Lye discount?

[Carol-Ann]

Good day,
At the moment I am working on a 5% discount but heard somewhere that working at a 10 or 15% or even higher,with less lye would give you more time to do the colouring, fragrancing etc. Is that correct?
I am really confused now because all recipes I have followed is usually 5% althought Susan Cavich in her book 'The Soapmaker's Companion' works mostly on a 10% discount.
Any advise will be much appreciated.
Carol-Ann

 

[hem06]

Carol-Ann,
If you are still having problems, please post your recipe, your lye amount, your water amount and what fragrances you are using so we can give some ideas on how to delay trace, which will give you more time to play.

 

[Deda]

Sweetie, your mixing your metaphors.

A 5% lye discount is a 5% Superfat. Not going to give you anymore time to play. That 5% referrers to the amount of unsapped oil left in your soap.

5% is probably average, I use 7% in my normal recipe, but as much as 15% or 20% in some.

I think what you want is more water in your recipe.

Before we can help you with this you need to tell us whether you figure your water based on the volume of oil or the amount of lye.

 

[Carol-Ann]

Time to play

Good day,
Yes I also think what I want is more water in my recipe. I put all my recipes through the 'Soap n Suds' calculator and this is the recipe.
Cocoa butter and Shea butter and Avocado all 5%, i.e. 45.36 gms each, Castor Oil 3%, i.e. 27.21 gms, Coconut 20%, i.e. 181.4 gms, Veg. Shortening 25%,i.e. 226.8 gms, Palm 10% i.e. 90.72 gms and Olive 27% i.e. 244.9 gms.
At 5% Lye 125.84 grams - Water 331.17 grams. This is for a 2 lb. i.e. 32 oz batch. Total weight of Oils = 907.09 grams.
What do you suggest. I have looked at the SoapCalc and cannot make head or tail of it.
Kind regards
Carol-Ann

 

[Carol-Ann]

Time to play

Hello, Just a quick correction the calculator I put my recipes through is actually called 'Suds n Scents'. I must be going off my head!
My apologies.
Carol-Ann

 

[hem06]

Dang, girl--thats a lot of oils! And a lot of hard oils.

What temp do you soap? Do you use a stickblender? What is it you want to do?

 

[Guest]

What kind of qualities do you want your soap to have . It is hard to help when we don't know exactly what it is that you are asking us for help with

 

[Carol-Ann]

Lye Discount - Carol-Ann

Good morning,
I agree it is a lot of oils - I want a luxurious nourishing moisturising and hard bar of soap. That recipe is called "Memememe Luxury Bar" distributed by 'Teach Soap.com" In the original there are even more oils , I don't have palm kernel oil which is the 9th oil in this recipe.
I ran that recipe by 'Soapbuddy' of Teach Soap.I soap at between 32 and 38 degrees C. never over 38 degrees and I start of with my free standing cake mixer and then move on to the stick blender for the last bit.
I have just peeked at the soap I added the simmering water to to liquify the setting soap yesterday, and it looks pretty good. Won't know what it really looks like until I open it up and take it out of the mould.

I have an idea that I may be adding too much fragrances. i.e. 28 grams /1 oz.which is causing the early setting.
Can that be? Susan Cavich in her recipes uses 7 teaspoons for a 5 lb. batch, so i calculated that for a 2 lb batch it should be about 3 teaspoons.

Thanks for your help - you have been great.
Kind regards
Carol-Ann

 

[artisan soaps]

..

 

[artisan soaps]

Re: Lye Discount - Carol-Ann

..

 

[Guest]

Most new soap makers , read the books and find recipes online and make them . Unfortunately a lot of these recipes are not that great or easy for a beginner to make . After awhile you will realize you don't need 9 oils in a soap , honest . They don't tell you a fantastic soap can have 1 oil or 2 oils .
bastille is 75% Olive Oil
25% Coconut Oil
This recipe will give you a great soap and one that won't give you any grief to make . I would recommend a 2 pound batch to start with . If you start with small simple batches you will have great soap after a 4 or 6 week cure . If you start with huge batches and things go wrong and they do for everyone from time to time , you have wasted all that oil and money . Of course after the first good batch you want to make more ( it becomes an addiction ). Get a few batches under your belt and then start to experiment with oils and color etc .

Kitn

edited I put wrong oil in

 

[Deda]

Carol Ann, you go for it! Use as many oils as you want, good or bad, it's your soap.

The process is the same, just measure carefully.

Soap Calculators are tricky, but trust me, give yourself an hour or so, play with them, get a feel for the WHY. When they start to make sense, shut em up and try figuring by hand, then match it up with the calc to see if your right.

Soapmaking isn't rocket science, but it is science.

We're here to help you anyway we can.

Deb

 

[hem06]

Re: Lye Discount - Carol-Ann

I start of with my free standing cake mixer and then move on to the stick blender for the last bit.

Drop the cake mixer.

That should give you a ton more time.