Lye discount please help!!!!

[Carol-Ann]

Good day,
Please tell me whether if I work to a 10 or 15 or 20% discount I will have more time to work and do the finer things which I so badly want to do to the soap before I pour it into the moulds?
Just recently I was told of working to a 40% discou nt - never heard of that before. I find I do not have enough time to do what I want before pouring into the moulds.
ALSO can I use Ideal Evaporated Milk in a milk recipe?
I would like to use Goats milk, but cannot find it here and my experience with fresh cow's milk is that it curdles.
Anybody with help - please help.
Kind regards
Carol-Ann

 

[hem06]

You are talking about two different things.

Lye discount, AKA superfat--the amount, in % of oils that will not be saponifed, determined by using less lye than would be required. In most cases, between 5-8%, some soaps as high as 20%.

40% would refer to the amount of water you are using, as in HOW STRONG is your lye solution? This link can help you figure out how strong your lye solution is:
http://www.rivercitysoaps.com/dwcp/watercalc.php
A 40% lye solution is very strong, reserved mostly for castile soap, IMO. I usually soap at a 33% solution. Soapcalc default is around 28%.

Many things can affect how fast your soap traces. Give us an idea of your recipe, your temps, etc and maybe we can help.

 

[Guest]

Milk is much easier to deal with if frozen in ice cube trays or to a slush like consistency . You need to add the lye very slowly to your slush or ice cubes , to help keep it from heating up to fast . I put my lye pitcher in a sink of cold water and ice to help keep it cool , it will " burn" the milk if it gets to hot . Milk will make your soap heat up as well , you might not want to insulate the mold. There are recipes out there with evaporated milk in them , you will need to add an equal amount of water to your canned milk .
If you are talking about a water discount , I don't use on if I want to fancy up or play with the soap .I leave the lye solution strength at the soapmaker3 setting of 28.7% .

HTH

Kitn

 

[carebear]

abandon the phrase lye discount. it's absolutely meaningless unless someone knows your starting point - and generally people don't.

lye solution concentration is the way to go (strength of your lye solution).

hem is spot on.

 

[artisan soaps]

..