ResolvableOwl
Notorious Lyear
So now, lemme guess, you're still losing track of time, but at the same time the clock gives you a bad conscience about it? Well made.
What soapy thing have you done today?
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Purple heather natural sk
Active Member
Thank you! I did add a few eos to support the infused oil ....They are BEAUTIFUL! Wish I could smell them. Have a coworker that brings in fresh peonies. Always hate to throw out. Now I’ma gonna do THAT!
Thats a great idea!
Soaplizard
Member
I walked to the store to buy some distilled water just to find that the store ran out of distilled water 
I had everything prepped to make a loaf of charcoal soap
I had everything prepped to make a loaf of charcoal soap
You could use vinegar or aloe vera juice instead.I walked to the store to buy some distilled water just to find that the store ran out of distilled water
I've had that happen, too. So annoying! Usually when I travel and searching a strange store in an unfamiliar town close to closing time. So I have to pick a substitute on-the-fly. Some things I have used instead if the store is out of Distilled water: Bottled drinking water; Bottled Kombucha tea; Buttermilk; White vinegar. There is a lye adjustment required for vinegar, but if it's a small batch I don't usually bother because it doesn't alter the SF significantly in a small batch.I walked to the store to buy some distilled water just to find that the store ran out of distilled water
ResolvableOwl
Notorious Lyear
“If they have no bread, let them eat cake.”
Seriously, they're totally worth trying even if one has distilled water at hand!
Collecting rain water/melting snow are other low-tech ways to take hold of soft water on the cheap.
I don't quite understand? Batch size is directly proportional to needed amount of liquid, so the vinegar as %PPO is the same, regardless of batch size, and so is the SF increase.
Say, 2:1 lye (33% concentration) but with water replaced by 5% vinegar. That's 10 g acetic acid per 100 g NaOH, which neutralises 6.7% of the NaOH, hence lifts superfat by 6.7%.
The whole sense of percentages is exactly to avoid recipe math differences between small and large batches.
You are right, and I even thought after posting that I should go back and fix that, but I didn't because it was midnight & I was too tired.
What I left out that is more important in relation to why it isn't worth the bother for me to do the extra calculations is that I use my masterbatch lye solution [50%], so what I add as additional liquid has very little impact on superfat.
Even while traveling, I bring my masterbatch lye solution along, so I rarely make up a whole new solution while on the road. I do often have to buy drinking water and I find that distilled water is often cheaper than most bottled drinking water, so that's what I buy if I am also making soap.
I've done the calculations in the past, and the SF difference really is negligible in this situation (using mb lye.)
For example, I have done this many times and a 500g of oils batch using mb lye @ 0% SF & [33% Lye], the additional liquid needed is 69 grams. If I put 69 grams of vinegar instead of water, the difference of actual NaOH is only 2.5 grams (5 grams of the masterbatch, which is half water). 2.5 grams of NaOH is not going to change the SF enough that I need to bother with adding a little extra. (It actually only increases about 3.5%, but as far as I'm concerned, it is not noticeable). If I'm off a gram or two when I weigh out my oils, I don't sweat it, neither do I for a gram or two of water. So the gram or two of NaOH is not going to make or break my soap IMO and IME.
Call me sloppy, but I don't run a lye purity test everytime I make soap either. And we all should know that there are variables regarding lye purity and scale accuracy that impact SF as well, which is why I don't feel that a gram or two is really something to worry about.
NB:
IF I was faced with completely replacing vinegar for water in my lye solution, I would not because I did that once, and the soap came out so brittle that I decided never to do that again. It was the only time I made up a fresh batch of lye solution using only vinegar and no water at all.
Does everyone really use distilled water for making soap? I’ve used filtered tap water only, and it’s been fine. I have a decent 10 stage filter. But, I can’t quite imagine having to buy bottled water for soap. Am I missing something, or messing up?
John Harris
Well-Known Member
I cut my soap from 2 days ago. I'd forgotten how sticky new soap can be. 40 bars of patchouli. Fortunately I still have about 20 bars left from the patchouli batch I made 2 years ago, so this new batch can take as long as it wants to harden. Someone asked if I could post pictures. Here they are. (They're not going to win any photography trophies.)
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John Harris
Well-Known Member
I've made a lot of soap in my life and using distilled water has never crossed my mind. Maybe I'm missing something too?
I sometimes use distilled but mostly use tap water; I've never had an issue. We do have soft water here so I don't know if that makes a difference.
My mom made soap for years and she only ever used tap water, with no issues either.
ResolvableOwl
Notorious Lyear
If I have the chance to avoid heavy metal contaminants like copper, zinc or iron (from the plumbing) to get into soap, I'll do. Ca/Mg (water hardness) doesn't accelerate rancidity, but doesn't belong in soap either, IMHO. Bad enough to have these in soap scum all around the sink. Neither I'm particularly comfortable with the indefinite amount of carbonate in tap water (reacting with lye to form lime or soda ash).
Angie Gail
Well-Known Member
Where I live we have very hard water as we have a lot of limestone in the ground (we can't have basements because the ground is too rocky and shifty). I was using distilled water until we had a shortage in the winter and I switched to aloe vera juice.
I use tap water. We are on a well and have a whole house filter that filters out sediment and metals.
Don’t know if was ants in my pants or getting too big for my britches’ but ATTEMPTED to make ONE batch soap batter; Dividing batter for two different scents, two different colors. 
. WHAT was I thinking?! Needless to say had to move way too fast & during clean up found a dish of kaolin clay + scent UNUSED for the blue batch. OyVey! 
. WHAT was I thinking?! Needless to say had to move way too fast & during clean up found a dish of kaolin clay + scent UNUSED for the blue batch. OyVey! I used distilled water when I lived in the desert and we had to, as the water was so crazy hard. We now have a well and that water works PERFECTLY! And tastes so much better. I figure if tap water works in your area, why make things harder? (Hard water... Dumb joke.)
Massaged the heck out of some stiff soap dough and made some embeds for two different soaps. Mixed my lye, and hoped I’d get to making them today. But then I got too tired, and that’s when I mess up, so I figured I’ll do that part tomorrow when I’m fresh. I steamed a couple of ashy soaps and hope they’ll be dry enough to package tomorrow for the farmers market on sunday.
And, I made some cute bath bombs for the farmers market. But, my color combos were off, and the resulting water when the bath bomb is spent isn’t the prettiest. So, I’m not sure what to do. They’re so stinking cute though! And, they perform great!
And, I made some cute bath bombs for the farmers market. But, my color combos were off, and the resulting water when the bath bomb is spent isn’t the prettiest. So, I’m not sure what to do. They’re so stinking cute though! And, they perform great!
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Started my Halloween/Autumn soaps. I just finished up 100 soap order for my nephew's baby shower
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