Adding sugars

[Jamie Bell]

Last night I made a batch of soap I planned on adding honey to make it creamier and more bubbly while my lye water was coming down to a hundred degrees I done a little bit more research on adding honey and other sugars and most of the articles I seen talked about how when you add a sugar of some sort it can make the soap gel even using as little as 1 teaspoon per pound of soap so I did not use the honey I know I don't have the experience to make the judgement and I was wondering what can I do to prevent this so in the future I know what to do and how to do it so I can add the honey without ruining my batch of soap side note I am referring to making cold process soap

 

[shunt2011]

You can add honey to your soap. Yes, it can cause overheating if too much is used. 1 tsp per pound of oils is doable. I just mix my homey with a bit of my water from my batch. I add it to my oils and stickblend it well. Then add my cooled lye mixture. Once in the mold don’t over insulate. Also using full water can cause it to heat up more. I use a 33% lye concentration.

 

[IrishLass]

Honey can be tricky, but there is a trick that I use to get it to behave nicely in my soap as its saponifying and gelling. For what it's worth, I use 1 tablespoon of honey in my honey/beeswax soap and I never get overheating in spite of soaping warm (110 - 120 degreesF) and CPOPing in a slightly warm oven (110 degrees F ) to encourage full gel.

The trick (which I learned years ago from a fellow soaper named Soapbuddy) is to mix your honey with a little water to thin it out some and then add it to your already-prepared lye solution which has first been completely cooled down to room temperature (the cooler the better). The honey causes my room temp lye water to heat up to about 161 degreesF and turn a burnt-orange color, but from there on out it then behaves wonderfully in my soap.

Here's a post where I explain how I make my honey beeswax soap: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/my-experimental-honey-beeswax-soap.55689/#post-536352


IrishLass

 

[soapmaker]

Is there anything detrimental to adding warmed honey to the batter at trace? It makes little honey speckles in the soap which I happen to like seeing. Dissolving in water first makes invisible honey.

 

[shunt2011]

Is there anything detrimental to adding warmed honey to the batter at trace? It makes little honey speckles in the soap which I happen to like seeing. Dissolving in water first makes invisible honey.

Nothing detrimental, but can cause overheating. Especially if it doesn't get mixed in well enough. So, just check on it once in awhile.

 

[soapmaker]

Thanks Shunt. I did get a partial gel but I'm not a geller. Because it's an oatmeal milk and honey soap the partial gell isn't noticeable. I just sit it uncovered on top of the counter. 34% lye solution.