Adding water to HP mashed potatoes so it pours into my mold ?

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Another pint would be a lot of water. It will be in the mould for a VERY long time and would need an age to cure.

 

[AustinStraight]

I second the notion that a pint is a lot of water... but it depends how much soap you're making. I would go with the water percentage method mentioned by dixiedragon:

What I do is raise my water from 38% to 40% in soap cal. It makes the soap a bit more fluid, more like applesauce than mashed potatoes. after I glop it in the mold, I use my silicone spatula to smooth the top. It doesn't have that perfect smoothness that CP can have when you pour, but it's also not chunky and rough.

 

[Lin]

The purpose of bringing the soap to trace before cooking or pouring is to avoid separation. Separation can still happen, but is less likely when brought to trace. Sometimes for certain CP techniques its only brought to emulsion which gives a somewhat higher risk of later separation. If you never brought the fats and lye solution to emulsion you would not end up with a solid consistent soap.

 

[Gaspar Navarrete]

The purpose of bringing the soap to trace before cooking or pouring is to avoid separation.

Lin, just to make sure I got this right. The lye-water and the oil can separate from one another. The oil then settles on the top, simply because oil and water don't mix in any cooking situation.

I assume that separation happens ONLY when the two aren't mixed thoroughly enough and brought to trace.

 

[Alaska beauty]

My HP bats smooth and shiny

 

[dryalligator]

I've seen videos where some soapers use a stick blender. I haven't found the need. Its easy to add the superfat to the batter. Get a really sturdy spoon or spatula and whip it good. Some fragrence oils will make your batter a little thicker at pour/glop. I agree that adding too much water can affect your drying bar but I think you can add as little as a soda bottle top of water at a time to get a slightly less thick soap. Just don't add too much. It will suds up so keep stirring. If you want beautiful swirls and smoothness you don't have choice. You have to use cold process.

 

[Lin]

Lin, just to make sure I got this right. The lye-water and the oil can separate from one another. The oil then settles on the top, simply because oil and water don't mix in any cooking situation.

I assume that separation happens ONLY when the two aren't mixed thoroughly enough and brought to trace.

No, other things can cause separation like certain ingredients or fragrance oils, overheating (can happen with ingredients that are heaters), etc.

 

[Gaspar Navarrete]

How does overheating or certain ingredients cause the lye-water and oils to separate from one another ?

Up until now, I didn't know about separation.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...How does overheating or certain ingredients cause the lye-water and oils to separate from one another ?..."

An emulsion is a mixture of tiny droplets of one liquid suspended in another.

Mechanical mixing (stick blender or hand stirring) is required to create an emulsion. The smaller the droplet size from the mixing, the more likely the emulsion will stay together. An example of a mechanically mixed emulsion is a vinaigrette made with only vinegar and oil. Even if you mix it in a blender, the mixture will quickly separate out after you stop mixing.

Mixing is only part of the story.

For long-term stability of an emulsion, you have to also use a chemical emulsifier. In soapmaking, the soap molecules are the emulsifier that stabilizes the batter emulsion. The more soap molecules in the batter, the more stable the emulsion will be. An example of this type of emulsion is a vinaigrette made with oil, vinegar, and mustard. The mustard is the chemical emulsifier that keeps the salad dressing well mixed.

In soap making, "trace" is a visual clue that tells you there are enough soap molecules in the batter to chemically stabilize the emulsion, and it's reasonably safe to stop mixing.

Part of the art of soap making is to recognize when this safe point is reached and one move on to the next steps in the soap making process. If you mix too long before pouring your soap into the mold, the soap can get very thick due to the increasing numbers of soap molecules. The batter may even solidify in the pot.

On the other hand, if you stop mixing too soon, you may get separation in the mold because you don't have enough soap molecules in the batter to stabilize the emulsion. Soapers who want to make fancy swirls will stop mixing at the point where the batter is just mechanically emulsified. They are counting on the growing number of soap molecules to stabilize their soap batter as they work. It's a bit of a risk, but a necessary one for doing this type of fancy work.

Anything that causes the liquid droplets to coalesce into larger droplets will cause an emulsion to fail, meaning the ingredients separate back into layers.

Excessive heat is one culprit. It can reduce the viscosity (syrupiness) of an emulsion, increase the chances of the liquid droplets coming together into larger droplets, and trigger chemical reactions that cause emulsion failure. If you have ever made a custard of milk and eggs and had it curdle, that is an emulsion failure due to excessive heat.

Another culprit is ingredients that interfere with the chemical emulsifier, with or without added heat. I can't think of an example in soap making at the moment -- maybe someone else can chime in with a good one.

 

[dixiedragon]

How does overheating or certain ingredients cause the lye-water and oils to separate from one another ?

Up until now, I didn't know about separation.

I've been curious about that myself! I've had it happen to me, but I'm not sure why it happens.

When seperation occurs b/c of overheating, it's pretty easy to correct - you just keep stirring.

However, sometimes in CP if your ingredients are too cool you will get false trace, and then the soap will seperate. False trace is when your oils are cool enough that they start to thicken up, so the "trace" effect is a result of the thick oils, not a result of the emulsification.

 

[Gaspar Navarrete]

I learned something today.

Thanks, Deanna & DixieDragon. I did not know this either.