Please Help!!!

[coolladylisa]

2 days ago I made a batch of cold process goat milk soap. Yesterday I realized that my scales were on the wrong setting and I didn't put enough lye in my batch. Im pretty sure it's an ounce short. My recipe called for 6.43 oz. (at a 5% lye discount) and I only used 5.43. And it has 12.9 oz. of water (goat milk). The soap has been setting for 2 days now and is still very soft. I did get it out of the mold but its not hard at all. Will it set up eventually or do I need to do something to it and if so, what? I really appreciate any advice I can get. Thanks so much.

 

[xraygrl]

without seeing your entire recipe, it's hard what to suggest. Please post your recipe.

 

[coolladylisa]

11 oz Olive Oil, 11 oz Coconut Oil, 2 oz Canola, 9 oz hydrogenated Soybean oil, 7 oz veg. shortening, 5 oz sunflower oil, 1 oz castor, 1 oz shea butter and 1 oz grape seed oil, 12.9 oz water, 6.428 oz lye but I think I only used 5.43 oz of lye on accident

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Out of interest, if the scale was on a wrong setting then surely ALL of the amounts would be off by the same factor? That is to say, you used less lye but also less oils. Or was something else wrong with the measuring?

 

[coolladylisa]

no, i think the setting got changed after the oils were measured but before the lye was measured

 

[Susie]

Please define vegetable shortening. Is it palm oil or more soybean oil? If it does not say on the can, you can look the brand up online. Also, what calculator did you use?

I think the problem is that you have only 22.9% solid oils. Hydrogenated oils do not count for hardness. You are missing having hard oils such as palm/tallow/lard. Unless, of course, the shortening is hydrogenated palm oil.

 

[xraygrl]

Lots of soft oils in there. If you are a beginner soaper, then it's best to keep it simple with less ingredients...less room for error. I've been making soap for about 17 years now, and honestly you won't even notice a difference in the finished product between using all of those special oils, and a good basic recipe. Save your $$ for your fragrances and essential oils LOL! I'd kick the Canola, sunflower, and grapeseed oils to the curb. They all have a shorter shelf life, and won't do anything special to the soap, especially in the small amounts that you have them in so increase the olive, keep the coconut, increase shea butter nix the hydrogenated soybean oil, and keep the veggie shortening. If you are not opposed to animal ingredients, Walmart has a great value shortening that has tallow in it that makes a nice hard bar. Lard is also great in soap, easily accessible, a relatively inexpensive.

I would do something like this
35% olive
20% coconut
5% castor
5% shea butter
35% veggie shortening or Great Value shortening or lard.