taking looong time for a trace

[samjesse]

Hi

This is my second CP. the first went OK and is not in its 2 week to harden up.

I made a new one today
100g Cottonseed oil.
33g water
14g NaOH

It took looooong time to show any trace, I manually mixed because it is a small for a Stick Blender. I am making a "heavy Lye" Castile CP for further development.
What did I do wrong?

many thx

 

[dagmar88]

What are you trying to achieve?

First of all, castile soap is 100% olive oil soap, so that's not what you're making

You shouldn't make batches under 500 grams; it makes it very hard to get accurate measurements and as your oils and butters are natural products, the saponifiation values might vary a little.

Soaps with a high content of cotton-seed oil will be prone to DOS and as it lacks in hardness, this batch probably won't make nice bars ever.

You can use soap calculators such as soapcalc.net to figure out better properties for your soap.

 

[lsg]

Cottonseed oil is a soft oil, it needs to be combined with a hard oil or the soap will be too soft.

http://home.windstream.net/familyjeans/propertiesofoils.html

 

[soapguy]

Cottonseed oil is kind of expensive to use by itself and is slow to saponify. It will give you a nice lathery soap. The bad part is that it is prone to rancidity. I guess you have no choice but to wait. Good luck.

 

[samjesse]

I read that castile soap can be made from any vegetable oil but maybe this is not correct info, I am trying to make heavy lye castile soap.

After using SoapCalc and confirming the hardness of both Olive oil (17) and Cottonseed oils (26) made me think that Cottonseed oil CP will be harder/faster.

Making a 150g CP for experimentation to avoid waste in case of errors.

 

[dagmar88]

With batches that small, you'll probably waste more as you're prone to make mistakes.
Even though the harness numbers on olive oil are low, it does produce a nice hard bar after cure, opposed to other oils that are liquid at room temp.

 

[samjesse]

With batches that small, you'll probably waste more as you're prone to make mistakes.
Even though the harness numbers on olive oil are low, it does produce a nice hard bar after cure, opposed to other oils that are liquid at room temp.

Olive oil is liquid at room temp. as well. what makes it better than cottonseed oil for castile soap, I just happened to have cottonseed oil in abundance right now.

The link provided by lgs says Cottonseed oil will result in softer bar, but SoapCalc gives it a higher number thus harder bar. I am confused.

 

[dagmar88]

Olive oil is liquid at room temp. as well. what makes it better than cottonseed oil for castile soap, I just happened to have cottonseed oil in abundance right now.

The link provided by lgs says Cottonseed oil will result in softer bar, but SoapCalc gives it a higher number thus harder bar. I am confused.

As I said, opposed to other oils that are liquid at room temp.
So, olive oil does harden up nicely, though 100% olive oil soap is not generally preferred as it gives a slimy feel and isn't very longlasting.

Soapcalc gives basic guidelines and olive oil is the exemption to the rule.

 

[samjesse]

I am trying to make Castile soap "heavy lye for extra cleaning ability" which I will use later for other receipts, what do you recommend in terms of ingredients.

Many thx

 

[dagmar88]

You could use a high % of coconut oil.

 

[lsg]

Olive oil is liquid at room temp. as well. what makes it better than cottonseed oil for castile soap, I just happened to have cottonseed oil in abundance right now.

The link provided by lgs says Cottonseed oil will result in softer bar, but SoapCalc gives it a higher number thus harder bar. I am confused.

When I plugged in 100% cottonseed oil I got a hardness # of 26, that is soft. The INS# was 89, a soft bar, Iodine was 108 which indicates a soft bar.

http://www.soapcalc.net/info/SoapQualities.asp

 

[samjesse]

You could use a high % of coconut oil.

According to SoapCalc that will give high Bubbly number which will not be good if I were to use the castile soap for a dishwasher receipt later.

I will try Olive oil with 2:1 water to NaOH with zero super fat as long as the total wait is no less than 500g as suggested to avoid errors. Or was it 500g of oil in addition to water and lye?

 

[dagmar88]

According to SoapCalc that will give high Bubbly number which will not be good if I were to use the castile soap for a dishwasher receipt later.

I will try Olive oil with 2:1 water to NaOH with zero super fat as long as the total wait is no less than 500g as suggested to avoid errors. Or was it 500g of oil in addition to water and lye?

Yes, 500 grams of oil.

I seriously doubt this will meet your expectations though. It won't be very cleansing and it'll leave a film.

 

[melstan775]

Sam, castille is only castille if it's olive oil. No other single ouking is a castille soap. Try using 100% olive oil with full water. It will be firm when cut and in a few weeks very hard. In a few months it will be very very hard. Olive oil is the worlds oldest soap, it wouldn't have caught on and stayed around for centuries if it weren't any good.

 

[samjesse]

Sam, castille is only castille if it's olive oil. No other single ouking is a castille soap. Try using 100% olive oil with full water. It will be firm when cut and in a few weeks very hard. In a few months it will be very very hard. Olive oil is the worlds oldest soap, it wouldn't have caught on and stayed around for centuries if it weren't any good.

Sorry, what do you mean by "full water"?

 

[SwiftRuby]

full water just means use the full amount that your lye calculator tells you to use, without any discounting.

I however make Castille at 45% reduction in water, as I find that works better for me. The soap is very hard within days, lather is better and the feel is not quite as slimy.

 

[samjesse]

full water just means use the full amount that your lye calculator tells you to use, without any discounting.

I however make Castille at 45% reduction in water, as I find that works better for me. The soap is very hard within days, lather is better and the feel is not quite as slimy.

I am confused as I did lots of online reading and found that people use the following terms interchangeably;
Water which I take it to mean ONLY water.
Water solution which I take it to mean (water + lye).

In your post, which of the terms did you mean?
Is it 45% reduction in water (water to oil ratio) if so, what lye concentration you use?