Sunday 12 February 2012

Revisit Water Discounted Soap...


Remember this crumbling rock hard goat milk soap?

Well, it has turned into a fabulous bar!!  The creamiest milk soap I ever made. Wonderful, rich, bubbly suds. The scent has stayed really well.  It is also ROCK hard.
So, my questions to you are:
Do you discount the liquid & why?  Or why not?
What differences have you found in the finished soap when discounting?
Maybe just maybe, I have found that the suds are slightly more difficult to wash off?  But there may be other factors involved so I am interested in others' experiences with water/liquid quantity differences in soaps.
The soap was made with 100% goat milk and the water discount was 36%.



I wish the photo were better... but can you see how milky the bar is?

Eager for your comments!

xo
Jen

14 comments:

Nitya said...

Oh goodness!! What did you put in it Jennifer, the lather is awesome! Really love the milky look the soap has. I have always used a lye concentration of about 30% and when I soap in Indian temperatures it is hard to do a water discount...the soap already traces too fast.

Jennifer Young said...

Nitya, Thanks for your comment. Glad you like the look of the lather! I like the milkiness of this soap too. I hope I can get some more feedback on water discounts!!! Are you back in India? xoxo Jen

Tierra Verde Handmade Soap said...

Wow!that soap has loads of lather.

Mimi said...

I love the look of the soap and the lather looks great! I'll be honest and admit that I could never really figure out the exact formula for water discounts, but when making a 3 pound batch I use 2 oz less than the recommended amount of liquids. If the recipe calls for 11.5 ounces of liquids, I would add 9.5 ounces of water. What I found is that the soap does crack when I cut it from the mold. As it cures it doesn't look as smooth as I'd like it to. The cracking is always a problem when I don't use the recommended amount of water. I do wonder if using 30% of coconut oil has anything to do with it. I truly appreciate your work on the blog! :-)

bbee said...

I do water discount down to 15%, that is almost water:naoh = 1:1. I specially do that when i make soaps with high amount of olive oil. But i always uses single molds for the soap. So i don´t know how it will be with a block of soap.

I love the water discounted soap, because they are hard and have a great latter. They stay in shape and have a very smooth surface. I just love that.

When i make "normal" soap, i use water between 25% - 30%, depends on the oils and the design of the soap.

Unknown said...

Since I live in dried southern France, I respect the proportion of traditional recipe of "Savon de Marseille" oil 72%:water 28%. so, useally between 28-30%. and when I use soft oils, alkalinity is about 45%, hard oils are about 35%.

by the way, I love this milky soap! lovely warmly color!

bisous
Mika

Jennifer Young said...

Mimi, Thank you so much for your input. I guess the mystery in soap making is what keeps it so intesting and keeps us addicted??? xo Jen

Bbee, Thanks for your comment!! I am confused with all of these numbers... so 15% water discount is 50:50 ratio? Lye x 1,5 would be a 40% (discount?) or water as % of soap or lye concentration? Hope you can clarify this for me!! Another question - when you calculate the quantity of water, do you subtract the amount of Essential oils? (count them as part of the liquid?) xoxox Jen

Mika, Thank you for your comment!! Loving your soaps!!! xoxox Jen

Donna OShaughnessy said...

The lye calculator I use will give me an exact amt of lye to use (based on the oils I plug into the formula) but will only give me a range say 10-14 oz of liquid to use. So for my noraml bars I split the difference and would use 12 oz of water. Only in the past two months have a measured the exact volume of the EO's and used them as part of the liquid measurement. My soaps are coming out much nicer.

With my HP soaps I often add extra water, EO's without measuring and when the consistency "looks" right I mold them and they always seem to turn out well. go figure. Thanks Jen for doing all the investigative work!

Unknown said...

I THINK, water:NaOH = 1:1 =water as percent of oil weight is 15%. so lye Concentration is about 49%. am I right???

Blanca said...

Hola Jen.
Yo trabajo siempre con un 8% de sobreengrasado y un 35% de concentación de agua.
Los jabones son duros.
Mis jabones de leche de cabra son más oscuros,¿le has puesto dióxido de titánio?.
El jabón se ve estupendo con una espuma maravillosa.
Un beso.
Blanca.

Two Blooms Design Studio said...

Jen,

I use a lye calculator that just figures out the recipe and doesn't allow for a water discount but comparing it to Soapcalc it's about 33 or 34% (something like that) can't remember the exact number now as I did a whole experiment awhile back.

This bar looks wonderful and creamy probably due to the goat's milk.

bbee said...

hi jennifer, sorry for the confusion. i am always talking about the water as percent of the oils.
it´s like Mika explained it. thank you Mika.

i don´t count the essential oils as liquid.

hope everything is clear now.

Jennifer Young said...

Donna, Thank you for your comment. I have used the MMS calculator for a while but may be switching over the Soap Calc one. One of these days, i gotta try Hot Process!! I know the scent sticks more, I just don't like the look of them that much... xoxo Jen

Mika, Thank you for clarifying this!! xo

Blanca, Muchas gracias por tu comentario. Creo que 35% crea jabones muy duros y lisos. Mis jabones de leche de cabra... mmm... cada lote resulta un diferente color!! Algunos mas oscuros y otros como este tan ligero y cremoso. Creo que es por la temperatura. Me gustarían que todos resultaran como este. No uso nada de Titanium Dioxide. Simplemente no deja que la mezcal de sosa sube por encima de 40º, en ningún momento. Luego no cubro el molde y lo dejo en un lugar frio. Sigo experimentando para encontrar el secreto exacto de color cremoso de jabones de leche de cabra. xoxo jen

Michelle, Two Blooms, Thanks for your comment. 34% looks great. I have been slowly coming down in liquid for a while now and am finally coming to my favourite liquid discount I think. This one, ROCK HARD, turned out surprisingly nice. I do like goat milk in soap.

Bbee, Thank you for the clarification!!!! xoxo Jen

Zikhona Tefu said...

So, Jen, do you do a 34% or a 36% Lye concentration? I am interested to know, because since I've started water discounting my bars are harder, but dont looke smooth, but rather bumpy. I've been playing between 34 and36% lye concentration. Maybe 33% is safest? Do you stick to a specific number?

Thank you
Zik