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Post by Maura on Nov 29, 2017 22:36:30 GMT
I have been using John F. Martin lard, which is pure lard.
I used a soap calc. Yuck. Second batch and it is separating. I used less water than the soap calc. recommended, but I always do that and never have a problem with my olive oil soap. Is my problem in the oils I used? Grapeseed oil, macadamia nut oil, just one ounce of jojoba, and some walnut oil.
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Post by bowdonkey on Dec 1, 2017 16:49:38 GMT
Wow, what a bummer. Those sound like some expensive oils. Do like me when making soap, especially a new recipe. For fats I just go behind a McDonald's and dip a pail into their waste oil dumpster. It's free if you don't get caught. In the summer though use caution, you may have to brush some maggots away. At home I dump in some homemade lye, some metal shavings from a brake drum grinder (exfoliate extraordinaire, think Lava soap with an attitude), pour into your mold of choice. I go cheap and use a disposable aluminum pan used for baking turkeys. Be careful as lye I found out reacts with aluminum. The strength of the lye has a direct effect on how fierce the reaction is. Wear safety gear, I use a snowmobile suit and welding helmet. You might also want to do this step outside as the fumes can be a bit overwhelming. In a couple days after everything cools off, I use a skilsaw to cut manly sized blocks. I give alot of these away around this time of year to my buddies. They can never get enough! Sorry maura I can't be of more help, there's a couple ladies on here that may be along to comment that have a little more knowledge about this than I do.
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Post by feather on Dec 1, 2017 17:05:46 GMT
I have been using John F. Martin lard, which is pure lard. I used a soap calc. Yuck. Second batch and it is separating. I used less water than the soap calc. recommended, but I always do that and never have a problem with my olive oil soap. Is my problem in the oils I used? Grapeseed oil, macadamia nut oil, just one ounce of jojoba, and some walnut oil. Did you use the pure lard in large proportion to the other oils? I am assuming you mean you used lard, grapeseed, macadamia nut oil, jojoba, and walnut, all together in the batch, correct? I generally use a little less water than recommended in my soaps and it generally doesn't cause problems. The oils (besides lard) that you used (and olive oil in other batches too) would be liquid at room temperature, correct? While the lard is solid, at room temperature. I found that if I used lard, that on rare occasion the batch, if it cooled too quickly, it didn't have time to saponify (with the water/lye), and the lard went back to solid without saponifying, (this would be true of any fat that is solid at room temperature) when it did that, there were layers of water/lye along with congealed fats. That would be the separation. The liquid oils don't give you that problem. The liquid oils may not be done saponifying yet, they stay in the mixture (because they are liquid at room temperature) and don't congeal, and take their time saponifying while it is homogenous. This might happen if the room temperature was colder rather than warmer. Well, that might be a possibility. I'm a big fan of using lard, it creates a superior soap, full of lather and the bar is quite hard.
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Post by Maura on Dec 1, 2017 22:27:05 GMT
I used six pounds of lard, one pound of grapeseed oil, four ounces of walnut oil, four ounces of macadamia nut oil,2.5 ounces kukuba, one ounce of jojoba. So, top heavy with lard. I stirred a good half hour and it did thicken. I'm thinking that it needed more stirring and next time I will get a stick blender. It is setting up, but I don't know what I've actually got.
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Post by feather on Dec 1, 2017 22:37:06 GMT
I used six pounds of lard, one pound of grapeseed oil, four ounces of walnut oil, four ounces of macadamia nut oil,2.5 ounces kukuba, one ounce of jojoba. So, top heavy with lard. I stirred a good half hour and it did thicken. I'm thinking that it needed more stirring and next time I will get a stick blender. It is setting up, but I don't know what I've actually got. A stick blender may make all the difference, getting it mixed before it cools. A stick blender may emulsify it, so there are very tiny layers of water/lye and fat, which can eventually chemically react. In the mean time, you've got un saponified fat and un saponified water/lye. If the mixture is still all together in a container, you can heat it up to warm and mix it, lots, keep it warm so the chemicals can interact. The time my lard hardened before the reaction took place, I was stirring for 5 hours and it cooled too much--naturally down to room temperature during that time, while I stirred and stirred.
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Post by Maura on Dec 1, 2017 22:40:05 GMT
I've never had a batch get too cool. I have spent way too much money on making this lard soap. The current batch is my second, having tossed a much more expensive batch. I even bought new molds.
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Post by Maura on Dec 3, 2017 19:08:54 GMT
I made another batch yesterday. Lard and 28 ounces of corn oil. Even using my new stick blender, it would not trace. I remembered what you said about it getting too cool, so I put it on the stove to heat up, then stirred some more. I prayed over it. Looks like it has not separated. I think it's the blessing that did the trick.
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Post by feather on Dec 3, 2017 19:14:02 GMT
I made another batch yesterday. Lard and 28 ounces of corn oil. Even using my new stick blender, it would not trace. I remembered what you said about it getting too cool, so I put it on the stove to heat up, then stirred some more. I prayed over it. Looks like it has not separated. I think it's the blessing that did the trick. I do like the way you think, that the blessing did the trick....I feel that way often. When you add heat to a chemical reaction like saponification, it speeds the rate of of the reaction, so the little fat/oil molecules dance with the lye/water solution, a little faster. The stick blender does a similar thing, speeding the reaction. So it's all good now? Hooray!
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Post by Maura on Dec 4, 2017 15:20:54 GMT
I popped the soap out of t he molds yesterday and set them to dry. All looks well. Will try out a soap in a week or so.
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Post by feather on Dec 4, 2017 15:44:22 GMT
I opened up my previous soap spreadsheet (soap calculator), 96 oz lard, 28 oz corn oil, called for 16.3 oz lye, 44.9 oz water, makes almost 10 lbs of soap, less upon curing. A nice big batch for me is only about 7 lbs of soap. Those bigger batches have less of an issue of wrong measurements, because you don't have to be within a gram of weight to get it right.
I almost always use lard in my soap and I always put in 10-15% coconut oil, for lathering.
I'm really happy your blessed soaps turned out!
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