Honey Dots?

[BlackDog]

Hi all,

I made a batch using honey for the first time this week - a local guy keeps bees on the property I rent so he swings by occasionally with fresh honey :smile:

Also my first time using a Pringles can for a mold. Fun! Plus I found my new love, Jalapeno Pringles. But I forgot to tap after I poured, so there are tiny air bubbles and the top two bars have a big hole in the middle, lol. My husband said "put a rope through those bars. problem solved"

ANYWAY, there are little tiny honey-colored dots in it. I used NG Sweet Orange & Chili FO, which is sort of the same color, but I think it's the honey that just didn't get mixed in well.

I pre-mixed a tablespoon of honey (1 lb of oils) with about an ounce of olive oil and then hand-stirred it in at trace with the FO.

Is it honey? And if so, what should I do in the future to make sure it's incorporated? Warm up the honey? Just stir better? Any tips? Photo below:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[nsmar4211]

A couple of my FO tester bars looked like this and there's most certainly not any honey in my mix.... but not that FO...

 

[Obsidian]

It could be the honey or the FO, best way to tell what it is, is to taste it. For honey, I mix it into a little water water then mix it into the oils before adding the lye solution.

 

[BlackDog]

Obsidian, thanks, I didn't even think to taste it! I'll try mixing it in before the lye next time!

 

[Obsidian]

I wouldn't do that either, it can make the lye really heat up and discolor. Just take out a tablespoon or so of your water, warm it up and mix in your honey. Then blend that into your warm oils with your stick blender.

 

[BlackDog]

Obsidian I'm confused by your second post. I shouldn't add my honey to the oils before I add the lye? I thought that is what you said in your first post, or am I reading it wrong?

What I am understanding from the first post was to mix the honey with a bit of water, then mix the honey/water with the warm oils, then add the lye water. But I should not do that?

 

[tbeck3579]

I put honey in most of my soaps at trace and I haven't had that problem. I'm not all that picky about measuring it either. It's "yep, looks like a tablespoon" as I tip the bottle, but may be more like 2 tablespoons. A bad habit cooks get into...

An afterthought == at the beekeepers meetings I've heard some beekeepers say they will thicken the honey with things like corn starch -- honey does not always come from the hive thick so they try to make it look like store bought.

 

[Obsidian]

Sorry, I miss understood your post. I thought you were saying you would add the honey to the water then add the lye to the water too. I see now you were saying you'd blend it in the oils before adding the lye solution. Sorry for the confusion

 

[BlackDog]

Sorry, I miss understood your post. I thought you were saying you would add the honey to the water then add the lye to the water too. I see now you were saying you'd blend it in the oils before adding the lye solution. Sorry for the confusion

lol no problem. Hazards of communicating through the internet!
http://www.soapmakingforum.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[kumudini]

That's such a beautifully simple soap BD, even the dots add to the beauty. I wish you had posted the other bars with the holes in the middle as well.
I got my self a 2ft section of precut PVC pipe and the end caps from homedepot. I have been planning on a soap for 2 weeks, one where I want to do 2 colors, poured simultaneously side by side. The idea of pouring from a 2 ft height is giving me nightmares though. I had always considered a Pringles can but the problem is, I don't eat them and I don't let my hubby eat them either, lol! May be I should just buy it for the can, could you tell me what's the diameter and height of the can? What was your batch size?

ETA: about the honey, I just squirt some into the oils along with my other additives and SB thoroughly before adding the lye water.

 

[kumudini]

Anyone else who could answer my questions in the above post? Any general tips and tricks to using PVC pipes for molds?

 

[TeresaT]

Anyone else who could answer my questions in the above post? Any general tips and tricks to using PVC pipes for molds?

I used a PVC mold one time. I greased that sucker like a pig with mineral oil. I have a rubber cap on the end that comes off very easily. I only used one color (a coffee soap with coffee grinds) and it was kind of difficult to unmold. I had to bang on the sides a bit with a rubber mallet (even though I had put it in the freezer for a few hours) and used a can as a push-up tool. That said, it was one of my first soaps and I've learned much since then. I would not soap at full water (or coffee as the case may be). I would not attempt to unmold the day after I poured it, even though it was rock hard. I would probably try Vaseline instead of mineral oil, just for kicks and giggles. I've been meaning to use it again, but haven't really thought about a good recipe to go in there. My coffee soap was a kitchen soap and it just seemed like a round bar would be a good idea. I do know there is no way I would attempt to line it. (How the heck do people line a 2 ft tube?! I have trouble with a stinkin' loaf!)

 

[kumudini]

Thanks T! Well, for the lining, I have a clear plastic shelf liner from Costco, I'm planning on using that and hope that the soap would come out easily enough. But you never know until you try, right!
On how to line a tube, I think you just have to figure out the circumference of the tube and cut a sheet to that width and 2 ft long, roll it up, put it in there and let it unroll. I'm going to try that now, just the lining part.

 

[Obsidian]

I use PVC for my shampoo bars. Generally I grease it with Vaseline but I have also lined it with freezer paper. Lining is actually pretty easy, the freezer paper want to curl up once its cut off the main roll. rub some vaseline around in the mold, this will help stick your paper roll to the mold. I go one step further and tape the paper roll so it stays in a tube form.

If you don't line, it a bit trickier to get the soap out. I too use a can or two of vegetables as a push stick and freeze the soap for a hour or so. I have two shorter PVC molds, they hold a little over 2 lbs each and are a easy size to handle.

 

[kumudini]

Here Teresa, done deal! My mold is lined and ready to go. And I hear this lining is reusable.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...at the beekeepers meetings I've heard some beekeepers say they will thicken the honey with things like corn starch -- honey does not always come from the hive thick so they try to make it look like store bought. ..."

Really? Really???? I can't believe it. Where in creation are these folks learning their beekeeping????

Their runny honey is just honey that isn't properly cured to the proper moisture content. It simply needs to stay in the hive longer so the bees can dry it out. Or the beekeeper needs to dehydrate it a bit to the proper water %. Once anyone's honey is cured properly, it will flow as slowly as "store boughten" honey ... unless the store bought honey has been messed up too. :sick:

Adding cornstarch ... no way, no how, never, ever should this be done. By adding cornstarch, these people are contaminating their honey with stuff that could mold, since their honey isn't cured enough to begin with. The result is most definitely NOT honey, and I would never buy or eat it.

 

[Arthur Dent]

Here Teresa, done deal! My mold is lined and ready to go. And I hear this lining is reusable.

Yes! This looks like the shelf liner that I use in my pvc molds. Many many uses later they are still in great shape.

 

[kumudini]

Yes! This looks like the shelf liner that I use in my pvc molds. Many many uses later they are still in great shape.

So, how easy/difficult is it to unmold?

 

[Arthur Dent]

Very easy! I cut mine a little longer than the mold so I have something to grab onto, I can just pull the log out. If the bottom of your mold is openable you can easily push it out. Then the liner just peels right off, though that might vary with the recipe used.

 

[Arthur Dent]

Really? Really???? I can't believe it. Where in creation are these folks learning their beekeeping????

Exactly! None of us in my part of the world would dream of adulterating our honey in this or any other fashion. That's just crazy!