Absolute beginner

[Arimara]

I didnt know this about the floating soap. Or that it's easier to deal with naughty fo than with cp soap I have some of those so might try hp soap at some point!

As an example of people misunderstanding about cure time ect earlier this year I went to a beekeeping meeting because there was a woman who sold beeswax soaps and other cosmetics doing a talk I almost screamed at her what a stupid person she is when she said her scientist friend knows a way so they dont have to sit on a shelf ect for weeks ie curing! So she basically sells her soaps and they could of been made a day or less ago probably not illegal but if someone gets a bad bar of soap from her they will likely tar all homemade soaps are terrible and lose me a sale, so at that point I went from willing to think about trying her stuff to swearing never to attend another meeting with her doing a talk and selling her stuff because I know I'll say something to her and get myself in trouble with the club because no doubt they will think she has far more knowledge than I do she definatly does about beekeeping yes but soap I'm not so sure she knows as much as shes making out she does![/QUOTE]

She clearly doesn't. That is sad. Stick to your guns and keep learning your soaps, invest in the Scientific Soapmaking text book, if you can (it may help you by giving you a source to dispel soap myths), and have fun.

 

[Rox]

I just watched videos on YouTube on CP, some heat up the oils on stove, mix the lye and water and then put lye in oils on the stove. I also saw 2 videos that they had mixed the lye and the water the day before, had melted the coconut oil in microwave and were just mixing everything on the counter without heat, seemed easier and faster that way.. what do you think?
Thanks for the help!

 

[Nanette]

A LOT of folks here soap at room temperature...they masterbatch their lye and oils for convenience . You dont have to wait hours for your lye solution or oils to cool down.

 

[Nanette]

 

[Chris_S]

I just watched videos on YouTube on CP, some heat up the oils on stove, mix the lye and water and then put lye in oils on the stove. I also saw 2 videos that they had mixed the lye and the water the day before, had melted the coconut oil in microwave and were just mixing everything on the counter without heat, seemed easier and faster that way.. what do you think?
Thanks for the help!

I recently invested in a soup kettle which are an amazing contraption and make my life so much easier with regards to melting oils and I use it for making candles and melts too! It can sit in there till the lye gets to the same temp then combined inside a bucket or something similar but I just heated the oils or butter in the microwave before I got the soup kettle! It's great for how I make my cp soap it just works well for me and if I need to cool it I can stick it in a bucket of cold water to match with the lye solution!


Yeah she really doesnt and I dont think she cared for me pointing out there will be things to do to make things comply when IF we ever leave the EU because our rules are all regulated ect by the EU! From what I recall she said she hoped she was small enough just to sneak under radar all cash sales strangely too so probably on fiddle n all! I dont know how long shes been in business but I get the feeling she isnt the sort to make hundreds of bars to test different recipes like iv spent over a year doing and just milks the beeswax label appeal but in reality it's probably about 2.5% of the entire recipe cant imagine her even having the knowledge to know what to change ect someone else probably makes the soaps n she just sells them as a business partnership!

 

[Rox]

A LOT of folks here soap at room temperature...they masterbatch their lye and oils for convenience . You dont have to wait hours for your lye solution or oils to cool down.[/QUOTE
Thanks alot for answering my questions. can you dilute a big bottle of lye to keep on the self so when you need it, its already done? To mixe it ahead and do your mixing cold seems easier and faster. Im gonna.make my fist bach soon so any advice of tips for me?
Thanks

 

[bookreader451]

Wouldnt that quantity depend on how much m&p soap base you are using and making?

Yes I meant per pound. Sorry about that

 

[earlene]

A LOT of folks here soap at room temperature...they masterbatch their lye and oils for convenience . You dont have to wait hours for your lye solution or oils to cool down.
A LOT of folks here soap at room temperature...they masterbatch their lye and oils for convenience . You dont have to wait hours for your lye solution or oils to cool down.
Thanks alot for answering my questions. can you dilute a big bottle of lye to keep on the self so when you need it, its already done? To mixe it ahead and do your mixing cold seems easier and faster. Im gonna.make my fist bach soon so any advice of tips for me?
Thanks

When quoting, your question will be more noticeable and more likely to get answered if you add it below the quote box (after the End Quote code that looks like [forward slash QUOTE]. I usually skip quotes without any added comments below the quote because it's too hard to figure out who said what. But in this case, I did read it and think this is you and not Nanette:Thanks alot for answering my questions. can you dilute a big bottle of lye to keep on the self so when you need it, its already done? To mixe it ahead and do your mixing cold seems easier and faster. Im gonna.make my fist bach soon so any advice of tips for me?

Yes, that is called Master Batching lye. Normally many who do masterbatch lye, use at 1:1 mix of NaOH to water (because that's the minimum amount of water to dissolve the same amount of NaOH), which is called a 50% lye concentration. Then when making the soap, some additional liquid has to be added to bring the lye concentration to the desired amount. (Some lye calculators will do that for you, but the math is pretty easy.)

BUT, you can do your masterbatch lye solution in any concentration you prefer. Some folks almost always make soap with a [33% Lye]. (Incidentally, the brackets around that is a chemistry shorthand I learned in college and always use in my notes.) When they go to make soap, they simply use the masterbatched lye without having to do any further calculations for added water.

 

[Nanette]

Thank you Earlene! I dont masterbatch lye so I couldnt figure out how to answer ...so now I know. Well, I would have answered I dont know.