Oh boy... What I did do...

[Sponiebr]

So, I haven't had a ton of time to actually "play" with soap making, because, y'know Christmas and doing "purposeful" soaps that would make nice gifts et cetera... 

 

But I got to "play" with some soap making last night, or whenever Monday night into Tuesday morning was... 

 

I made a 500g  test batch with the HTFHP and used:
Lard 51%

CO 76F 22%

Canola 20%

Castor 5%

Beeswax (refined) 2%

30% water:oil (more on this later)  
 

Replaced ALL of the water with Aloe vera juice. 

AFTER COOK:
2 tbls warm yogurt dissolved in 40 g aloe juice to bring total water content up to 38% water:oil.
1 tbls honey 
1 tbls (LEVEL 1 tbps ppo) oat flour into the aloe/honey/yogurt slop.

No FO's calculated in as well this was basically a OHM formulation and, as we all know, that needs no scent help.

Oh, did I mention I was using lard? I HATE THE SMELL OF LARD.

So lard and me have a serious hate (love... naw... I just hate the stuff.)  When I quit smoking and drinking somehow I got a sense of smell back that is pretty precise, to the point of being able to dissect recipes and FO's if I know what the smells are. All I smell with hot lard is pig manure, and it's GAGINGLY strong to me. Finished soap with lard has a similar odor, but more like cooked bacon... It's hard to describe, but it is so unique to me that I can smell it even when a soap has FO's.

Still, I used the lard, and I opened the place up until I got it to "cook" in the lye long enough to get rid of the manure smell.
The cook went just fine but I realized I wasn't going to be able to deal with the unscented bars, and because I had limited amounts of CS' FO's available in little 1oz testers I kinda had to pick and blend to make something that I thought would be "honey-esque". More on that in a minute. 
 

So the idea behind the 30% water was to cook the soap with the high temp fluid HP method until it came down to the wire and was needing to do that last little rest and loosen up phase before the pour. I calculated the formulation to use 30% water:oil and targeted 38% water to oils as my final pour ratio. It WORKED. It was a little batter like, but as a general rule it worked and it worked well. I might increase the yogurt /or the honey a tad, but this worked well. It produced a very creamy off white soap that with the FO blend was to be "acceptablely honey-esque". I wasn't prepared for what happened today when I cut the bloody loaf.

It should not surprise any of you that have been reading my posts for a while, that I have little voices in my head giving me moral and practical wisdom on how to avoid the fires of hell and/or an untimely death via bizarre circumstances... It should also not surprise any of my devoted folowee's that SOMETIMES I don't actually EMPLOY all of those moral/practical directions... o.O (don't judge me)
Last night I had another one of those whiny little creeps nagging me inside my head, droning on about "hey you might want to record some of these particulars, you know 'cause you might want to (mufgfsjkklee)..." I cut the pesky little creep off, gagged it, and threw it back into it's demented little cage in the back of my mind. I was then free to proceed blissfully unencumbered by the pedantic nagging whine of "oh... you my want to write that down.. ohyoumighwanna"  (ugh) What a nightmare! Can't you see I'm CREATING!!!!??? Lemmealone!!! ---Dammit!

So today at cut the smell that came off of that little loaf of mostly lard soap was, for lack of a better term: knee-buckling... I was SHOCKED!!! All I was trying to do was get a honey like scent from a couple of Candle Science FO'S! All I had used was Holly Berry and Snickerdoodle! That's IT!!! 

I was NOT expecting to have created the absolute of a child's pure hope for Santa Claus on Christmas morning. The scent was DIVINE! I'm still pretty amazed at the stuff. It's somewhere between warm honey dipped graham crackers and Heaven's version of Gingerbread and masala chai (made with cream). It's AHMAZING!!!     

There's one problem: I didn't write down my amounts or the ratios for the FO blend. :/ I roughly remember that it was more holly berry than snickerdoodle, or at least that's what I had intended it to be. Practically it was probably 60/40 holly berry to snickerdoodle and maybe 1/2 - 3/4 tsp. PPO.

I guess that gimpy pedantic disembodied nagging voice was right, but don't tell him that... He's already enough of a PITA jerk, he doesn't need self righteousness to "round his complex out".

Cheers,

 

Sponiebr the executor of the super max for creepy, pedantic, disembodied, whiny, nagging, know-it-all-voices inside my head... o.O
Oh, and they say "hey y'all"....

 

    

[cindym]

I'm not sure what kind of lard you are using but I have never had a smell with lard.  Lard is a great ingredient for soap,  are you burning it when you melt it.  No pig smell happening in my lard soaps.

[TallTayl]

I am one of those who can smell dirty pig yard as soon as it hits the lye solution with every single factory farmed brand of lard. "Leaf lard" is a slightly different story. It is the super flaky white fat taken from around the kidneys. That is not what is sold retail in tubs or bars, though. 

 

The Off-putting smell is enhanced with heat (your HP brings it out the worst). Good new is The stink mostly does go away with curing, sponiebr. Though I confess I can sometimes smell it in well cured bars when they are wet in use. 

 

For HP lard is a very good choice even without fancy recipes or techniques as it takes forever and a year to trace. You might find a much shorter cook time (long before the typical Vaseline) might be best. It will pour much like a well traced CP.

[Candybee]

I use Manteca lard from Walmart because that is what is sold in my area no matter what store you go to. Anyway, I don't really smell much of anything while its in the container until I heat it up. The more I have heated it the more I can smell the pig fat smell. However, for me it doesn't smell very strong so it doesn't bother me at all. Once its added into the soap batter I don't smell any 'pig' smell anymore or when its saponified.

 

I still have one soap I make that uses lard because it makes a great facial soap for acne and sensitive skin conditions. Plus my lard soap produces the best fluffy, creamy lather out of all my soaps so I have to have it in my stable of soap recipes.

[KrazeKelly]

When I don't buy the big 50lb block from Soapers choice, I use Manteca also. I don't get much smell from either. The Soapers choice does melt much more clear than the Manteca brand though. ?

 

Kelly

[Sponiebr]

5 hours ago, TallTayl said:

I am one of those who can smell dirty pig yard as soon as it hits the lye solution with every single factory farmed brand of lard. "Leaf lard" is a slightly different story. It is the super flaky white fat taken from around the kidneys. That is not what is sold retail in tubs or bars, though. 

 

The Off-putting smell is enhanced with heat (your HP brings it out the worst). Good new is The stink mostly does go away with curing, sponiebr. Though I confess I can sometimes smell it in well cured bars when they are wet in use. 

 

For HP lard is a very good choice even without fancy recipes or techniques as it takes forever and a year to trace. You might find a much shorter cook time (long before the typical Vaseline) might be best. It will pour much like a well traced CP.

Oh thank heaven's I'm not the only one that can smell that. I'm using Armour Brand Lard, it's just everywhere down here in Florida. Green, White, and red tubs or 4 gal paint bucket. About 1/2 the time it's labeled in Spanish as Manteca. (actually I'm pretty sure it's on both sides of the container...) 

Gotta love Walmart! 



It DID take a while to get to trace, almost 10 minutes, which is a long time in HP for me. I might try another batch tonight, as I really need to suss out a OHM soap for fast production. Of anything I have made, the OHM is what I get asked about. 


 

 

[Shari]

I too use lard and the only time I can pick up some of that piggy smell is if it gets too hot.  I think doing HP is likely the problem.  It may cure out with time.  Keep fingers crossed.  I just melt my lard till clear and it's just warm.  I have used the Armour brand without issue but again, I CP not HP.   I generally get the 50lbs from Soapers Choice though.

[Jcandleattic]

The few times I used lard, I could smell the fat smell, but it smelled more like a very faint bacon scent or something, not pig manure.

However, I HATE working with lard, HATE it. I don't like the way it soaps, and almost every time I've ever used a soap with lard in it, I break out. So. I just avoid the problem and don't use it in any of my recipes. LOL