Posted by Stephen J (12.83.109.76) on March 24, 2003 at 22:53:07:
I was given a recipe (this was my first batch of soap ever) that stated - 12 oz lye, 3 pounds of Lard, 3 cups of water. Disolve Lye in Water.. Add Lard.. mix until it's "like pudding"..
Sounded too easy to be true.. I chose to use a full 18 oz can of lye and 4.5 pounds of lard + 4.5 cups of water.
Day 1 -
Needless to say.. I don't think the soap is "quite right" It didn't seem to be setting / the lard was not dissolving, so I scooped out the lard and heated it... then added it back to the lye (which was now cooling off quite a bit!) and mixed like heck until it seemed to get a little more solid.
Day 2 -
It was still a gloppy mess, so I decided (my own blame factor here!) that after further research.. (I knew now that my lye / fat ratio was terribly wrong and that the temps were also wrong) I decided to just heat it all up on the stove and hope for the Soap-God to rescue me from my mess. (this was a HUGE batch of terribly yucky stuff!)
Ooops.. my phone rang.. and even though the stove was on super low.. the "soap" began boiling.. lye water separted out, and my stove and surrounding areas are QUITE a mess now! The bottom of the crock also broke and all the lye-water drained out... leaving me a huge chunk of rather hard white soap like substance. I am scared to use it for the lye and a strange reddish brown discoloration at the bottom of the batch. I don't want to waste it if it can be saved or otherwise used though...
SO..
Any idea?
Stephen
PS. I have since made a nice small batch with 8oz lard, 15 oz olive oil, 1.5 oz coconut oil, and 3.2 oz of lye. So far it seems much more "normal". I used Elaine Whites Sap Tables, so I think this one should be a nice batch. I just want it to cure so I can use it!!