Corrine12
Active Member
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First time adding hemp oil & stearic acid; thoughts? EDIT: Updated Image
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A
amd
Have you worked with stearic before? I struggled with accleration with anything over 2% when I did some test batches a few years ago... but take that with a grain of salt as my recipe can be a bit finicky.
Other than that, I think the recipe should be fine.
Other than that, I think the recipe should be fine.
ResolvableOwl
Notorious Lyear
May I ask why you chose to go for free stearic acid? As a soap ingredient can be quite stubborn, it reacts directly with lye to form soap crumbles and/or accelerate trace in weird ways. Plus, make sure that you know the source (animal, palm, hydrogenated vegetable oil) and it meets to your intentions.
Unless you have good reasons to use stearic acid, I'd rather reserve this for specialty soaps like cream or shave soap, or advanced HP recipes, and increase shea butter instead (to 20%, steal 5% from olive or avocado).
There is nothing inherently wrong with the oil blend – if you want to use this recipe, just be sure you're comfortable with that amount of stearic acid.
Are you neutralising the citric acid (adding 13.7 g extra NaOH)? If not, you'll end up with highly questionable 16% superfat. Even 7% is a lot to start with. Unless you have high-CO soap, superfat above 5% is rarely beneficial, but rather impedes hardening, fosters DOS and lowers lathering. The unsaponifiables from avocado and shea will add a “superfat”-ish skin feel anyway.
By the way, which soap calculator is this? Neither soapcalc.net nor soapmakingfriend find that number 4.66 oz of NaOH, but rather 4.41 oz @ 7% SF; the higher number actually would give a less excessive superfat of 2% (still without taking the citric acid into consideration).
Unless you have good reasons to use stearic acid, I'd rather reserve this for specialty soaps like cream or shave soap, or advanced HP recipes, and increase shea butter instead (to 20%, steal 5% from olive or avocado).
There is nothing inherently wrong with the oil blend – if you want to use this recipe, just be sure you're comfortable with that amount of stearic acid.
Are you neutralising the citric acid (adding 13.7 g extra NaOH)? If not, you'll end up with highly questionable 16% superfat. Even 7% is a lot to start with. Unless you have high-CO soap, superfat above 5% is rarely beneficial, but rather impedes hardening, fosters DOS and lowers lathering. The unsaponifiables from avocado and shea will add a “superfat”-ish skin feel anyway.
By the way, which soap calculator is this? Neither soapcalc.net nor soapmakingfriend find that number 4.66 oz of NaOH, but rather 4.41 oz @ 7% SF; the higher number actually would give a less excessive superfat of 2% (still without taking the citric acid into consideration).
Zany_in_CO
Saponifier
LOL That is, if you don't mind waiting 3 months to cure! Not me! No thank you!
Look at the "Recipe Properties". Compare the values of your formula with the recommended range. An INS of 132 falls waaay short of the ideal INS 160, so-called "perfect soap".
I don't want to rain on your parade, but if it was me, I'd nix the stearic acid and reformulate the oils to bring that INS up to a reasonable number.
Corrine12
Active Member
Corrine12
Active Member
I paid for it. I want to use it because my hardness was low.
Yikes! That, nor the clay are part of my recipe, not sure what happened.
SoapMakingFriend, only calculator I use
Corrine12
Active Member
My levels are all in the green.
LOL That is, if you don't mind waiting 3 months to cure! Not me! No thank you!
Look at the "Recipe Properties". Compare the values of your formula with the recommended range. An INS of 132 falls waaay short of the ideal INS 160, so-called "perfect soap".
I don't want to rain on your parade, but if it was me, I'd nix the stearic acid and reformulate the oils to bring that INS up to a reasonable number.
ResolvableOwl
Notorious Lyear
I've seen that you updated the recipe. It looks more consistent now. Nothing wrong with adding citric acid, if properly neutralised it'll help against rancidity and soap scum.
Still the stearic acid question remains. One possibility to avoid its temperamental nature is to not melt it into the initial oil blend, but make a hot-process soap without it. Only after finished cooking, melt the stearic acid + charcoal + EOs and stir them into the hot soap paste. This is much more gentle to the late additions, since they don't come in contact with unreacted lye. And you can ensure that the hemp oil is fully saponified (lower rancidity risk).
Still the stearic acid question remains. One possibility to avoid its temperamental nature is to not melt it into the initial oil blend, but make a hot-process soap without it. Only after finished cooking, melt the stearic acid + charcoal + EOs and stir them into the hot soap paste. This is much more gentle to the late additions, since they don't come in contact with unreacted lye. And you can ensure that the hemp oil is fully saponified (lower rancidity risk).
A
amd
A small amount will accomplish this. I typically use stearic in my honey soaps, as those tend to be softer soaps, and I experimented with different percentages. See notation here I think using it in the 1-2% range will work best for that purpose. You do want to melt it separately from your oils, as it does need a bit more heat, and you'll want to soap a bit warmer than usual - for me my normal soaping range is 80F, but with stearic I bump up to 95-100F. Add the stearic right after you add the lye before stickblending.
A
amd
Oh, and I want to add, speaking from experience... if your soap is going to be straight up a solid charcoal bar, add that to your oils and blend it in before adding your lye solution.
