Zap / Tongue test

[perfectsoap]

Ok I have a question. I looked at other post and found conflicting information, so...
I made some soap last night and it is hard or solid now. I took it out of the mold, but have yet to cut.
I touched the tip of my tongue to it and felt a slight zap about one second after I did it. So does that mean heavy Lye or do I need to wait longer to test it??
Yes I have lost my PH paper...
Thank you,
Jeff

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Jeff, give it a week to cure out, then tongue test it again. :wink: If it still zaps, :shock: it is lye heavy and needs to be re-batched and more oils added.

ETA; If you do find your papers, anything 9 and under is safe, 7 to 8 being the prefered range of soap.

Paul :wink:

 

[perfectsoap]

Thanks Paul

 

[IanT]

I lick my soap :shock: , doesnt taste good...but it does the job

paul- I have an electric PH meter...it has a glass diode (i think that what its called), these are usually used for testing water but do you think theres a way i could use it to test my soap?? it would be quite a bit more accurate than the paper (which i dont have at this time)

EDIT: also in case I cant use that meter, what is the best way to test the soaps PH with strips?? wet a small portion and stick it on or put it in a small bowl, with a few drops of water and swash it around?? I dont want the water to influence my reading

 

[Neil]

Hey Ralphie hows that soap taste?

this is not the way to test for PH.

If you get this effect you may have used too much lye:

 

[Soapmaker Man]

 

[7053joanne]

i generally use pH strips but from what I understand they are generally about 2 units lower than the "true" pH....for example my soaps are generally a 7 so they are really a 9.

I would wait it out a couple of weeks and test it again. It will likely mellow out as it cures.

Hope you don't have to rebatch

joanne

 

[Soapmaker Man]

A local pool company is running a special spring sale on digital pH meters for $29.00. I'm going to get one from there as it is a pretty decent quality unit. I have tested my soap several times in the past with a less expensive pocket unit and get readings after 6 week cure of 7.6 to 8 on it, depending on the SF discount. Not too shabby.

 

[IanT]

Man that was me as a kid..I remember this clear bar of raspberry soap (really not as good as it sounds) but my mom used it to put in my mouth when i talked back etc... yepp....i got that only a few times.. the taste was enough to motivate me not to!


paul--how did you use the pocket meter to test it?? what was the procedure you followed??

 

[Soapmaker Man]

I took the bar and sudzed it up really well then touched the tips to the tiny bubbles and took a reading. I read somewhere this was the correct procedure with test strips or with a digital meter. I'll try to find out where I read that tutorial....

My mom used a big bar of Lava with ground pumice to wash my tongue with when I messed up. :x Man was that stuff bad tasting. :x :roll:

Paul

 

[PhillipJ]

I think that I kinda gave up on digital pH meter. My numbers started bouncing around when trying to test something, so I don't trust it anymore.

 

[IanT]

Ill probably wind up getting some test strips and then doing both..compare readings and see which one I think is more accurate (if the PH starts bouncing around on my meter then I prob wont use it...or it could mean that the PH is different in different places in the bar...which means the lye may not be totally sap'd)

 

[PhillipJ]

I think my problem was that I didn't maintain my meter correctly. I guess it needs to be cleaned and stored in special solutions.

 

[7053joanne]

I use pH meters at work. You really need to calibrate them with 4, 7, and 10 pH buffer solutions prior to taking measurements. There is a drift on the scale that seems to occur when the meter is off.

Hope this helps!

joanne

 

[IanT]

yup! I have the cal solution but I forgot how to use it...got to do alittle refresher and read the manual!

 

[mandolyn]

All I can say to this is "Sssoap Ppppoisoning!!!!"