Latest ZNSC

[Mobjack Bay]

That mold looks good @dibbles and at a reasonable price.

 

[AliOop]

That mold looks good @dibbles and at a reasonable price.

... enabler... (which I totally mean as a compliment, as it is such a valued skill on this forum).

 

[Fortheloveofsoap!]

I know I'm chiming in a little late but I've been using sea water only for the ZNSC soap. My son-in-law brought me a couple gallons that I boiled to sterilize. I've not made it with Zany's faux sea water yet.

I'll be asking him to bring me more the next time they come out to visit, which will be sooner rather than later, I hope.

I did finally get around to making ZNSC with ocean water, but I didn't know that I was supposed to boil and sterilize it is it still good to use??

 

[Misschief]

I don't see why not. I just did it cuz I thought I should and I knew the rest of it would be sitting around for a while.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Folks are successfully soaping with raw goat's milk, plant extracts, and clay. I can't see how ocean water could be worse than that, hygiene-wise.

 

[Vicki C]

Here’s my latest batch of ZNSC. I used up the last of some misbehaving (fast to trace) OO, added 10% CO and 5% castor. Not knowing for sure how the OO would behave in this recipe, I started with the batter at 95F. and used 35% lye concentration. I had trace in less then 10 minutes and the loaf went into gel quickly after I put it on a heating pad at high. The spiral soaps and the square one are unscented. The cut bars are scented with a blend of litsea, lavender, clary sage and a tiny bit of vetiver. This batch is not as white as some I’ve made in the past, which I assume is due to the OO rather than the CO or castor. According to the label, the OO is a blend of refined and EVOO. Given what I paid for it, I doubt it has more than a trace of EVOO.

View attachment 62265

I just love those spiral molds. Very nice.

 

[HoliHealerz]

Here’s my latest batch of ZNSC. I used up the last of some misbehaving (fast to trace) OO, added 10% CO and 5% castor. Not knowing for sure how the OO would behave in this recipe, I started with the batter at 95F. and used 35% lye concentration. I had trace in less then 10 minutes and the loaf went into gel quickly after I put it on a heating pad at high. The spiral soaps and the square one are unscented. The cut bars are scented with a blend of litsea, lavender, clary sage and a tiny bit of vetiver. This batch is not as white as some I’ve made in the past, which I assume is due to the OO rather than the CO or castor. According to the label, the OO is a blend of refined and EVOO. Given what I paid for it, I doubt it has more than a trace of EVOO.

View attachment 62265

So beautiful, natural, smooth and thank you for offering the recipe. Very kind. However, I think your selection of molds had a lot to do with the outcome and that is you and your taste. Just because one has a recipe, doesn't mean that the result will be as beautiful as the 'teacher's'. You really did a good job. Well done.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I did finally get around to making ZNSC with ocean water, but I didn't know that I was supposed to boil and sterilize it is it still good to use??

If you collected the water on an open coast/beach where the circulation is good, it should be fine.

For all practical purposes, lye takes care of bacteria. Water from urbanized areas may also contain pollutants such as boat diesel and whatever the runoff carries in from roads or sewer systems via storm drains. I personally would not use water from a harbor, bay or estuary without sterilizing it and passing it through a carbon filter. I would also stay away from Santa Monica Bay.

... enabler... (which I totally mean as a compliment, as it is such a valued skill on this forum).

You’ve certainly done the same for me on more than one occasion. I’m simply returning the favor. ❤

As a general update: At 14 weeks, I’m happy with the performance of this recipe in my home water. It’s softened but still leans hard, with high TDS. The soap produces large bubbles when I roll it in wet hands for 5 sec. Rubbing wet soap between my hands for 5 sec. produces a reasonable amount of small dense bubbles (foam) that transition into a lotion-like lather if I then rub my hands together for an additional 5 sec after putting the soap down. As is expected for a soap that contains little stearic and palmitic, more rubbing does not lead to the creamy lather that is characteristic of soaps made with lard, tallow, palm or butters. Using my testing approach, the soap does not produce oleic slime. In practice, I almost never get oleic slime from high oleic soap unless I inadvertently leave the bar sitting in a puddle of water.

 

[Fortheloveofsoap!]

If you collected the water on an open coast/beach where the circulation is good, it should be fine.

For all practical purposes, lye takes care of bacteria. Water from urbanized areas may also contain pollutants such as boat diesel and whatever the runoff carries in from roads or sewer systems via storm drains. I personally would not use water from a harbor, bay or estuary without sterilizing it and passing it through a carbon filter. I would also stay away from Santa Monica Bay.



You’ve certainly done the same for me on more than one occasion. I’m simply returning the favor. ❤

As a general update: At 14 weeks, I’m happy with the performance of this recipe in my home water. It’s softened but still leans hard, with high TDS. The soap produces large bubbles when I roll it in wet hands for 5 sec. Rubbing wet soap between my hands for 5 sec. produces a reasonable amount of small dense bubbles (foam) that transition into a lotion-like lather if I then rub my hands together for an additional 5 sec after putting the soap down. As is expected for a soap that contains little stearic and palmitic, more rubbing does not lead to the creamy lather that is characteristic of soaps made with lard, tallow, palm or butters. Using my testing approach, the soap does not produce oleic slime. In practice, I almost never get oleic slime from high oleic soap unless I inadvertently leave the bar sitting in a puddle of water.

Thank you that makes sense. I got it from surfers knoll in Ventura, so plenty of circulation there!

 

[Hope Ann]

Folks are successfully soaping with raw goat's milk, plant extracts, and clay. I can't see how ocean water could be worse than that, hygiene-wise.

I only use distilled water or purified juices not because of hygiene but to avoid unwanted minerals that may cause DOS or otherwise affect the performance of my soap.

Hope

 

[AAShillito]

Has anyone made Zany's amazing soap utilizing the ingredients in this Brambleberry post?
https://www.brambleberry.com/in-the...t/PS000082.html#q=Madder&lang=default&start=1

 

[AliOop]

I haven't made it with buttermilk, but I have made it with goat milk. It's the only OO soap I've ever liked, and it is my best friend's favorite soap. I'm guessing the buttermilk would give a similar feel.

 

[AAShillito]

I haven't made it with buttermilk, but I have made it with goat milk. It's the only OO soap I've ever liked, and it is my best friend's favorite soap. I'm guessing the buttermilk would give a similar feel.

Thanks!

 

[PepperJack]

Wanted to share the batch I made this week, no colorant and no fragrance. I did however make bastille instead of Castile, went with 15% coconut and 5% castor.
I had actually tried this a year ago, but upped the SF to 3%. I’m interested to see the difference no SF makes.

 

[Basil]

I made these in November last year. . ZNSC
( with 15% coconut, 5% castor) , raw goat milk with the salt and baking soda, infused olive oil with calendula, slightly scented with litsea EO. The other is olive oil infused with alkanet, fragranced with lavender EO, other stuff the same as above. Tons of lather ! I can’t compete with these, but I keep trying

 

[PepperJack]

I made these in November last year. . ZNSC
( with 15% coconut, 5% castor) , raw goat milk with the salt and baking soda, infused olive oil with calendula, slightly scented with litsea EO. The other is olive oil infused with alkanet, fragranced with lavender EO, other stuff the same as above. Tons of lather ! I can’t compete with these, but I keep trying

Lovely!!

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Wanted to share the batch I made this week, no colorant and no fragrance. I did however make bastille instead of Castile, went with 15% coconut and 5% castor.
I had actually tried this a year ago, but upped the SF to 3%. I’m interested to see the difference no SF makes.
View attachment 64851

Wow beautiful soap’

 

[PepperJack]

Wow beautiful soap’

Thank you!!

 

[maxine289]

Having trouble with this - Recipe was OO 80%, CA 5%, CO 15%. Ratio 1.7:1. Faux salt water 1 tbsp each of fine sea salt and baking soda in a quart of distilled water. The faux salt water is clear prior to adding the lye, but when the lye is added, the mix appears to froth up, so I strain it before adding to oils. The first time I made this recipe (no FO or added color), the result was perfect. Took forever to trace. Had to let it stand for a bit to thicken up before pouring. Beautiful bars were the result (the yellow color came from the OO). The second batch I made included FO and the mix traced much more quickly, but I was able to get it in the mold and even swirl the top. You'll see some residue on the top of the bars in the swirls. I assume the residue is from the baking soda. Real trouble came with the later 2 batches: the mix of oils and lye water got thick with only about 5 to 10 pulses of the stick blender. When I added FO (even FO that behaved well previously), the batter really thickened up and was impossible to get in cavity molds like I'd planned, so had to dump into loaf molds. For the 2 last batches, the whole process of mixing oil, lye water, and FO took less than 5 minutes per batch. I took temps on the later batches (have no idea the temps on the batch that turned out well)- oils were at 98 degrees, lye water at 110 degrees. The other batch was lye water at 118 degrees and oils at 105 degrees. The only differences between the first perfect batch and the later batches is that the later batches were made with left over faux sea water that I added new faux sea water to, so the later batches were made with the combination old/new faux sea water. Could the minor differences in temps be causing such a major problem? What about the old/new faux sea water combination? I can't think of anything else. I've zap tested all the batches - no zap. Any thoughts?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@maxine289 It’s difficult to know exactly what caused your problems, but in general, this recipe is pretty forgiving. I don’t recall reading anything about frothy lye, but precipitates and cloudy lye are common when the lye is made with faux sea water. It seems unlikely that the temperatures you used or the faux seawater are at the root of the acceleration issue. Before reading your post, I suspected the FO was a problem, but if you know the FO behaves well you can rule it out. Did you use the same container of olive oil in all of the batches? I‘ve had the occasional odd container of OO from the grocery store that came to trace unexpectedly fast.