Finally ready to make my lard soap, hopefully!
- Thread starter K.C.
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MsTigress02
Well-Known Member
Good luck!
I think it'll be a good soap -- long lived, hard, yet lathering well. You may have to give it a little more cure time than usual for the soap to lather at its best, but it'll be nice.
I recommend you stop using "water as % of oil" setting, however, and start using "lye concentration" or "water:lye ratio". If you do, you'll get more consistent results in your soap making from recipe to recipe.
For this recipe, I'd set the lye concentration to 33% (or set the water:lye ratio to 2:1 which means the same thing) and see how that works for you. Your current recipe has a lye concentration of 29% which is more water than I'd normally use for a high lard soap. This may make your soap softer than you'd like so it will be more difficult to unmold and cut.
I recommend you stop using "water as % of oil" setting, however, and start using "lye concentration" or "water:lye ratio". If you do, you'll get more consistent results in your soap making from recipe to recipe.
For this recipe, I'd set the lye concentration to 33% (or set the water:lye ratio to 2:1 which means the same thing) and see how that works for you. Your current recipe has a lye concentration of 29% which is more water than I'd normally use for a high lard soap. This may make your soap softer than you'd like so it will be more difficult to unmold and cut.
The oils look great to me! Just a couple of suggestions:
1. Change your lye setting from 33% water as percent of oils to 33% lye concentration. Lard is very slow to trace, so you don't need as much water as currently shown. Plus, using lye concentration will give you more consistent results as you scale a recipe up or down. And you don't have to mess with "water discounts" - you just change the lye concentration when you want more or less water.
2. Change your superfat to 2-3% max. I find that high-lard soaps can feel oily to the touch when they have high superfat. The lather is already going to take more effort to get it going, and keeping the superfat lower will help with that. Remember, your lye probably isn't as pure as the calculator assumes, either.
3. Speaking of lather, high lard soaps really benefit from the addition of sugar to help make them lather more easily. Try dissolving sugar at 1% of oils (or 1 T per pound of oils) in your water, before you add the lye.
At some point you will want to think about adding a chelator, as high-lard soaps do produce soap scum. A chelator really helps with that. But I don't want to overwhelm you. Try this recipe, give it a good long cure (like 3-4 months), and see what you think. Good luck!
EDIT: DeeAnna posted right before me as I was typing so I apologize for the repetition.
1. Change your lye setting from 33% water as percent of oils to 33% lye concentration. Lard is very slow to trace, so you don't need as much water as currently shown. Plus, using lye concentration will give you more consistent results as you scale a recipe up or down. And you don't have to mess with "water discounts" - you just change the lye concentration when you want more or less water.
2. Change your superfat to 2-3% max. I find that high-lard soaps can feel oily to the touch when they have high superfat. The lather is already going to take more effort to get it going, and keeping the superfat lower will help with that. Remember, your lye probably isn't as pure as the calculator assumes, either.
3. Speaking of lather, high lard soaps really benefit from the addition of sugar to help make them lather more easily. Try dissolving sugar at 1% of oils (or 1 T per pound of oils) in your water, before you add the lye.
At some point you will want to think about adding a chelator, as high-lard soaps do produce soap scum. A chelator really helps with that. But I don't want to overwhelm you. Try this recipe, give it a good long cure (like 3-4 months), and see what you think. Good luck!
EDIT: DeeAnna posted right before me as I was typing so I apologize for the repetition.
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Thank you so much especially for the catch on the % of water vs lye. My screen kept freezing and wouldn't allow me to adjust ingredients or numbers and wouldn't even adjust to final recipe! I have to proof read 100 times and still feel like I will miss something I get so excited!!
As far as a chelator goes what do you recommend?
One more question, sodium lactate since it is such a high lard recipe?
I do have sugar on hand but I did purchase sorbitol for another recipe that I can't remember right now. would this have any additional benefit over granular sugar and/or powdered sugar?
As far as a chelator goes what do you recommend?
One more question, sodium lactate since it is such a high lard recipe?
Sorbitol is supposed to boost lather more than other sugars. Here's a "lather lovers" test where they compare several sugars as well as other additives -- https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/blog/updated-lather-lovers-additive-testing/
There are several chelators that work. Sodium citrate is one of the more "crunchy/natural" ones and it's relatively easy to find since it's used in food preparation and cheese making. Or can be made from citric acid + NaOH. Sodium gluconate is crunchy too and appears to more effective than citrate, but you can't make it from easy to find ingredients. Tetrasodium EDTA is probably more widely used, it's a time-tested and effective chelator, but there are environmental concerns.
There are several chelators that work. Sodium citrate is one of the more "crunchy/natural" ones and it's relatively easy to find since it's used in food preparation and cheese making. Or can be made from citric acid + NaOH. Sodium gluconate is crunchy too and appears to more effective than citrate, but you can't make it from easy to find ingredients. Tetrasodium EDTA is probably more widely used, it's a time-tested and effective chelator, but there are environmental concerns.
I use Sorbitol and prefer it over sugar. I also use a Sodium gluconate/Tetrasodium EDTA combination as my chelator at the rate of 0.5% of each of my total batch weights. When I first started using a Chelator I used citric acid but I found my SG/EDTA worked better. But I recognize some do not like EDTA so I probably would have changed to Sodium Gluconate when all my EDTA was gone. I say was because I no longer sell so have not made soap in approx 3 years.
I also prefer sorbitol, so if you have it, that's what I'd use at 1-2% of oils.
I also prefer sodium citrate to citric acid, but CA works fine as long as you make the lye adjustment. No lye adjustment is needed for sodium citrate, which is why I prefer it.
Dissolve the sorbitol and SC/CA in a bit of lightly warmed batch water, before adding the lye solution.
No harm in using a bit of sodium lactate if you have it on hand, but start with a minimal amount, like 1% of oils, and make sure it is stirred in well. Even a little extra or a little unmixed SL can give you chalky edges. Ask me how I know.
I also prefer sodium citrate to citric acid, but CA works fine as long as you make the lye adjustment. No lye adjustment is needed for sodium citrate, which is why I prefer it.
Dissolve the sorbitol and SC/CA in a bit of lightly warmed batch water, before adding the lye solution.
No harm in using a bit of sodium lactate if you have it on hand, but start with a minimal amount, like 1% of oils, and make sure it is stirred in well. Even a little extra or a little unmixed SL can give you chalky edges. Ask me how I know.
Thanks again! I was so worried about forgetting my fragrance since it seems to be a hot topic on many boards lately that I forgot the sodium lactate, should be fine. now the dreaded waiting game begins...on to make something else to pass the time. I don't have a lot of free time and I have two young children with developmental disabilities so soap is my least made product. Body butter, sugar scrubs and bath truffles are a little less worrisome with my girls and they love being tester, especially bath truffles!! 
Make sure to share a photo when it is done!Thanks again! I was so worried about forgetting my fragrance since it seems to be a hot topic on many boards lately that I forgot the sodium lactate, should be fine. now the dreaded waiting game begins...on to make something else to pass the time. I don't have a lot of free time and I have two young children with developmental disabilities so soap is my least made product. Body butter, sugar scrubs and bath truffles are a little less worrisome with my girls and they love being tester, especially bath truffles!!
Are you perhaps waiting to add these ingredients -- fragrance, sodium lactate -- until trace? If so, don't. Just add them with your other ingredients up front. There's not a lot of benefit (IMO, no benefit) to adding ingredients like this at trace. And a big potential problem -- forgetting them!
no not waiting for trace, I just forgot to pull it from the shelves. I forced myself to make time but I was still somewhat distracted and my youngest kept trying to talk to me through the door.
OK here it is!! I'm pretty happy with the outcome and can't wait to try it out, looks and feels amazing. I was planning on adding a fluffy lavender colored layer on top but while my brain was working it out in motion my hands went into auto pilot for an ITPS. I had a good trace going for my layer so I slightly panicked when I poured the thicker than normal batter into the pot by mistake. I tried to go with it and work as quickly and efficiently as possible. I have a bad habit of getting stuck on a word or phrase, or in this case action, when things go slightly off track so I don't remember if I tamped out any bubbles (doesn't appear so) or even sprayed my top. This is the reason I keep detailed lists and quadruple check them, soapcalc is a dream for this.
Either way I think its a decent save and it smells devine!! I used lavender and cedar FO, one of my favorites
Either way I think its a decent save and it smells devine!! I used lavender and cedar FO, one of my favorites
Pretty soap! I love that purple.
MsTigress02
Well-Known Member
Oh I love that soap!!! Gorgeous 
Thank you! working on body butters today but I have my lard stacked and ready to go for the next loaf!Oh I love that soap!!! Gorgeous
MsTigress02
Well-Known Member
Can't wait to see it!
