jeanie353 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) You are correct I've never put my mold in the frig, but if you don't want it to gel it might help with thatOk...that sounds nice and easy. So there is no specific amount of water to lye ratio we need to be aware of to avoid causing it to either not dissolve or heat up too much?I'll rephrase that....would there be a ratio too low that may cause too much heat or not dissolving?Also, I grabbed the wrong quote to attach...oops Edited February 21, 2012 by jeanie353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidsngarden Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 The lowest you should go with your lye to water ratio is 50/50 so say 4 oz lye to 4 oz water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanie353 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 The lowest you should go with your lye to water ratio is 50/50 so say 4 oz lye to 4 oz water.Great...TY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) Jeanie-- When I make a milk soap like coconut milk, goat milk, etc. I don't do a water discount. I use the highest amount of water for my soap batch. I use soapcalc.net and go with their default water setting. I think its set at 38%. This will give you a higher water to lye ratio. I learned you don't want to have too little water when making your lye solution. I've had my lye act weird and crystalize and harden on me when I did. That happened to me on a batch I did with a water discount.So if my liquid is 18 oz I then use half water and half milk. I chill 9oz of my milk beforehand. When I make the lye solution I would use 9 oz of distilled water. When I get to light trace then I add the chilled milk. You can use coconut milk, buttermilk, goat milk, almond milk, etc. whatever.For all my regular soaps I usually do a water discount at 33%. Hope that makes sense. Edited February 21, 2012 by Candybee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidsngarden Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Lye is not totally pure and I always strain my solution through a mesh strainer after it is cooled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Lye is not totally pure and I always strain my solution through a mesh strainer after it is cooled.Would you elaborate? What else would be in the lye? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanie353 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Jeanie-- When I make a milk soap like coconut milk, goat milk, etc. I don't do a water discount. I use the highest amount of water for my soap batch. I use soapcalc.net and go with their default water setting. I think its set at 38%. This will give you a higher water to lye ratio. I learned you don't want to have too little water when making your lye solution. I've had my lye act weird and crystalize and harden on me when I did. That happened to me on a batch I did with a water discount.So if my liquid is 18 oz I then use half water and half milk. I chill 9oz of my milk beforehand. When I make the lye solution I would use 9 oz of distilled water. When I get to light trace then I add the chilled milk. You can use coconut milk, buttermilk, goat milk, almond milk, etc. whatever.For all my regular soaps I usually do a water discount at 33%. Hope that makes sense.That makes sense to me, yes. I will use the default water setting and use soapcalc.net for this. Knowing I want many to most of my soaps to have milk(s) in them, I had to get this all figured out before I actually had the stuff all set to go. You guys have been a great help. I would of made some costly mistakes without the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewls819 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Such great info...thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidsngarden Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Would you elaborate? What else would be in the lye?I have to be honest, I don't really know. sometimes there are trace little black or gray things, I mean TINY - and I buy my lye from reputable suppliers. I just read it somewhere and have always strained it. but I don't if I'm making 100% milk soap because I can't due to the high fats of the milk. It doesn't seem to affect the soap. Also, when you make large batches of 50/50 lye like I do, there tends to be crystalization on top after cooling. I shake it up (it's stored in gallon jugs) and strain it again before adding it to my soap and there are always a few crystals here and there that I am glad are NOT in my soap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Thanks Bethany! I have noticed when I pour my lye crystals in my water there are sometimes a speck or two of something dark or brown in it. I usually just fish it out of my lye water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soycrazy Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Just like KOH it's not 100% pure, but I wonder if the food grade one would be? Anyone know? I get the crust on top on occasion usually when it's too cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 I wanted to bring back this thread to give an update on the soap results for my fine grind oatmeal I made. If you recall from reading this thread I ground my own whole rolled oats, ran them through a sifter, and ended up with a super fine ground oatmeal flour.So far I have made several soaps using the fine ground oat flour I made. I had to let them cure so I have just started using them. I was happy that I got a nice exfoliating texture from it when using the oatmeal soap. There is 'scrubby' feeling from it as there is a gritty texture to the oatmeal. So I find it perfect for an oatmeal scrub type soap.However, I still want an oatmeal with a super soft texture and no scrubby feeling. In other words, I want the soap to have the benefits of soothing oatmeal without the scrub. So I want to try a couple of things:1. soaking the oatmeal prior to putting in my soap batch; seperating the softened (soaked) oatmeal and reserving the oatmilk for my lye solution2. try some baby oatmeal from the baby food section of the supermarket. If I recall baby cereal is 'flaked'. Anyway, it can't hurt to try.3. my last idea is to try actual oat flour from the baking section of the supermarket. The oats are ground similar to wheat to make 'flour' for baking. If the oat flour works it might be the cheapest and easiest out of all the methods. Or, the oatflour may end up with the exact same results as my super fine home ground oatflour. Don't know til I give it a try.Can you tell I am on a quest for the perfect soft soothing oatmeal soap?!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidsngarden Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Yes on the baby food oatmeal. You will have no scrubbiness at all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 Yes on the baby food oatmeal. You will have no scrubbiness at all!Glad to hear this. This was the first one I wanted to try. My only concern is how the baby oatmeal is processed and how much of the whole oat is used and if there are any additives. Lastly, does any of this effect the benefits of the oats in the finished soap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidsngarden Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 I now use it in my OMH soap and people LOVE it. I feel it offers far more oatmeal "value" than soaps with scrubby oatmeal! and there are very few additives cause it's baby food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 I now use it in my OMH soap and people LOVE it. I feel it offers far more oatmeal "value" than soaps with scrubby oatmeal! and there are very few additives cause it's baby food.Would you mind elaborating what you mean when you say it offers far more oatmeal value? As in more oatmeal benefits or more value in price? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidsngarden Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Meaning that it is more gentle and soothing on the skin than scrubby oatmeal. It is what my customers with eczema prefer. The scrubbiness of regular oatmeal does not feel good on already irritated skin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 Meaning that it is more gentle and soothing on the skin than scrubby oatmeal. It is what my customers with eczema prefer. The scrubbiness of regular oatmeal does not feel good on already irritated skin!That makes sense! Thanks for clarifying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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