Adding cucumber puree

[ChristinaOlivia]

Hello!
I’m a new soaper and I’m having a little trouble understanding something. I want to add cucumber purée at light trace. Not to my lye water. My water amount in my recipe is 344 grams to 125 grams of lye. I have 200 grams of purée. Do I deduct the 200 from the 344? I guess I’m scared that if I don’t have enough water something crazy is going to happen when I pour it into the oils lol. I tried to search on here but couldn’t find anything.

 

[Obsidian]

You need at least the same amount of water as lye to dissolve properly.
125 grams of lye needs 125 grams of water, the rest can be your liquid of choice.

 

[amd]

What obsidian said. You should be good using 144g water to dissolve 125g lye.

Although I would not add your cucumber at trace. I would add it to your oils, stick blend for a minute, and then add your lye solution. Cucumber is high water, so I always make sure it gets properly emulsified with my oils. Adding at trace could cause it to separate out.

 

[Cannon1227]

Could you use cucumber purée in place of the water and mix directly with lye in an ice bath? I so new to all of this...lots of questions

 

[amd]

You could, but I think it may scorch and turn yellow/brown. I haven't done it with cucumber and every source I see keeps the lye and cucumber separate. You could freeze the cucumber and try it that way, I think that would keep the temp down.

 

[Cannon1227]

Thanks for your reply.. I freeze my goats milk then niche lye in a ice bath and it doesn’t scorch. So maybe it will work

Thanks for your reply.. I freeze my goats milk then niche lye in a ice bath and it doesn’t scorch. So maybe it will work

Mix the lye not niche

 

[earlene]

I want to add cucumber purée at light trace. Not to my lye water. My water amount in my recipe is 344 grams to 125 grams of lye. I have 200 grams of purée. Do I deduct the 200 from the 344? I guess I’m scared that if I don’t have enough water something crazy is going to happen when I pour it into the oils lol. I tried to search on here but couldn’t find anything.

Cucumbers are 96% water, so you have 192 grams of water in your 200 grams of puree. (See this chart.)
So, deduct 192 from 344 and you have 152 grams of liquid left.
Deduct 125 (needed to dissolve the 125 grams of NaOH) from 152 and you have 27 grams of liquid left.

You can use that 27 grams of water in the lye solution or if you have any other additives you need to mix in water, it's available for that.

 

[Relle]

Hello!
I’m a new soaper and I’m having a little trouble understanding something. I want to add cucumber purée at light trace. Not to my lye water. My water amount in my recipe is 344 grams to 125 grams of lye. I have 200 grams of purée. Do I deduct the 200 from the 344? I guess I’m scared that if I don’t have enough water something crazy is going to happen when I pour it into the oils lol. I tried to search on here but couldn’t find anything.

As your new, please Introduce yourself in the Introduction forum so others get to know you.

 

[k'Spec]

Cucumbers are 96% water, so you have 192 grams of water in your 200 grams of puree. (See this chart.)
So, deduct 192 from 344 and you have 152 grams of liquid left.
Deduct 125 (needed to dissolve the 125 grams of NaOH) from 152 and you have 27 grams of liquid left.

You can use that 27 grams of water in the lye solution or if you have any other additives you need to mix in water, it's available for that.

Are we talking about a whole cucumber here. I'm referring to the chart

 

[amd]

Are we talking about a whole cucumber here

Even if you only use half a cucumber, it's still going to be 96% water. Or is that not your meaning?
If a whole cucumber weighs 200g* = 192g will be water
if half a cucumber weighs 100g* = 96g will be water
*Numbers made up for easy math demonstration

 

[ChristinaOlivia]

You need at least the same amount of water as lye to dissolve properly.
125 grams of lye needs 125 grams of water, the rest can be your liquid of choice.

Thank you!!

As your new, please Introduce yourself in the Introduction forum so others get to know you.

Sorry about that. Christina from Pittsburgh, Pa!!

 

[amd]

We have an introduction forum, we generally ask new members to post there giving us some reference for their level of soapmaking.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/forums/the-introduction-forum.16/

 

[earlene]

Are we talking about a whole cucumber here. I'm referring to the chart

The chart says for raw fruits or vegetables. It does not indicate if parts of them are left out, but I would assume the ones which we normally don't eat the skin, such as bananas, then that would not be counted. I'd say it's a toss-up regarding cucumber skins, if that's what you're thinking. When severed in salads or other types of foods, sometimes the outer skin of cucumbers are removed and sometimes they are not. I don't know if it matters much though. 96% is pretty high as it is.