Soapmaking - My First Batch

[Guest guest]

Well, I finally got brave last weekend (11/5-11/7) and made my first

batch of soap!

 

Let me say for anyone else here planning to try...it was so easy! Just

make sure you have everything you need close to hand, and take your time

measuring accurately.

 

First, I used the wonderful spreadsheet template that can be downloaded

from www.millersoaps.com - unlike the various lye calculators available

on the web, you don't have to be online to use it! Which is important

to me when I'm on old-fashioned dial-up at home. Hate having to tie up

my phone line while I play with potential recipes. Plus it has a great

" adjusting " feature for " rounding " your batches to a given number of

bars, which I like.

 

Friday night I got out my little kitchen scale and weighed out my oils &

butters - Olive Oil, Shea Butter, Coconut Oil, and a little bit of Lard

(I had some around from making Ferret Food). I dumped most of the Olive

oil in my small crockpot with a bunch of lemon balm and a little

lavender, to " stew " overnight.

 

I made up my lye water on Saturday afternoon - did it on the back porch.

Next time I'll go out on the front patio...the back porch is small and

the air wasn't moving much. Goodness does that stuff STINK!!! I had

made up a nice strong lemon balm tea, but I think the lye thoroughly

" nuked " the lemon balm. I was very happy when my solution cleared so I

could quit stirring and GO INSIDE! I left the lye water on the porch to

cool and gave DH strict instructions to LEAVE IT ALONE! Then I strained

my crockpotted olive oil and reweighed it..added a splash to make up for

what I couldn't squeeze out of the herbs.

 

Sunday morning I melted my oils, then spent an annoying 20 minutes or so

waiting for them to cool down to around the recommended 115 degrees. I

had withheld some of the olive oil to add at room temp...otherwise I

would have had a longer wait! Anyway, while the oils cooled, I measured

out a couple of tablespoons of lanolin and added the Sweet Orange and

Lemon Eucalyptus I was using for scent. Then I took my molds and

lightly greased them with vaseline. Then, with stick blender in hand, I

cautiously poured in my lye water and began stirring and blending.

 

I didn't think to check the clock as I started mixing, but I think I had

trace at around 10 minutes. I dumped in my lanolin mix and stirred and

blended for just a minute more to incorporate the scent. I grabbed my

big spatula and started glopping soap into my molds. I filled two, and

had maybe a cup of soap left, so I snatched a small plastic container

from the tupperware drawer and dumped it in there! I managed to only

glop a couple of tablespoons worth of raw soap onto the stovetop. Messy

stuff!

 

I used my spatula to smooth the tops of my molds then laid plastic wrap

over the top - partly because I've read it helps to prevent " ash " , but

mostly because I wanted to be able to squish down the " glops " left by

the spatula, so I would have a smoother surface.

 

I set the molds on a cookie sheet on the counter (in case I needed to

move them) and laid a couple of heavy towels over top. After about an

hour I quickly " peeked " and caught what must be the " gel " stage...the

centers of the molds were clear yellow while the outside edges were

opaque creamy yellow.

 

By Sunday evening my soap had reached a nice " firm cheese " stage -

pressing firmly with a finger made just a small dent. So I took my

first mold, gently loosened the long sides, and flipped it over and

pressed. The log popped out beautifully! The vaseline trick definitely

worked. I unmolded the other one, and my little " leftover " soap. Since

the " leftover " was round and about 1 1/4 inch thick, I just cut it in

two. Then I used a ruler to make 1 inch marks on my soap logs, and cut

bars which are now spaced in an oversized shoebox to cure.

 

For molds I used a couple of " ice holders " that I picked up at the local

dollar store - they're 9 inches long by about 3 1/2 wide. They don't

make a " perfect " shaped bar of soap as they slope slightly towards the

top...but I didn't want to spend money on molds until I knew whether I

could make soap! They worked well enough I think I'll stick with them

for now.

 

I did a " tongue test " while I was cutting the soap and didn't get a

" zap " , so hopefully everything was measured correctly! I was a little

paranoid as I only have a cheapo little kitchen scale that measures in

quarter ounces...I think a decent digital scale is going on my Christmas

list! The scale issue was one reason I chose to make a 4 pound

batch...more oil means more a little more breathing room on the lye! I

think this is going to be a good kitchen/hand soap...I've been using

schnibbles out of my little bowl of " trimmings " at the kitchen sink and

it's already lathering pretty well! And the lemon euc./orange (the

lemon euc. is definitely dominate) makes me think " kitchen " .

 

I want to thank everybody on this wonderful list who gave me references

and info...I felt like I knew what to expect at every stage of the

process and I had all the tools I needed close to hand.

 

Melissa Bell

 

....who is now trying to figure out what she wants her next batch to be,

and who wishes she could spend an insane amount of money on various oils

and butters...

 

 

 

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