Desperately need help, immediatelY!

[JuneP]

I had all my oils melted, then mixed and decided to weigh just in case. And what should be 800.86 grams oi oil only weighs 761.00 grams!

As I weighed each oil, I put away the bottle. But one bottle was still on the counter - the castor oil, which should be 40.04 grams in this recipe. I thought I had weighed them all out, but how can I account for 39.86 grams missing?

Should I add the castor oil, or let it go and get a bad, overly soft soap? My lye is already mixed and cooled, Help!

June

 

[Obsidian]

Sounds like you forgot the castor, I would add it. If you don't, your soap could end up being lye heavy.

 

[TVivian]

Even if you already added the castor, I doubt an extra 40g would make your soap overly soft.

 

[JuneP]

I have the 40.4 grams already weighed out, and ready to go so I'll add it to the other oils.

I checked the bottle and some has been taken out, but I used Casto it in my last batch, so I'm hoping that I was careless and omitted it.

Funny, because when I weigh out my pottery glazes I made a check list on each ingredient as I weigh them; but I was working such a tight space,(where my scale is); and I weighed the hard oils first. Then weighed the olive, sweet almond and avocado. It sure does look like I missed the castor. Lesson learned!

Thanks again. I'll let you know how it worked after I un-mold it tomorrow or the next day.

June

 

[JustBeachy]

If your recipe called for 800 gr and you're sure you didn't make any mistakes weighing your other oils, then you should be just fine. Especially if you didn't have any other oils that were at the 40 gr level. I bet you're gonna be just fine.

 

[JuneP]

AARGH! Think I may have found the source of the problem. I went and added the castor again (thinking it was the first time), and suddenly noticed my 3 colorants that I had already mixed using a total of 4 1/2 tsp of olive from the cup when I weighed out the olive oil. I have no idea how many grams 4 1/2 tsp of oil weighs, but there's a chance that this accounts for the missing almost 40 grams.

So now it appears, I have added twice as much castor oil. What do I do if this is the case?

Do I put that 40.4 grams of castor in the lye calculator and find out how much more lye and water I need? Yikes! I feel like such an idiot!

It's my sons 50th birthday and I have to leave here in a few hours to join the party and I'm feeling really stressed at the moment!!

What would you do?????

June

 

[snappyllama]

What was your original SF? If it was 5ish, I'd consider your additional castor an extra-bonus SF and not worry over it. You might even like it. I made one batch with 10% SF and thought it felt nice. If you want to rework the lye and water, you can do that too.

 

[JustBeachy]

4.5 tsp should equal around 22 gr. what was your original SF number

 

[JuneP]

I used the lye calculator and figuring in the extra castor oil, the results don't look bad if I compensate for it and add extra water, extra lye and extra fragrance.

This is how it looks if I do all that:

Hardness 33
Cleansing 13
Conditioning 60
Bubbly 22
Creamy 28
Iodine 65
INS 142

Now, as I see it, I have two choices. Go ahead and use it as is; but add the extra water, fragrance and lye: Or, I can wait till tomorrow, and weigh out another batch, but just omit the castor oil, mix them together, Then set one container aside with the original amount of the batch, and the other container would have the amount, less the 40.4 castor oil, which I figure is what was the weight in the 4 1/2tsp of olive oil I used, (and forget about), to mix my 3 colors!

I don't mind waiting till tomorrow to make a whole other batch, since 10% castor oil is supposed to make a very greasy bar! Again, what would be the best thing to do? My lye is mixed and hidden in a cupboard and I can cover everything else or put it away safely for the night. So bottom line, is it worth making a soap with 10% castor oil, or will it be so greasy that me and everyone else will hate it???

Right now I'm going to go on line and see if I can find out how many grams are in 4 1/2 tsp of castor oil!

I feel like such an idiot! :-(


June

 

[JustBeachy]

Already gave you that. 4.5 tsp of Castor oil should weigh around 22 grams.

Take a breath and relax. I think both your options are ok. Pick which one makes you more comfortable and go with that one. It'll work out.

 

[Obsidian]

I would just go with it. I've used up to 20% castor and the bar wasn't sticky or greasy so 10% shouldn't be a issue.

 

[Susie]

4 1/2 tsp is about 22 g.

You need to learn to weigh each ingredient into a separate cup. Then you double check each weight before you mix the first thing. I pull out all bottles, weigh each ingredient. When I get done weighing that ingredient the first time, the bottle goes up. Repeat for all ingredients, checking off on the recipe. Then I re-weigh and highlight each item. This is all before mixing the first two items. I learned this the hard way, so don't feel bad. I typically use re-purposed cream cheese tubs that all weigh the same, so I don't have to wonder what each cup weight is.

 

[JuneP]

Thanks for all the help and support. I couldn't find any weight for castor oil; but did find it for olive oil. If it was 22 oz, that certainly accounts for part of the 40.04 I'm thinking that some may have been lost on the sides of the containers and the spatulas.

So I'll weigh out more fragrance, more lye, and more water after breakfast tomorrow to compensate for the extra 40.4 grams of extra oil. By the way I also have 40.4 grams of avocado in this recipe.

I'll make a note now of how much of those I need, and story my pre-mixed colors, and sodium lactate and oil away in a cupboard not in the kitchen, and get to it right after breakfast tomorrow.

Thanks for helping me calm down. What a journey; and of course the door bell and phone were ringing what seemed like non stop, while I was trying to get soap made and do the calculations to fix this error. I will be grabbing a glass of wine the minute I get to our sons place. I need it! LOL But first, I need to eat something, since I totally skipped lunch and now have a headache. Interesting day!

June

 

[JuneP]

Susie, I had a few glass bowls for the smaller oil amounts. I first weighed the olive, then added the melted hard oils to that. Then I weighed out the smaller amounts individually, and when done weighing, I added that to the bigger container of oils, and put that bottle away.

Next time I'll do it your way, or do what I do when weighing our my pottery chemicals, and check each one off the minute I finish weighing.

Hard lesson learned; but being optimistic, I might actually wind up with a nicer soap than originally planned, just a bit softer! One can hope!

June

 

[Susie]

Don't mix anything until you have everything weighed individually. If you run short of something and have to re-run the recipe, you will thank me.

 

[Chefmom]

I work right to left on my counter. My scale and pot is in the center, all the oils to be weighed are sitting on my right side. I weigh each one in order on my recipe that is taped to my cupboard door at my eye level. When it's weighed, the container gets put down on my left side. That way I know what is weighed out, even if I have to step away in the middle of weighing.

 

[JuneP]

Good method Chef Mom. My problem is that my gram scale is electric and I didn't have room on the kitchen counter since the largest part of my island, next to the range top was totally taken up with my setup of bowls, molds, mixers, spoons, etc. etc. and I had to work on a tiny counter, already half filled top in little area between the kitchen and dining room that houses my bread and ice cream machine and not much more room than that, other in the front of those. So I did put all the oils around the scale; but the problem was I didn't put away the castor which was the last thing weighed; and of course that made me think I missed weighing it. Oh well, as I said, "Lesson learned".

So tomorrow morning I'll fix this batch and hopefully have it made before lunch time. I didn't have enough time to do it tonight. I would have had to rush and I was so tired and headachy it is just as well I didn't. Plus, my order from WS arrived with 3 new fragrances, and a few other things. Husbands favorite from this group (we did a sniff test of al l3), was the mango peach. He wasn't up for the oatmeal milk and honey but I suspect that will smell better in the soap. The 2nd favorite was the white tea, something or other - very clean, crisp scent. I'm already thinking of colors to use for these!

June

 

[JustBeachy]

Not to add more stress, but now we're all expecting pictures.

Enjoy your wine and evening with the birthday boy.

 

[reinbeau]

Yes, no pressure, but pictures would be nice

 

[Jstar]

I think it will turn out fine..just keep calm and remember we have all been there a time or 3. And yes, we want pics