No superfat

[Hayley]

I forgot to add my super fat, darn it, I made a double batch of lavender soap, just sat down with a cup of tea, now remembered I forgot to add my super fat, oh I am so mad.

 

[lsg]

Your soap still may not be lye heavy. When you cut it, check it with the zap test, you may just have a really cleansing soap.

 

[dagmar88]

Did you post in the CP subforum on purpose?
If so, you can simply add all of your oils at the same time.
Adding "superfat" at trace has no effect whatsoever.

 

[Hayley]

Thank you Isg, I am hoping it will still be ok. Dagmar yes it is cold process soap, it was already in the mould setting when I posted this, will in future add the super fat to my other oils.

 

[Marilyna]

Hayley,

I did that one time recently, and you know, I couldn't tell one bit of difference in the soap!

 

[cmzaha]

I forgot to add my super fat, darn it, I made a double batch of lavender soap, just sat down with a cup of tea, now remembered I forgot to add my super fat, oh I am so mad.

Your soapshould be just fine. I do not superfat very often and then it is 3% if I do, and I have never had a lye heavy soap. I want all fat possible to saponify and not have free oils going down the drain.

 

[dagmar88]

Your soapshould be just fine. I do not superfat very often and then it is 3% if I do, and I have never had a lye heavy soap. I want all fat possible to saponify and not have free oils going down the drain.

Since I've seen you doing this before; using 0% superfat for soaps intended for use on the body is potentially harmful.
Sap values are averages. I'm glad it works for you, but that doesn't mean it's safe.
People who are inexperienced could go along with this.

 

[Hayley]

Thank you Marilyna & cmzaha, When I first started out, I never put superfat in, there is a difference, depending on the xtra oil you use. I will just have to see when i cut it if it has zap, then when it cures if it feels bad. I have been making soap for 15 years, but only the last 7 years had a computer, so that has made a big difference to how I make soap and with being able to buy my ingredience.

 

[dagmar88]

Thank you Marilyna & cmzaha, When I first started out, I never put superfat in, there is a difference, depending on the xtra oil you use.

I think there's some kind of misunderstanding here. Cmzaha uses little or no superfat (nor lye discount).
However, when you're using food or tech grade lye, you'll end up with superfatted soap anyway, because of the impurities in the lye.
The majority of saponification has yet to take place at trace; so the lye hasn't formed a stable connection to anything yet and swaps in and out. Also, lye seems to be drawn to particular oils/fatty acids more than others.
Therefore, adding your "superfat" at trace, won't do anything differently than simply including it in all of your oils and butters (lye discount) to begin with.
Making sure there are more than enough "free" oils/butters available definitely makes your soap less stripping and is considered to have a better feel by many though.

 

[Hayley]

Thank you for all reply's, I have now cut it and got a zap from testing it, so in the bin it goes

 

[dagmar88]

Thank you for all reply's, I have now cut it and got a zap from testing it, so in the bin it goes

Don't! Batches like that are completely salvageable...

 

[Ancel]

No don't bin it!!! Rebatch it, it'll be easy if it's fresh. Add the oils you omitted, maybe you'll lose the lavender scent, but that's a whole lot better than losing an entire batch.

 

[lsg]

I agree, shred up the soap, add the superfat oils and a little liquid and rebatch.

 

[Hayley]

Ok, I will re batch, guess it has not been my month for soap making. I have been trying to colour my batches, but the last lavender one I did was with alkanet infusion. It turned out a bit gray. This lot the colour was better, but as you know no extra oil!

 

[cmzaha]

Add lots of charcoal in your rebatch and make them into charcoal bars. Best way to color rebatch

 

[Hazel]

Since I've seen you doing this before; using 0% superfat for soaps intended for use on the body is potentially harmful.
Sap values are averages. I'm glad it works for you, but that doesn't mean it's safe.
People who are inexperienced could go along with this.

@ Hayley - The info below isn't directed at you. I just wanted to include some things I've learned which might be of interest to beginning soapmakers or people who are thinking of starting to make soap.


I agree with Dagmar. Not only do you have to allow for SAP averages, but it's important to consider the accuracy of the scales. The superfat/lye discount is a fudge factor to help prevent lye heaviness which might result from SAP averaging and scale inaccuracy. BTW, SAP is averaged to allow for differences in what country an oil is from, weather conditions (which will change from season to season /year to year) and manufacturing processes. It would be possible for an oil to actually need less NaOH than is used in a lye calculator. In this case, soap would be lye heavy even though it it isn’t shown as lye heavy according to the calculator. This is why saponification values are averaged to cover these differences.

I check my scales for accuracy before starting to weigh ingredients. I don't have calibration weights so I use 5 American quarters as the weight. The quarters weigh 28 grams or 1 ounce, Recently, I've noticed my scales showed the quarters as weighing .95 ounce/27 grams. I know that doesn't sound like much of a difference. But it does concern me since if I wasn't paying attention, it would throw off all of the weight for every ingredient. Who knows what problems I may have had if I didn't check every time I use the scale?

Another thing to consider is the quality of scales. Beginning soapmakers may not always purchase a quality model because of the expense. I started soapmaking with an inexpensive model I had found in a local store. I don't remember what I paid for it but I know it wasn't very much. I didn't want to pay out too much since I didn't know if I would like making soap. It was good enough to get me started but I know it wasn't 100% accurate.

I had found out through experimenting that 5% SF wasn't enough for my skin because it didn't allow enough free oils to remain on my skin. I don't know about any free oils going down the drain but I can say I can tell that oils do remain on my skin after rinsing off. I generally use 7% to 8% SF depending on the recipe but I have very dry skin and not everyone would have this problem. I use 5% SF for soap I make for my BIL and nephews. It also depends on what oils are in a recipe. I do have a recipe which I use 5% SF and it's just fine for my skin. I was quite surprised to find out how nice it was when I tested it. One of my sisters tested it and said it was better than the "conditioning" bar I had formulated for her. Plus, she liked that it was more bubbly. She also has dry, sensitive skin and had normally preferred soap with a higher SF. Learn something new every day. Anyway, I now use this recipe for myself, too.

In conclusion, it is highly recommended people use at least a 5% superfat (lye discount) to compensate for potential errors, inaccuracy of scales and SAP averages.

Remember- safety first! I hope some people find my ramblings helpful. :grin:

 

[Hayley]

Thank you Hazel, as always you are very helpful. Normally I add an extra 5% to my 2lb batch of soap, just my brain got carried away with trying out natural colours, lesson learned

 

[Hazel]

Thanks for the compliment, Hayley! I apologize for hijacking your thread and it's gracious of you to be nice about it.

As I said, this wasn't directed at you. I just didn't want new members to read through and think a low or zero superfat would be all right to use. I've noticed in older posts there have been some confusion about what SAP values are so I wanted to give an explanation. There isn't anything wrong with using an even lower superfat if people find out their skin can handle it and they have an accurate scale. But I'd rather people start out with at least 5% SF and then experiment to find what works best for their skin type. I'd hate to find out someone made the first batch, used too much lye for what ever reason and found the soap was caustic. It might put the person off soapmaking. Also, I don't know what kind of equipment people have for soapmaking. If they're anything like me, they'll start off with the cheapest equipment they can find. (Ooops! I'm rambling again.)

Also, I understand your annoyance with yourself for forgetting the superfat. I've done that with hot process batches. It's the fragrance I forget in CP batches. I get so upset at myself when I do this. roblem:

 

[cmzaha]

Almost any batch of soap can be rescued with rebatching and adding in extra oil. I hate throwing out soap. I also hate it when I forget the fragrance.

I will also clarify that I do not recommend the low superfat especially if you are just beginning. I have a very accurate scale and have the sap values of my oils from my supplier. If I am in doubt of an oil I go with 3-4% superfat. I also know how my recipe reacts and my lye comes from a local chem house with all paperwork stating purity, so I did not just start soaping with a low superfat blindly. I live on a hillside with very poor plumbing and the extra oils just do not work for me. I also have severe eczema, from 2 yrs old, and my skin does not have any problems with the low superfat. Salt bars I still do 20% superfat. It is much better for me to spray on a light oil after my shower instead of depending of soap adding the oil.

 

[dagmar88]

Also, I understand your annoyance with yourself for forgetting the superfat. I've done that with hot process batches. It's the fragrance I forget in CP batches. I get so upset at myself when I do this. roblem:

I put the fragrance/essential oil(s) in my mold. That way, you'll never forget them again.