newbie help need very small batch recipe

[jeanna]

I made my first batch of CP soap this weekend. I used Ylang-ylang EO (got a good deal on it), but it is SO strong! Whew! I'm hoping the scent fades some. It made a bunch of soap! My 16 year old daughter said, "Mom I hope you have lots of friends who like homemade soap."

I still want to try again with a smaller recipe (maybe one that doesn't use fancy oils. I have access to coconut oil and olive oil.)

I notice in some of the pics a batch might be only an 8x8 square pan of soap. That would be so perfect.

I only have a scale that is a plain old scale, not digital and the recipes I have found are like to the hundredth decimal place??? I can't do that and I don't understand the calculator sites.

Please help.

If anyone has a simple recipe, I would lik a plain old fashioned looking bar with like honey and oatmeal. After the ylang experience, I'm after a more simple clean smell

Thanks so much if you can help me!

Jeanna

 

[Sonam]

Hi Jeanna!

I'm new to this too and have been making 1 lb. batches just to get the feel of things. Alot of people suggest the Bastille recipe (25% CO/ 75% OO) I just tried it and it was nice soap and simple to calculate and put through MMS calulator. Just 12 oz. Olive Oil and 4 oz. Coconut oil. It gets hard pretty fast too.

Good Luck!

 

[jeanna]

I have no idea what I'm doing when I look at the calculator?

A 1 pound patch sounds good. What size mold are you using for that?
Can you tell me how much lye and water or tell me how to use the calculator?

Thanks so much! I think the idea of homemade soap is so awesome! I don't think anyone else in my family is nearly as excited as I am, but of course it hasn't cured and they haven't tried it yet either. I'm thinking they will like it after that.

Thanks for your help.
Jeanna

 

[Sonam]

I use a rectangular tupperware from the .99 cent store. or you could put it in a loaf pan. I put a layer of plastic wrap in the bottom so its easy to get out. I don't have my recipe in from of me (i'm at the office, its at home :? )

I found that the MMS calculator is a bit more simple to understand I still don't understand or can use the soapcalc one since my scale doesn't go lower than a gram either. For this one note that it gives you the water in fluid ounces and everything else in weight. That had me in a panic one time becuz i didn't notice it before making a recipe. :evil:

http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php

Choose ounces as your measure (if thats what you want to use) Its default is sodium hydroxide, so just make sure thats still it. Then just plug in just plug in the # oz. of each oil and tell to calculate, Its a nice format for printing out to save for later reference and take notes on the process/results. This one gives you alot of lye measure options, since i don't have the best scale i try to get as close as possible and if anything go for less lye if necessary to get a number i can weigh with my scale since that is safer. And i think in the beggining you are supposed to use the higher amount of water, using less takes more experience. All the other spaces is just alot of info.

I'm a total newbie myself and i know that some more experinced soapers will come along and give you more very helpful advice. I just thought I'd share a bit since i know exactly how you feel. Everyone here is very nice and helped me get past the panic stage for sure . :wink:

Yeah they will be psyched once they try it. I'm too impatient to wait so do mine hot process so i can try it ASAP! 8)

 

[jeanna]

Thanks so much for your help!

You said you do hot process? Do you use a crock pot?

The soap calculator link you sent me was very helpful. I think I'm understanding more now - the combined amounts of your oils is what tells you app. how much you are making, so 12 oz of olive oil + 4 oz of coconut makes roughly 1 pound of soap. I'm slow but I'm getting it!

I love those cold colored old fashioned bars of soap! I'm thinking they are hot process.

What additives have you tried? Have you attempted adding any sort of milk to your recipes? Maybe if I made my hubby a beer-soap, he might like homemade soap after all. I've read that if you make sure your beer is very flat - cooked and then cooled down, you can use it to make soap.

How fun! I am so glad I found some smaller recipes. For one thing, the big one cost me way too much - almost $50.

Thanks again for your tips and prompt replies.

Jeanna

 

[Sonam]

A tight budget is definitly a big part of my strategy!!

I have tried beer, and milks of different kinds (evaportated, dry goat milk, coconut milk) but only in rebatching.

I get my cocoa butter from the .99 cent store too it comes in 1 oz. sticks. (I LOVE the .99 store ) My first recipe was a coco/canola/olive combo cheap and lovely soap. I adapted it from Kathy Millers soap site.

I do my hot process in a really big glass pot i got at a thrift store. I used to use it for my wool dying baths. and rebatch by making it to a double boiler situation by fitting a large glass mixing bowl inside it. I just happened to have these things already. You should ask around and see what other people use. I'm not that fond of crock pots not enough control there for me.

 

[Soapmomma]

Yeah they will be psyched once they try it. I'm too impatient to wait so do mine hot process so i can try it ASAP! 8)

I'm the exact same I have no patience to wait for the cure so I hot process in the crock pot. You'd be amazed how easy and satisfying it is.
Here's a really nice informative thread on CPHP http://www.soapmakingforum.com/forum/vi ... t=crockpot

If you want to keep your costs down in the experimenting stages, and aren't averse to using animal fats, you might try making a lard and coconut bar. Lard makes a very nice hard, white bar and I love working with it.

One of my first soaps was a beer bar with oatmeal and honey. I loved it! It is still the best lathering and most cleansing bar I've ever made.

Check out the sticky thread on this forum, it will tell you how to figure how much oil you need for any mold you choose to use and has been invaluable to me

Good luck and happy soaping!

 

[jeanna]

Soapmomma:

If I were to make 1 pound of soap and replace the water with flat beer, how much honey and oatmeal would you add to that? I really think this is the next kind I want to try. I will use lard and coconut oil (if I can find it - maybe Walmart?). What percentages of lard/coconut.

Also, did you powder the oatmeal first? I have a coffee grinder, a little coffee flavor can't hurt anything if there is a small residue the grinder?

I looked at the hot process link. Do I need an old crockpot or will this be safe to cook food in again? Do you do a "taste test"? That sounds scary. Can I just cook it to the consistence of oatmeal and then add my EO's/honey/oatmeal, and dump?

Sorry for so many questions, but you guys are so helpful and its nice to see basic recipes with basic terms I can understand! Yea!

Jeanna

 

[Soapmomma]

Jeanna, for my beer soap I used 1 tsp honey per pound of oils and 1 tbs ground oatmeal (yes the coffee grinder is fine, that's what I used).
Just make sure the beer is completely flat with no foam, bubbles whatsoever or you could have a nasty (and caustic) lye volcano on your hands!
I would not recommend using that crockpot for food again, better to buy an old one somewhere and dedicate it just for soap making. And you might want to google crockpot hot process and just make sure you got all your bases covered before beginning, I thought I was ready to make my first batch in the crockpot and didn't take the "watch it closely" part seriously enough. It can and will and did volcano and crawl right outta that crockpot That's why my crockpot always sits in the sink while making soap.

On the tasting part, that soap gets hot so make sure it's cooled down somewhat before you try the zap test, basically with the lard, coconut, veggie oil combo the stages are melt the oils, add your lye/water mixture, stick blend to thick trace. Soap will get hard to stir, then start to cook and look like applesauce. This is when I turn the heat off and stir stir stir til it looks like vaseline. It's thick and gloppy so it won't be easy to pour (glop it out with a big spoon) but you can make some beautiful soaps with hp once you get the hang of it!

As for an easy starter recipe, a rounded out one (with easy to find oils at wal-mart) might be:

50% lard
30% coconut
20% corn oil

Play around with soapcalc9, it really is easy and fun to make all sorts of recipes and play with the soap properties http://www.soapcalc.com/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp

For yours just input x lb or oz in the Total oil weight box- insert your percentages of oils in the soap recipe box and compute recipe. Over to the left you'll find what the qualities of that oil combination would be. HTH