perfect and rock hard, all soaps over that size such as loafs are speckled and troubled with cracked dough surfacing, soft surface that rises over time, but behaves when heated with hands or hair dryer and settles back. I was testing speed and viability which turned out really well with tiny bars but now I'm doing it in small batches and just pouring it in larger containers it's being a nuisance. They might need more time? But that doesn't explain the speckling even in the small colored bars it was uniform not speckled."

What the what? Dry lye straight into the oils? I wouldn't touch that with a 10ft pole!

 

[newbie]

YES! My mouth was hanging open. people corrected the method and said why but you never know if the OP takes it to heart or thinks people are just being rude or something.