DirtyKnuckles
Active Member
The recipe:
900 grams pure deer tallow at 125F/52C
100 grams canola oil, 125F/52C
150 grams of Red Crown brand lye in 1 cup distilled water also 125F/52C
I had trace at 19 minutes, poured into a plastic tub where it cured for 24 hours before I cut into blocks. Hard blocks, and they didn't exactly cut along the lines I had scored with the knife. After another 2 weeks of curing as blocks, I ran it all thru a food processor into "potato chips" of soap. It cured another two weeks like this, because I was argueing with myself over fragrance choice. Ultimately, opting for no fragrance.
Finally, I put the soap chips into a large double boiler along with a quarter cup of water in order to rebatch and pour into molds I had ordered.
I could not get it to a thick liquid again to save my soul! I tried adding a quarter cup of water at a time until I had almost 3 cups of added water. It foamed and volcanoed, but no amount of work would get it to a moldable fluidity. Ultimately, I dumped it into three plastic tubs and tried to smoosh it down to get out as much air as possible. Now it is a crumby mess. Works like a charm at getting my hands clean, and I even did a batch of clothes in the washing machine with it and had excellent results.
Please explain in simple terms to a first time soaper why I failed to "rebatch".
900 grams pure deer tallow at 125F/52C
100 grams canola oil, 125F/52C
150 grams of Red Crown brand lye in 1 cup distilled water also 125F/52C
I had trace at 19 minutes, poured into a plastic tub where it cured for 24 hours before I cut into blocks. Hard blocks, and they didn't exactly cut along the lines I had scored with the knife. After another 2 weeks of curing as blocks, I ran it all thru a food processor into "potato chips" of soap. It cured another two weeks like this, because I was argueing with myself over fragrance choice. Ultimately, opting for no fragrance.
Finally, I put the soap chips into a large double boiler along with a quarter cup of water in order to rebatch and pour into molds I had ordered.
I could not get it to a thick liquid again to save my soul! I tried adding a quarter cup of water at a time until I had almost 3 cups of added water. It foamed and volcanoed, but no amount of work would get it to a moldable fluidity. Ultimately, I dumped it into three plastic tubs and tried to smoosh it down to get out as much air as possible. Now it is a crumby mess. Works like a charm at getting my hands clean, and I even did a batch of clothes in the washing machine with it and had excellent results.
Please explain in simple terms to a first time soaper why I failed to "rebatch".