Did I do the hot process correctly?

[andreabadgley]

Hi everyone!

I did my first hot process soap yesterday, and I'm totally psyched! I could not believe how easy it was. I love the rustic look of it, and I like the more gelled feel than the cold process version of the same recipe. The only problem is that after reading some posts on here, I'm second-guessing myself and wondering if I did the process correctly. I followed the awesome crock pot instructions here:

http://www.candletech.com/soap-making/h ... tructions/

My soap went through all the stages described: first a thick trace that solidified, then began "melting" after about 10 or 20 minutes on high, then an applesauce-consistency stage after constant stirring (about 5 to 10 minutes) during the melt. The next consistency she described was a "mashed potato" consistency, and I think maybe my soap was that consistency, but I'm not really sure. It looked like a thick vaseline. It all happened pretty quickly (within 15 minutes of melting), and I didn't want to overcook it, so I went ahead and turned the crock pot off and removed the base, stirred in my EO's and dried herbs, and glopped it into the mold. Did I do this too soon? After looking through posts here, and reading other HP technique pages, I'm afraid I didn't cook it long enough. It never separated, and I didn't cook it for long after it melted. The entire process took less than 1.5 hours, from measuring ingredients to molding.

After I cut it, I did the tongue test, and there was no zap. What do y'all think?

 

[cdwinsby]

I think yours will be just fine. The tutorial you used added titanium dioxide to the oils so hers looked more like mashed potatoes. The vasaline look is normal. It's just the gel stage that has been forced.

Good tutorial.

 

[andreabadgley]

Thank you - I think it's going to be good. I checked out a book from the library, Delores Boone's "Handcrafted Soap," and it's got some great color pictures of several different ways to do HP (crock pot, double boiler, oven). My soap stages looked exactly like the pictures in her crock pot section, so I'm feeling much more confident about it now.

In fact, I'm totally hooked on hot process now! I LOVE the gelled look, I love the ease of the method (so much easier than I thought it would be), I LOVE that the soap is ready immediately, and I LOVE that the scent is so much more intense using the same amount of EOs. I use essential oils almost exclusively, so that's a huge benefit of HP for me. I've still got several soaps that I love the feel of when I do them CP, but I may try a lot of my recipes with HP just to see how it works out.

My first HP was an insect repellent bar scented with EOs of lemongrass, thyme, lavender, peppermint, and cedar. I put in some dried lemon thyme from my garden as well. Let's see if I can get a picture up here...

 

[cdwinsby]

It looks great! I'de call that a definate success.

 

[Laurie]

Wonderful!!! Maybe I'll give that hot process a try.

Laurie

 

[georgiastray]

Oh, I just love the texture of that soap! I'm a newbie soaper - only made 5 batches of CP so far, all of which turned out well. I like the idea of being able to use the soap sooner, and I LOVE the look of HP soap, so I think I'm ready to give it a try the next time I make a batch.

 

[CupcakeKisses]

ohh, I love that. Im working on a soap tonight. I still dont know what to make it. argh choices!

 

[Soapmomma]

I love CPHP! I've done my last 5 batches with the crockpot and they all came out great and smelled 3x stronger than my CP! I'm sold on hp

 

[kwahlne]

Hmmm. That's a great tutorial....I'm inspired to try!

 

[Godiva]

Your soap looks great!

 

[andreabadgley]

Thank you so much for the compliments, everybody! I wonder, though, does HP make the soap behave differently than it would if it were CP? I just used one of my HP soaps, a day after I made it, and it seemed kind of drying. I've never had that problem with my CP soaps. It could just be because my hands have been submerged in soapy water a lot from cleaning my crock pot. And I've been handling the soaps a lot. I'll have to keep an eye on that.

 

[georgiastray]

I'd be interested in the answer to this ? as well...

 

[mysoapopera]

hot process??

Ihaven't really got the cold thing down yet!! can you use the same receipe? and goat milk?? and did I read you can use this right away?? Help Im confused Kathleen

 

[Minerva's Curious Physick]

hot process??

Ihaven't really got the cold thing down yet!! can you use the same receipe? and goat milk?? and did I read you can use this right away?? Help Im confused Kathleen

Since Cold Process is the first part of Hot Process, you'll have to get comfortable making Cold Process soap, but I'm sure you've found a million great videos on it. This one helped me get started:

You can technically use HP soap right away, but the soap feels gentler and lasts longer if you wait 1-2 weeks for your HP soap to dry. It's fully saponified, so there's no lye left in the bars, so it's technically drying, not curing.
I've done 12 Hot Process batches at this point, and I actually learned from LovelyGreens' tutorial right here: Simple & Moisturizing Hot Process Soap Recipe
The video in the middle of that page is massively helpful. Her tutorial is really easy to use if you're used to Cold Process soaps. After reading her article, I use pretty much any cold process soap recipe and just cook it hot process, but I up the Water:Lye ratio to 3:1 since so much water evaporates during a HP cook. (Just multiply the weight of your lye by 3, and that's your amount of liquid in the recipe... or use SoapCalc.net to adjust the water:lye amounts.) I like her method because she doesn't stir at all--or open the crock pot until the cook is done--so less soap gets crusty and wasted. It's also easier to just look through the glass lid once in awhile than to make a mess stirring it.

The only fail I've had was my first HP milk soap--I learned the hard way that milk will caramelize to a dark chocolate brown with a dark caramel-colored lather if you cook it on low, and stain EVERYTHING it touches.
Maybe don't try milk soap until you feel comfortable with Hot Process. But once you're comfortable, two different ways I've done HP milk soap successfully since my failed batch:
1. Cook the soap on Keep Warm instead of low (it goes through the same visual changes in LovelyGreens' tutorial, but just takes longer to cook), or
2. Only add 80% of your liquids as water/lye when you mix up your soap batter, and reserve 20% of the recipe's liquids as milk to add after the cook. Warm the milk up before you stir it into the hot HP soap batter after the cook, though!
3. Some people also add dry powdered milk after the cook; Modern Soapmaking has a HP milk soap recipe that does this: Is Creamy Lightly Colored Hot Process Goat's Milk Soap Possible?

 

[Rsapienza]

's no lye left in the bars, so it's technically drying, not curing.

I have to say that I don’t quite agree with this. Yes, HP is fully saponified immediately, whereas CP could take a couple days; they both need to cure and curing involves more than simply drying. HP soaps benefit from the same cure time as CP soap. Actually, some say HP cure times are often longer due to the higher water content.
CP soap is safe to use after a couple of days so it’s not much different from HP in that regard; however, both benefit tremendously from a standard cure time.