Brine soap with aloe vera gel

[cascarral]

Hello!

Today I'm making a slightly brine soap, I'll be using 10% salt (as water weight) and 50% of the water will be replaced with aloe vera juice which I'll be adding to the oils.

So I'll be diluting the salt and lye in 50% of the water but I can't figure out if this is enough water to dilute both the salt and the lye... How on earth can I calculate this? Im so confused!

 

[penelopejane]

Hello!

Today I'm making a slightly brine soap, I'll be using 10% salt (as water weight) and 50% of the water will be replaced with aloe vera juice which I'll be adding to the oils.

So I'll be diluting the salt and lye in 50% of the water but I can't figure out if this is enough water to dilute both the salt and the lye... How on earth can I calculate this? Im so confused!

You can dissolve the salt in the water first then add they lye but it may end up with little floating bits that you have to strain out.

I add my salt to the other part of the liquid. The salt will dissolve in the aloe.

 

[atiz]

Agree with penelopejane. Or you could also add the aloe juice to the lye water and dissolve first the salt in it and then the lye.

 

[Obsidian]

I'd use 100% aloe juice and dissolve the salt in it. Aloe juice behaves good, no heating up, scorching or bad scent.

 

[amd]

To answer the question of how to do the math....

Take the water amount (minus whatever you are using for AVJ) that you are using and subtract the lye amount. Take the remainder x.10 to get the salt qty.
Example: 120g total liquid needed - 60g AVJ = 60g water
60g water - 48g lye = 12g remaining water to dissolve salt. WHY: lye needs an equal amount of liquid to completely dissolve it
12g water x .10 = 1.2g salt

I am not certain that AVJ will hold salt in a dissolved solution, so I would not consider it in my calculations (I'm fussy and don't want any salt grains in my brine soaps). If you do decide to consider it, then skip the first step above. Also note that the numbers in the example are completely made up, I assumed a 2.5:1 water to lye ratio.

 

[cheryla7]

I just made a Tallow soap with Master batched lye and my additional liquid was Aloe Vera Juice (warmed) that I mixed salt into and added to my warmed oils and then the master-batched lye, it all worked great.

 

[cascarral]

I'd use 100% aloe juice and dissolve the salt in it. Aloe juice behaves good, no heating up, scorching or bad scent.

I always thought id would over heat! Thanks for clearing this up

 

[cascarral]

Thank you all This was very helpful.

 

[cascarral]

Hi everyone Ok, I experimented today adding salt to aloe vera juice and 2% citric acid to my lye water since I've found some DOS in my soaps lately.

Now I think I'll need ALL of your different experiences to answer these questions...

First weird thing I noticed was my water (pre mixed with citric acid) when I added the lye bubbled at first and then took a longer time than normal to dissolve.

Then, when I was emulsifying oils and lye the mixture got a very darker color than normal, brownish. And then traced very fast! I couldn't do my in the pot swirl, I'm doing a 400 gr batch, small batches usually trace faster s maybe this was it. (would appreciate advices on how to control trace better, I'm soaping at 33% lye concentration).

And finally, It's been 7 hours and the soaps are still very soft, I usually cut 10% brine soaps in about 4-5 hours so I'm pretty sure something went odd.

I'd appreciate ANY insight over this! Thanks for your comments!

 

[penelopejane]

Hi everyone Ok, I experimented today adding salt to aloe vera juice and 2% citric acid to my lye water since I've found some DOS in my soaps lately.

Now I think I'll need ALL of your different experiences to answer these questions...

First weird thing I noticed was my water (pre mixed with citric acid) when I added the lye bubbled at first and then took a longer time than normal to dissolve.

Then, when I was emulsifying oils and lye the mixture got a very darker color than normal, brownish. And then traced very fast! I couldn't do my in the pot swirl, I'm doing a 400 gr batch, small batches usually trace faster s maybe this was it. (would appreciate advices on how to control trace better, I'm soaping at 33% lye concentration).

And finally, It's been 7 hours and the soaps are still very soft, I usually cut 10% brine soaps in about 4-5 hours so I'm pretty sure something went odd.

I'd appreciate ANY insight over this! Thanks for your comments!

 

[cascarral]

Thanks for the video

So, do you think I had false trace? Or you're thinking if I do this it won't trace as fast?

 

[Obsidian]

The water bubbled due to the reaction between the citric acid and lye, its normal.

The color change could be from the aloe, I get a bit if a yellow color at first but it doesn't stay.

Citric acid will neutralize some of the lye, raising the super fat amount. Did you adjust your lye amount?
2% seems like a lot. For 1000 grams of oil, I use 10 grams of CA and a additional 6 grams of lye.
Also, CA help with preventing soap scum, not DOS.

 

[Megan]

I'm new to using Citric in my soaps, but I've heard from DeAnna and Kevin Dunn that yes it can help with DOS as well because it chelates metal contamination within the soap.

 

[cascarral]

Thank you! Yes, I used Soapmakink recipe builder and it recalculates the lye. I will try with 1% this time

And yeah, that's what I read as well! About the DOS prevention. But I'm not a chemist so I wont say I fully understand why jajaja.

Just un molded my soaps, after 20 hours they were still pretty soft which is SO unusual for my 10% brine soaps. I can't notice any undissolved salt but the bars are black so it's hard to tell for sure. Last time I did this recipe I cut after 5 hours. The only difference was the aloe vera juice and citric acid :/

Last week I forgot to close the lye container... maybe it went bad? This is the only other thing I cant think of.

 

[penelopejane]

Thanks for the video

So, do you think I had false trace? Or you're thinking if I do this it won't trace as fast?

I think one possibility is that you didn’t take trace far enough. I think that is one cause of crumbly soap. 10% brine shouldn’t cause soap to have to be cut at 5hrs.

this video is to show when you get to emulsion. Then you can divide the batter and add colours and mix more.

your lye won’t go “off” in a few days. It might be a bit clumpy but it will dissolve and be fine.

Black soap will show undissolved salt and lye really clearly. Strain your lye and brine mix if you are worried. You can also get swirls from not reaching medium trace and from overheating. There are lots of ways to mess up a beautiful clear soap!!

 

[cmzaha]

Thank you! Yes, I used Soapmakink recipe builder and it recalculates the lye. I will try with 1% this time

And yeah, that's what I read as well! About the DOS prevention. But I'm not a chemist so I wont say I fully understand why jajaja.

Just un molded my soaps, after 20 hours they were still pretty soft which is SO unusual for my 10% brine soaps. I can't notice any undissolved salt but the bars are black so it's hard to tell for sure. Last time I did this recipe I cut after 5 hours. The only difference was the aloe vera juice and citric acid :/

Last week I forgot to close the lye container... maybe it went bad? This is the only other thing I cant think of.

When I was using citric acid I always used it at 2%. Was your batter temp different from your previous batches? Temp can make a difference. My brine soaps and I use a 25% solution usually set up in the same time frame as my other soaps, 5-8 hrs. I do find a degree or two in batter temps can actually make a difference in tracing, at least it will in my fast moving recipes.

 

[cascarral]

Thank you!

I'm sure I got a full trace before I've had problems with false trace before and am super careful now.

Such a relief about the lye! I was thinking about throwing it away.

I think one possibility is that you didn’t take trace far enough. I think that is one cause of crumbly soap. 10% brine shouldn’t cause soap to have to be cut at 5hrs.

this video is to show when you get to emulsion. Then you can divide the batter and add colours and mix more.

your lye won’t go “off” in a few days. It might be a bit clumpy but it will dissolve and be fine.

Black soap will show undissolved salt and lye really clearly. Strain your lye and brine mix if you are worried. You can also get swirls from not reaching medium trace and from overheating. There are lots of ways to mess up a beautiful clear soap!!

 

[cascarral]

When I was using citric acid I always used it at 2%. Was your batter temp different from your previous batches? Temp can make a difference. My brine soaps and I use a 25% solution usually set up in the same time frame as my other soaps, 5-8 hrs. I do find a degree or two in batter temps can actually make a difference in tracing, at least it will in my fast moving recipes.

Have you used the citric acid + salt combo? If so, have you noticed any difference?

I soaped at 40 degrees (both lye and oils) but didn't check the temp of the batter afterwards, I think I've never checked this. Which is a normal temp? What should I be specting? I'll pay attention next time.

 

[penelopejane]

Thank you!

I'm sure I got a full trace before I've had problems with false trace before and am super careful now.

Such a relief about the lye! I was thinking about throwing it away.

I don’t think I explained properly. there is emulsion, light trace, medium trace, heavy trace and gloop.

I have found that the same recipe, soaped at the same temps, treated the same way to force gel will be crumbly if poured at light trace and perfect soap if poured at medium trace.

 

[cascarral]

I don’t think I explained properly. there is emulsion, light trace, medium trace, heavy trace and gloop.

I have found that the same recipe, soaped at the same temps, treated the same way to force gel will be crumbly if poured at light trace and perfect soap if poured at medium trace.

Oh ok, so maybe I traced too far? Now after a week I find the bar soft for a brine bar