Forgot to add half my lye water! Any hope?

[soapkate]

Hi there, I'm pretty new to soapmaking and would appreciate some advice from experienced soapmakers regarding a mistake I made today.

I made a big batch of CP soap, 50% rapeseed oi, 50% coconut with lye discount 5%.

Stupidly, I forgot to add half my lye water. I only realised when I was clearing up.

Strangely enough, the soap traced as per normal and poured beautifully. It looks fine in the mould.

I know this is probably a stupid question, but would there be any chance the soap will be OK? Even though there is only half the lye, could the reduced water content somehow "save" it?

Any answers much appreciated,
Kathy

:?

 

[carebear]

oh drat. i doubt it'll be ok. it'll be sooooooft and greasy.
you can rebatch it, but it won't look the same.

 

[green soap]

Did you forget half the water, or half the lye/water solution? If it is the latter it means your soap is super fatted to about 50%. I have read 20% with all coconut oil, have used this myself, not sure if 50% superfat will still give you usable soap. It will not hurt you, and if it works as soap, use it fast because the extra fat is half canola, which has a much shorter shelf life than coconut oil.

If you just forgot half the water but all the lye is in there it will depend on how much water you were using originally. Water can be reduced a lot, I find that I get crumbly soap if I use very little water.

 

[soapkate]

I suspected as much. Thankyou.

 

[judymoody]

I would rebatch, it might not be pretty but it would be usable soap. Some people actually prefer the rebatched look.

BTW, 50% rapeseed will likely produce a soap that is prone to oxidation. Most soap makers use rapeseed (canola) in small %, if at all.

 

[soapkate]

Green soap - that's interesting thanks. I think I will attempt to rebatch most of it, and keep the rest for observation over the next few weeks. Could be an interesting learning experience.

Judy - I note your point about rapeseed. I do have some bars that are 10 months old, and so far so good. Point noted though.

Thankyou all for your replies.

 

[soapkate]

p.s. - just to clarify - it was half the lye+water mixture which I left out.

 

[Fragola]

Rebatch can mean different things.

For a soap that has too little lye, personally I would rebatch with draining away the excess oil.

 

[green soap]

I just rebatched a crumbly soap where I had used too little water. I did not forget, just pushing the envelope on how little water I could get away with. You know, trying to control this gel not gel thing. I am really pleased with the rebatch results. I did not HP, just added the crumbled soap to 2X the amount of fresh batter that had plenty of water. Mottled but not too ugly.

I have successfully rebatched a lye heavy soap, not sure how I would rebatch an oil heavy soap. Crumble and add it to a 0% lye excess fresh soap? Or would you add the forgotten lye water to the shred/crumbs and heat? That latter option would scare me a bit.

Is the soap leaking oil now?

 

[soapkate]

Hi, and thanks for the extra replies.

I've just cut my soap, and it looks absolutely perfect. No leaking oil. But I know it can't possibly be right. It must be very oil-heavy.

I'm tempted to try rebatching by grating it into the crockpot and adding the forgotten lye water, slowly and carefully! If anyone has any experience of this I would be glad to hear it.

Kathy

 

[carebear]

try washing your hands with some and see how it feels.

 

[soapkate]

Well, i washed my hands with it and it feels amazing, very rich creamy lather, my skin is not dry at all afterwards. There is no greasiness either.

But I would suspect that without sufficient lye, a bar of this soap cannot last long? I would guess that it would dissolve into a gooey mess in the soap dish fairly soon.

I think I'll leave it to cure for 4 weeks, then try it again.

 

[Aseret]

i had a similar problem with like my second batch of soap.i rebatched a couple of nights later and fixed the problem.the soap is perfectly fine now and it actually looks kinda neat...like bubblegum colored marble lol.

 

[Aseret]

I just rebatched a crumbly soap where I had used too little water. I did not forget, just pushing the envelope on how little water I could get away with. You know, trying to control this gel not gel thing. I am really pleased with the rebatch results. I did not HP, just added the crumbled soap to 2X the amount of fresh batter that had plenty of water. Mottled but not too ugly.

I have successfully rebatched a lye heavy soap, not sure how I would rebatch an oil heavy soap. Crumble and add it to a 0% lye excess fresh soap? Or would you add the forgotten lye water to the shred/crumbs and heat? That latter option would scare me a bit.

Is the soap leaking oil now?

i used the bag method to rebatch my oil heavy soap,and just added the missing lye solution to the bag.it turned out fine but i did notice near the end of the boiling time the inner bag was starting to tear.i imagine in a crockpot this obviously wouldnt b a problem lol,but yes u just add the lye solution at the beginning of the process and that also takes care of the liquid needed to rebatch

 

[Aseret]

I just rebatched a crumbly soap where I had used too little water. I did not forget, just pushing the envelope on how little water I could get away with. You know, trying to control this gel not gel thing. I am really pleased with the rebatch results. I did not HP, just added the crumbled soap to 2X the amount of fresh batter that had plenty of water. Mottled but not too ugly.

I have successfully rebatched a lye heavy soap, not sure how I would rebatch an oil heavy soap. Crumble and add it to a 0% lye excess fresh soap? Or would you add the forgotten lye water to the shred/crumbs and heat? That latter option would scare me a bit.

Is the soap leaking oil now?

i used the bag method to rebatch my oil heavy soap,and just added the missing lye solution to the bag.it turned out fine but i did notice near the end of the boiling time the inner bag was starting to tear.i imagine in a crockpot this obviously wouldnt b a problem lol,but yes u just add the lye solution at the beginning of the process and that also takes care of the liquid needed to rebatch

 

[soapkate]

Aseret - thanks for the advice on rebatching, I'll give that a go.

cheers everyone - I'll post again with outcomes

:wink:

 

[Aseret]

Np hope it turns out alright