Lye Heavy Soap

[Peachy Clean Soap]

This Is What Lye Heavy Soap Looks Like' Its Dry In appearance & In The Feel Of The Soap' It's Crumbly When You Try To Cut It. I Rechecked My Recipe & Realized I Made A Mistake In My Oil Being Short.

 

[AliOop]

Very pretty molds - so sorry the soaps won't work out.

 

[tommysgirl]

So sorry!! I just made a lye heavy soap too. Still haven't pinned down my error tho. Bummed that I've "wasted" the material Guess I'll be learning to make laundry soap

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Very pretty molds - so sorry the soaps won't work out.

Thank you, I found this mold @ Wallmart after Valentines Day on clearance'

Very pretty molds - so sorry the soaps won't work out.

So sorry!! I just made a lye heavy soap too. Still haven't pinned down my error tho. Bummed that I've "wasted" the material Guess I'll be learning to make laundry soap

I Think" my problem was I set my super fat level @ 3% Which doesn't leave a lot of room for a mistake if recipe is off' I should of left it at standard 5%, 2nd mistake when I measured out my oil for colors I adjusted 3 teaspoons for 3 ounce in weight, Lastly I must of miscounted another oil or left one out completely. ugh . Its so sad when soap material is wasted' its costly & it all adds up!. Im not sure how to use soap mishaps as laundry soap? maybe grate the soap dunno? hopefully someone can chime in & give us the 411 .

 

[TheGecko]

How big was your batch to begin with? If it is large enough, you might be able to stick it on the top shelf and check it in a few months.

 

[tommysgirl]

I Think" my problem was I set my super fat level @ 3% Which doesn't leave a lot of room for a mistake if recipe is off' I should of left it at standard 5%, 2nd mistake when I measured out my oil for colors I adjusted 3 teaspoons for 3 ounce in weight, Lastly I must of miscounted another oil or left one out completely. ugh . Its so sad when soap material is wasted' its costly & it all adds up!. Im not sure how to use soap mishaps as laundry soap? maybe grate the soap dunno? hopefully someone can chime in & give us the 411 .

I've been using 3% SF too. You are right, not a lot of room there. I feel like I left an oil out altogether as well, but I'm not positive (I could swear I poured them all). I did a lot of searching here lastnight for laundry soap. I think it was @AliOop who posted the one I will try (please correct me if I'm wrong about that @AliOop). It is 2 parts grated soap to one part washing soda or Borax (not both) and one part Oxyclean. Use 2 to 3 Tbsp per load according to size and soil. I'm going to try making it this week

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

I've been using 3% SF too. You are right, not a lot of room there. I feel like I left an oil out altogether as well, but I'm not positive (I could swear I poured them all). I did a lot of searching here lastnight for laundry soap. I think it was @AliOop who posted the one I will try (please correct me if I'm wrong about that @AliOop). It is 2 parts grated soap to one part washing soda or Borax (not both) and one part Oxyclean. Use 2 to 3 Tbsp per load according to size and soil. I'm going to try making it this week

Thank you for your reply & info. Im going try this.

 

[TheGecko]

I've been using 3% SF too. You are right, not a lot of room there.

The purpose of 'super fat' is to make your soap more 'moisturizing' with unsaponified oils. It's NOT supposed to be used a safety net. I know several people here who do NOT use a 'super fat'...they have properly calibrated scales and are precise in their measurements.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

How big was your batch to begin with? If it is large enough, you might be able to stick it on the top shelf and check it in a few months.

Thats a good Idea' to see if this soap cures to a usable bar in a few months. Oh this is kinda random one of my 1st few loafs of soap i'd made first starting out couple yrs ago was so Lye Heavy Id tossed it it the trash except one bar' that bar is hard as a hockey puck & dry as can be. .

 

[tommysgirl]

The purpose of 'super fat' is to make your soap more 'moisturizing' with unsaponified oils. It's NOT supposed to be used a safety net. I know several people here who do NOT use a 'super fat'...they have properly calibrated scales and are precise in their measurements.

You are right, and I shouldn't think of it that way - and in truth I don't, in all honestly, see it as a safety net for which I can account for error. I guess, being new to soaping I am still learning the correct way of expressing things. So I truly appreciate your pointing that out because I don't want anyone to get a wrong idea from something I posted. I had stopped using 5% SF because I had read that many folks are happy with 3% and wanted to give it a try. Also my husband said that he thought the tub felt slippery after using a soap I made and I wanted to see if the SF possibly had anything to do with that. I use a KD-7000 scale that I am pretty happy with, but the one thing that kind of bothers me is this - my recipes give me measurements in tenths and hundredths of grams and my scale weighs in whole grams. So I usually round up for oils down for lye. I always feel like I'm making a mistake, even though I'm not. I'm not an avid note taker, which is something I need to work on. I feel like I could have found my error with this batch if I took notes on my measurements along the way.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

The purpose of 'super fat' is to make your soap more 'moisturizing' with unsaponified oils. It's NOT supposed to be used a safety net. I know several people here who do NOT use a 'super fat'...they have properly calibrated scales and are precise in their measurements.

Right' Ive gotta be really careful w/ my measuring & weighing out fats & oils. I have a new scale & its calibrated correctly' Its my error.

 

[TheGecko]

I use a KD-7000 scale that I am pretty happy with, but the one thing that kind of bothers me is this - my recipes give me measurements in tenths and hundredths of grams and my scale weighs in whole grams. So I usually round up for oils down for lye.

I'd get a new scale. I have One that I bought on Amazon for $14.00, it measures in the hundredth of an ounce.

I always feel like I'm making a mistake, even though I'm not. I'm not an avid note taker, which is something I need to work on. I feel like I could have found my error with this batch if I took notes on my measurements along the way.

If you are being forced to 'round down', then you are making a mistake because your lye/water is based on the numbers you put in your soap calculator. The first time I went to make my GMS, I rounded my weights to whole numbers, but I did it in SoapCalc, so my lye/water was based on those numbers. Of course, adding whole oil/butter numbers doesn't make my lye/water numbers come out whole and if I were to round those numbers, I'm changing my Lye Concentration and could potentially end up with a negative 'superfat' or have more lye than I need, or I could end up with MORE superfat than I want.

 

[KimW]

Oh bummer. Those were some pretty little soaps.

For laundry soap from lye heavy soap, I'd suggest you salt out your soap first to remove the excess lye. There's no need to expose your washer and clothes to caustic lye.

Since you mentioned links, here are a couple for you:
Article1 - DeeAnna's Instructions

Article2 - Older article, but good info on the process

 

[AliOop]

@Peachy Clean Soap off the top of my head, I’m pretty sure my laundry soap is 1 part grated soap to 2 parts EACH of borax and washing soda. I sometimes add enzymes (like oxyclean unscented) if I remember to buy them.

I do wash in hot water and don’t have really hard water, which is part of why it works well for me. If you don’t wash in hot water, you probably want to dissolve the laundry soap mix in a cup of hot water, and then put it in your washer. I use 2T per large load.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Right' Ive gotta be really careful w/ my measuring & weighing out.

I'd get a new scale. I have One that I bought on Amazon for $14.00, it measures in the hundredth of an ounce.



If you are being forced to 'round down', then you are making a mistake because your lye/water is based on the numbers you put in your soap calculator. The first time I went to make my GMS, I rounded my weights to whole numbers, but I did it in SoapCalc, so my lye/water was based on those numbers. Of course, adding whole oil/butter numbers doesn't make my lye/water numbers come out whole and if I were to round those numbers, I'm changing my Lye Concentration and could potentially end up with a negative 'superfat' or have more lye than I need, or I could end up with MORE superfat than I want.

Can you gave the name of your scale you bought on Amazon' i'm interested in your scale' though ive just bought one' mine doesn't measure to Hundredth of an ounce. ugh could be my issue, sadly to say. Thank you

 

[tommysgirl]

@Peachy Clean Soap off the top of my head, I’m pretty sure my laundry soap is 1 part grated soap to 2 parts EACH of borax and washing soda. I sometimes add enzymes (like oxyclean unscented) if I remember to buy them.

I do wash in hot water and don’t have really hard water, which is part of why it works well for me. If you don’t wash in hot water, you probably want to dissolve the laundry soap mix in a cup of hot water, and then put it in your washer. I use 2T per large load.

Thank you for the correction

Oh bummer. Those were some pretty little soaps.

For laundry soap from lye heavy soap, I'd suggest you salt out your soap first to remove the excess lye. There's no need to expose your washer and clothes to caustic lye.

Since you mentioned links, here are a couple for you:
https://classicbells.com/soap/saltOutTut.asphttp://www.seifen.at/english/Curdprocess.htm

Thanks for the link! I'm going to check it out

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Oh bummer. Those were some pretty little soaps.

For laundry soap from lye heavy soap, I'd suggest you salt out your soap first to remove the excess lye. There's no need to expose your washer and clothes to caustic lye.

Since you mentioned links, here are a couple for you:
https://classicbells.com/soap/saltOutTut.asphttp://www.seifen.at/english/Curdprocess.htm

Thank you for your link' im gonna check it out

@Peachy Clean Soap off the top of my head, I’m pretty sure my laundry soap is 1 part grated soap to 2 parts EACH of borax and washing soda. I sometimes add enzymes (like oxyclean unscented) if I remember to buy them.

I do wash in hot water and don’t have really hard water, which is part of why it works well for me. If you don’t wash in hot water, you probably want to dissolve the laundry soap mix in a cup of hot water, and then put it in your washer. I use 2T per large load.

Thx again my Friend' my water is super hard. I could use Hot water help w/ dissolving soap.

 

[violets2217]

I've been using 3% SF too. You are right, not a lot of room there. I feel like I left an oil out altogether as well, but I'm not positive (I could swear I poured them all). I did a lot of searching here lastnight for laundry soap. I think it was @AliOop who posted the one I will try (please correct me if I'm wrong about that @AliOop). It is 2 parts grated soap to one part washing soda or Borax (not both) and one part Oxyclean. Use 2 to 3 Tbsp per load according to size and soil. I'm going to try making it this week

I make laundry soap with 100% coconut oil 0% sf... but I do 1 cup finely grated soap, 2 cups borax, 2 cups washing soda.
I just recently started adding oxi clean and the fragrance boosters not sure of the ratio cause I add full boxes and make a sh*t ton!

 

[Bladesmith]

I bought this scale a year and a half or so ago and it has been fantastic. It has more precision than the 7000. I use it in grams and it reads tenths of a gram. You give up some max capacity by going down to 2600g max but my batches are 1350g of oils (3lbs) which is as big as I ever plan on going. Just thought I’d mention it. If you’re not doing huge batches, you may not need the extra capacity and can trade that in for some more precision.

 

[cmzaha]

I have used a KD8000 every since I started soaping with no issues and I superfat anywhere from 1-3% with no problems. Unlike most I round down my oils because I do not want to add to my superfat. One reason for my low superfat is my plumbing hates high superfatted soap so the only time I high superfat is when I make salt bars. Another reason is I like to bathe with soap not oils.