Too little lye... how can I fix it??

[GaiaNaturalSoaps]

Hello,
I am using Soapmaker Software for my recipe. I also make my lye solution by using 1:1 ratio. I made a batch of soap that need twice more lye than I used because I put lye solution amount instead of lye amount... So it ended up used a half lye with 2.5 water because I misread my recipe.... So, my soap is very soft... extra oil.... does anybody know how to fix this soap? Or do I need to trash it?

Thank you in advance,

Miri

 

[dixiedragon]

Shred the soap, or just cut it into chunks. (Wear gloves!)

Make a batch that has a lower superfat. Maybe even a 0% superfat.

Mix the shreds of low-lye soap with the batch of 0% superfat soap. I like to put the shreds in the pot, stir well, then glop in the mold.

Gel the soap - this way the shreds will get melty and bond with the new soap.

You want a roughly 50/50 mixture of old and new soap, so make sure that your mold and your pot will hold the batch size.

 

[GaiaNaturalSoaps]

Okay. Thank you so much!! I will try that. It is too soft to shred. I think it will mix well.

 

[DeeAnna]

This might work fine if the first batch wasn't so very fat-heavy as the OP's soap is. If the OP used half the NaOH needed to make the original soap, that soap will have a 50% or higher superfat (SF).

Blending it with new soap at zero SF is going to cut the overall SF to 25%+. That's higher than you'd use even for a 100% coconut oil soap. I don't think the resulting blended soap with the SF that high is going to be a good soap.

You could do the same idea of combining the original soap with new soap, but do this instead --

You know how much extra NaOH you should have added to the original soap, right? Write down this missing NaOH weight.

Calculate a new batch of soap at whatever superfat you think is appropriate. What's the NaOH for this new batch? Write down the NaOH weight for this new batch.

Add the two weights of NaOH together. The answer is the amount of NaOH to use for the new batch of soap. When you combine the new lye-heavy soap with the original fat-heavy soap, the blend will be just right.

 

[GaiaNaturalSoaps]

Thank you. Yes, that makes sense. I will try to do that.