Honey in lye water

[seven]

A couple of days back I did my first honey in lye water. before, i always mixed my honey with some water and dumped it in the soap before trace (had a couple overheating issues because of this). not only did i find the color of the soap is much lighter, it also didn't go quite as hot when it was in the mold. the lye water was bright red when the honey was in, so was the batter as it was molded.

24 hours later, i was quite surprised when i saw a light colored soap.

first pic is earlier batch, second one is the new batch. same formulation, same technique (cp). i have to say, i'm liking this new technique. i don't really care for the color, only the heat issue.

 

[KristaY]

Beautiful job Seven! I'm also a big fan of adding the honey to the lye water, it keeps the batter from going crazy hot. I noticed a funny thing about it too - when I did the tongue zap after a few days, it was a bit sweet. Nice change from plain soap on my tongue, lol! I'm still waiting for cure to test the bubbly difference between the plain soap and honey soap. Both of your batches look great ~ well done!

 

[xoticsoaps]

How did you keep the lye water from burning the honey? Did you dissolve the honey in something first and then freeze it?

 

[Jaccart789]

How much honey do you add to the lye water normally?

 

[seven]

I just dump the cold honey (i stored it in the fridge) in the hot lye water. The water turned bright orange.

I was using 2 tsp for a 700gr batch


Sent from my iPhone using Soap Making

 

[Jaccart789]

Thanks seven

 

[neeners]

so pretty!!!

 

[HoneyLady]

FYI --

Honey stored in the fridge will "sugar up", or turn solid faster. Honey cannot spoil, and does not need refrigeration.

If your refrigerated honey does not ever get solid, by the way, throw it out! It's been adulterated with corn syrup.

~HoneyLady~

 

[seven]

^^^
ah okay, i will take it out of the fridge then (i am a bit paranoid because it's so humid here, and almost everything spoiled if not put in the fridge). my honey did get solid when it was in the fridge. i sure hope so it's the real thing.

btw, thanks for the tip. i do have a honey (a well known brand here) that's still runny in the fridge. now i know it's not the real thing.

 

[Candybee]

Thanks for this thread. I have been using honey in my soapmaking a long time and never gave much thought to adding it to my lye solution. I just assumed it would overheat and ruin the solution.

Thanks for the pics too. I am excited to try this and see if it really effects the color in my honey soaps.

 

[cmzaha]

I love the color of your soaps, they look amazing.
Honey is one of the amazing things we have on earth that does not spoil. Bees are amazing little guys. Of course I was a bit made at some that built a hive in my outside bedroom wall. It was quite a large hive. I did get a lot of fresh honey and honeycomb