First salt bar

[Yooper]

Grinding at home can lead to sharp edges which then cut the skin - depends on your grinder mainly. Good old table salt is fine

Thanks! I appreciate the reply.

Believe it or not, I don't have any "good old table salt"! We got into "fancy" salts a few years ago, so I have Himalayan pink sea salt, Mediterranean gray sea salt, some sort of Peruvian white salt, etc. I know I could go buy some non-iodized table salt, but I was hoping to be able to use what I have.

I may have some fine ground sea salt at my cottage, since I don't have a good salt grinder there so I'll check when I go out there.

 

[Seawolfe]

The problem with home grinding salt is that you can make little shards of salt instead of nice small cuboids. Just look for anything that is the texture of basic table salt, and isnt dead sea salts, and doesn't have any iodine or anti-caking agents in it. Salts like dead sea salts or sal gris have a tendency to make weepy bars.

 

[Yooper]

I brought some "fine" sea salt from my cottage to try in today's batch of salt soap.

I am thinking:
80% CO
20% OO
50% salt
20% superfat

I assume I'll have to cut in a few hours?

 

[Seawolfe]

That exact recipe has required between 4 and 8 hours before cutting for me in my house, depending on ambient temperature and phase of the moon...

 

[shunt2011]

It certainly depends on many things. I use a recipe similar to yours and can cut in 2-3 hours. I made 2 batches yesterday in individual molds and was able to unfold after 3 hours.

 

[hariskar]

It looks great! Now the hard part, the never-ending salt bar cure .....

How much should the cure for salt bars last?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Closer to 8 weeks than 4 is best. As always with a cure, longer is better, and salt soap is noticeably better at 8 weeks than the standard 4

 

[gemsupthepoley]

Closer to 8 weeks than 4 is best. As always with a cure, longer is better, and salt soap is noticeably better at 8 weeks than the standard 4

I have just discovered this and would say the difference (in my bars anyway) is very noticeable.

There was a previous thread about using brine instead of crystals. Depends how much of the fancy salts you have left. Might be worth a try and the curing time may not be as long IIFC

 

[Obsidian]

I've found that salt bars do best with a really long cure. For me, its a minimum of 4 months but I prefer 6 month or more. Out of all the soap I've made, salt bars have to most noticeable difference with a long cure. I make a batch ever couple months so I'll always have a batch curing.

 

[shunt2011]

I too prefer my salt bars cured for months (6) or longer. It seems they are so much better the longer they cure.