so im not sure if im doing this right...

[punkflash54]

i just made my second batch of cold process soap yesterday...its still in the molds but its still soft. I used the same recipe for my first batch and i unmolded after 2 days but the soap seems very dry and crumbly...the recipe called for crisco but i used an off brand vegetable shortening. last night i used crisco vegetable shortening...i got a trace and it got thick. but after almost 24 hours it still seems soft. am i do something wrong? has anyone else tried this recipe?
here is the website http://www.millersoap.com/USAToday/SoapArtUSAToday.html

and here is the recipe:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Crisco

1 1/3 cups olive oil

1/4 cup lye

6 fluid ounces cool distilled water

 

[edco76]

Here is a potential problem with that recipe. Try an do recipes using weights like oz's and grams instead of volume measurements like cups and tbs's. There is just too much room for error. I would wager that if I measured a cup of crisco, and you measured a cup of crisco, if we weighed them after I doubt we would be within half an ounce of each other. Now, .5 ounce doesnt sound like much. But if I am a half ounce low on both my oils and then a half ounce high on my lye. Well then we have a lye heavy soap. Especially with a small batch like that. In a small batch you don't have as much room for error because a small amount will equal a greater percentage of your recipe. Try this with those ingredients.

8 oz Crisco
8 ox Olive oil
2.07 oz lye
6 oz Water

Or swing by walmart and grab some coconut oil and try

5.6 oz crisco
5.6 oz olive
4.8 oz coconut
2.3 oz of lye
6 oz water

I just guessed at the size of batch you are making and ran it through www.soapcalc.com Another problem with volume recipes is that they break a cardinal rule of soaping. Which is : Thou shalt never attempt, nor shall yea even consider attempting. Any recipe. No matter from with what, seemingly trustworthy source, said recipe doth arrive. Without first personally running douth new recipe througheth a reputable lye calculator. (I think that is from the Book of Paul)

 

[punkflash54]

thank you! i wasnt sure what ii was doing wrong...it just seemed like a very simple soap recipe and since i am new at this i was going for something easy. but i will try it with the weight measurements and see if i get better results!

 

[CPSoaper]

I agree that you should always weigh your ingredients to maintain consistency. Invest in a good scale. It is worth the money. Try here for a good scale:

http://www.oldwillknott.com/

The other issue may be related to your use of crisco - crisco or shortening can each have a different formulations making it difficult to adequately figure out lye amounts.

 

[punkflash54]

thanks. i already do have a scale for measuring wax to make candles....its not a digital one but it is very accurate.

 

[Guest]

I just wanted to add that switching your ounces to grams will reduce your margin for error a bit.

I write my recipes in ounces, but when I make them I convert them into grams for a more accurate measurement. Also measuring your liquids in one contianer and oils in another, and adding all measurments together to all oils + container weight equals the total amount needed. Just to be more accurate.

this is the link I have saved to make it easier to convert my grams to ounces or ounces to grams

http://www.unitconversion.org/weight/ou ... rsion.html


considering 1 ounce = 28 grams you can see how it will be a little more accurate.




Oh and never make a soap recipe until you have run it through a lye calculator, there are many on the net.

this is one of my favorites
http://recipes.herbalsoapsbyrj.com/calc ... -calc1.php

but this one helps you understand why all oils are not created equal and helps you figure out how much of one that you need and how much of another your recipe needs.
http://www.soapcrafters.com/rwriter.php

here is another good lye calculator that I like
http://www.soapcalc.com/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp

 

[Guest]

I think Ozs and Grams are preference.. with what your comfortable with.
I have always used Ozs while making soap.
I try to convert to grams while making B&B items

 

[Guest]

I think Ozs and Grams are preference.. with what your comfortable with.
I have always used Ozs while making soap.
I try to convert to grams while making B&B items

I agree, it's what your more comfortable with.
For me it's ounces, however when weighing ingredients I do think grams is more accurate so that is why I do convert my recipes into grams for the actual making of the product. Just because there are more grams to the ounce, and you can be more accurate with grams. That was a hard transition for me, but I do think it makes a difference. But then that's just me.