Just joined and am a newbie to soap-making

[SpineyNorman]

Woo hoo! I took @AliOop 's recommendation and used lard. I also took a good bit of fresh rosemary from my garden, washed and dried it, removed the leaves, and let it soak it the olive and coconut oils (liquid) overnight. I also melted the lard and added it to the olive and coconut oils after having wrung them with cheesecloth to remove all solid bits from the rosemary.
As @AliOop said, it took considerably longer for this recipe to trace than it did when I used water.
It is going to be tough waiting four to five weeks for curing before I can try it!
I made my own pair of rectangular molds and used parchment paper to line it before pouring in the soap-to-be. One day, when I can afford it, I will try the silicone-lined molds I see everyone else use. I bet it is considerably easier to remove the large bar from those than it is my homemade molds.
Anyway, thanks again for all of the assistance!

 

[AliOop]

Fantastic! Glad it turned out well.

It is going to be tough waiting four to five weeks for curing before I can try it!

You can start testing it as soon as it has finished saponifying, which is usually 72 hours at the most. If you test it weekly, you should see/feel improvements over time in ease of lathering, and gentleness on the skin. I recommend this kind of testing so you learn how long to let each recipe cure. Some are pretty nice at 3-4 weeks, and others need 6-8 weeks, or longer if you use a recipe that is mostly one oil/fat.

As @AliOop said, it took considerably longer for this recipe to trace than it did when I used water.

I think you meant to say palm or PKO here, and not water? Because the lard was replacing palm oil (which you had accidentally replaced with PKO).

 

[SpineyNorman]

Fantastic! Glad it turned out well.


You can start testing it as soon as it has finished saponifying, which is usually 72 hours at the most. If you test it weekly, you should see/feel improvements over time in ease of lathering, and gentleness on the skin. I recommend this kind of testing so you learn how long to let each recipe cure. Some are pretty nice at 3-4 weeks, and others need 6-8 weeks, or longer if you use a recipe that is mostly one oil/fat.


I think you meant to say palm or PKO here, and not water? Because the lard was replacing palm oil (which you had accidentally replaced with PKO).

Oops, yes. I meant Palm Kernel Oil flakes.
I'm curious....can bacon fat be used instead of one of the oils? Bacon-scented soap would be fantastic.

 

[AliOop]

Bacon fat is lard, so you can definitely use it as such in soap. Not sure how much bacon scent would come through.

 

[SpineyNorman]

I'm glad you aren't giving up!

It does sound like you prepared the lye solution correctly with the frozen goat milk. So if you want to try again with that, here are the things to remember:


1. Melt the PO and CO before mixing them thoroughly with the olive oil. I'd get them up to around 150ºF, because they will cool off a lot when you mix them with the OO, followed by the cold lye solution. That will help avoid false trace, like you had last time.

2. Hold off on adding ground oats. Those will be very scrubby/scratchy on the skin. Also, it's good to change one thing at a time when making new recipes.

This new batch made with palm oil should last quite a bit longer than the last batches. That's because PKO and CO are both very water-soluble, i.e., they dissolve quickly during use. The upside is that they create a lot of bubbles. Using goat milk should help with boosting the bubbles but it still isn't likely to be as much as you got with all that PKO. Letting it cure for at least four weeks should help with that, too.

If you'd like to try a smaller batch (highly recommended), here is a scaled-down version at 3% SF:

10oz CO
10oz PO
16oz OO

10oz water (or goat milk)
5oz lye

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

PS - rather than tossing this last batch, consider trying "oven rebatch." You can search for that here on SMF by using the Search function at the top of the page.

I looked up "Oven rebatch" and found an option using a crock pot. I do not have a large stainless steel pot, so I cannot do the oven method but I do have a large crock pot.
Since I made the unuseable soap a bout a week or less ago, do I need to add liquid to it in the crock pot, or just crumble it and melt it in the crock pot on low for several hours?

 

[ShirleyHailstock]

Hello, I'm still here. I haven't made any soap in a long while. I'm still using what I made. I want to make more, but I've been moving things from my basement. I've having it remodeled and my soap supplies are buried and out of reach. The renovation will take 6 weeks, so I may be back after they finish when I have a dedicated craft room.

In the meantime, I love reading what you're all doing.

 

[SpineyNorman]

I'm glad you aren't giving up!

It does sound like you prepared the lye solution correctly with the frozen goat milk. So if you want to try again with that, here are the things to remember:


1. Melt the PO and CO before mixing them thoroughly with the olive oil. I'd get them up to around 150ºF, because they will cool off a lot when you mix them with the OO, followed by the cold lye solution. That will help avoid false trace, like you had last time.

2. Hold off on adding ground oats. Those will be very scrubby/scratchy on the skin. Also, it's good to change one thing at a time when making new recipes.

This new batch made with palm oil should last quite a bit longer than the last batches. That's because PKO and CO are both very water-soluble, i.e., they dissolve quickly during use. The upside is that they create a lot of bubbles. Using goat milk should help with boosting the bubbles but it still isn't likely to be as much as you got with all that PKO. Letting it cure for at least four weeks should help with that, too.

If you'd like to try a smaller batch (highly recommended), here is a scaled-down version at 3% SF:

10oz CO
10oz PO
16oz OO

10oz water (or goat milk)
5oz lye

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

PS - rather than tossing this last batch, consider trying "oven rebatch." You can search for that here on SMF by using the Search function at the top of the page.

I used the crockpot rebatch method two days ago to fix a portion of the failed goat milk attempt. Per the instructions on this site, I grated the bars, filled the crockpot, and added 1 cup of regular milk since the batch had been completed more than seven days prior (I made it eight days ago.) I placed the crockpot on low and let it go, untouched for one hour. I thoroughly stirred the contents now completely melted) and let it go another hour. I then filled the mold. This morning, I took it out and cut it. It is still quite soft.
It doesn't look very appealing, but maybe the four weeks of curing will change its color.
Anyway, appearance notwithstanding, should this soap be perfectly usable after curing?

 

[SpineyNorman]

I ended up dumping the entire "rebatched" batch.

 

[AliOop]

Awww too bad! I didn't see this earlier, or I would have noted that rebatched soap often takes a LONG time to become firm. I can recall one batch in particular that cured for three months before it was no longer easily dented with a slight finger press.

Personally, I don't like using milk for rebatching, because I believe the uncooked milk will go bad. So in the end, I think it was a good thing that you tossed it. Sometimes it is better to start fresh with a new batch that you can enjoy.