honey in soap

[shteph]

what i did.... used thesage calculator for 300gr olive oil, 100gr coconut oil... i don't remember water and lye. at trace i used one full tbs honey, a generous one. when i mixed water with lye i added 1/4 ts salt, very little. i poured the batch in 5 muffin moulds, put a plastic foil on top of them and covered them with couple of towels.after 30min, or so... the middle of the mould became very gel-ish but n ot the edges. i had it in the moulds for 24hours. but they got hard, i think , after 6hours or so.... after 6hours i checkef them and left them over the night shrouded in the towels. what do you think of it?
next time i do a batch i am going to have some moulds in the oven as you suggested me...
i am pretty much interested to have a soap with honey... got any ideas how i ca succeed with that?

the first soap with honey... the one i wrote above, that didn't hardened.. now is harder but aticky and if i press my finger on it i can leave a quite deep mark. i couldn't withstand curiosity and washed my hands with it.... it is itching... sign that it's got too much lye? if so... i dont know why bcos i used thesage calculator and had 300g olive oil, 39g lye, 114g water, and 1 big tbs honey, maybe too much honey...
i read in this forum that 99% of the lye is incorporated in the first 24h... and curing is just for the water to get evaporated..theoretically the soap could be used after 24h.... any ideas?
thanks

 

[shteph]

I did a recipe with honey... and i think it went quite well...
anyone who had a recipe with honey?

 

[busymakinsoap!]

Hi Steph,

I'm new to soap making too

Ive done a couple of trials with honey.

My first was one of my first ever batches, I thought I had the basic soap process to an art so decided to add honey (lots of honey) at trace. I wrapped the soap up and put it to bed. The next day it was balck, sticky and oily and stunk!!

I learnt from researching......black: because I burnt the honey ( I combined lye and oils at too hotter temp and I kept it wrapped), sticky and oily: because there was way too much honey and because I hadnt added bees wax. and stinky:......I'm still trying to work that out, I use a manuka honey which is quite strong, and is creamy, carmel flavour, I wonder if liquid is better?

Anyway I made another batch the other day with my own invented recipe, I used less honey, added 1% bees wax and used goats milk instead of water. Its a nice hardish bar, slightly stickier than others, but time will tell.......


.......still stinks though

 

[shteph]

thank you for the tips busymakingsoap! Now i understandf why the black colour, stickiness. I had same problems....
i am also new... found the soap making couple of weeks ago.
i have only done small batches. for the last one i used: 90g po, 60g co, 60g oo, 30g lye, 62g water, 25g honey which i added with the oils. and citronela at trace... i like the lemon-ish fragrance in honey soap... the soap got hard after about 12hours... and it smells of honey. it is not sticky at all. I mixed the oils +lye at 55C. I read in some threads here about separating the water... 10g water I mixed with honey.
I got 3 silicone muffin mould out of my batch. I covered the first with plast foil and wrapped in towels, 2nd without anything, and 3rd in the oven at 75C. the best one was the one in towels. the one in the oven lost the fragrance, the one with anything is still soft.... i can stick my nail in it. but the one covered with plastic is hard, no-sticky and nice scent.
never tried with goat milk. did you use the milk instead of water?
and with beewax... i am waiting for the beewax receipt so i can do some experimentation.

 

[shteph]

by the way... is the sopa stil usable even though it is dark? even though the honey was burnt?
i haven't got to test it...need to wait ...3 more weeks.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Try a level tablespoon of honey per 500g of oils. No more. :wink:

 

[shteph]

i will use less honey next time... does it make any difference if I add honey at trace or with the oils before i pour the lye?

 

[turnedlight]

I did a 15 oz batch of soap recently with 1 rounded teaspoon of honey. It went fine, and I think the sugars in the honey have added to the bubbles.

 

[shteph]

HI,

I am trying to upload 2 pictures with the batch i did last time. the one with 90gr palm oil... and honey. but i don't how to do it...they don't appear here where i'm writing. i got 2 muffin. the one from the oven (tried to do gel) is dark. i had the oven at 75C for 2 hoursand afterward i left it in the oven over night with the oven off. the other one i insulate it with plast foil and wrapped in towels. the colour is lighter and nicer i think. how can I upload the pictures....?

http://img205.imageshack.us/i/10022011032.jpg/
the link is to the picture