greasy homemade bar soap...normal?

[big brown horse]

Crock pot castile recipe- it is soft and a bit greasy. I just made it on Friday.

 

[Bettacreek]

Definately not. It was either made with not enough lye or wasn't mixed thoroughly (could either be simply lack of stirring or temp being too hot and cooking the bottom into lye heavy soap and leaving the stuff not touching the crock pot without enough lye). Since it's HP soap, just rebatch.

ETA: Make sure that your calculations for lye are correct before rebatching, so you can adjust if needed.

 

[big brown horse]

Definately not. It was either made with not enough lye or wasn't mixed thoroughly (could either be simply lack of stirring or temp being too hot and cooking the bottom into lye heavy soap and leaving the stuff not touching the crock pot without enough lye). Since it's HP soap, just rebatch.

ETA: Make sure that your calculations for lye are correct before rebatching, so you can adjust if needed.

Thank you, now how does one go about rebatching? (I didn't stir it enough to get a good stiff trace. I'll bet that is what happened.)

 

[Bettacreek]

Well, good question. Have yet to rebatch (though I've got a good 20lbs of soap that needs to be rebatched). If I remember correctly, you add just enough water to the soap in the crock pot and mix it all back up after it's had time to harden. Not sure how well it works with oily soap though to be honest.

 

[big brown horse]

I did a bit of research and I think I'm going to give it a few more days first. It isn't as greasy today as it was yesterday. I don't see grease on the surface anymore and it is hard, just a little crumbly on the edges. I don't know what to look for I guess. :/ (On a side note, it doesn't smell like feet anymore.)

 

[Bettacreek]

Just how greasy was it? If it was beads of grease, then that is normal, though people give various reasons as to why it "sweats". If it's greasy greasy, I'd rebatch. My lilac soap will sweat, but it's not "greasy" as I would describe it. If it's solid, however, it might be just fine. Let it set, then cut it and make sure the bottom isn't lye heavy.

 

[big brown horse]

Ok thanks!!

 

[freemotion]

The lye continues to saponify the oils for a few days/weeks. All veg soaps can take a bit longer. It may be better in a few days (hopefully!)

 

[Farmfresh]

You don't need to re-batch this recipe just yet. Castile soap sometimes separates like this if it is not insulated long enough. It is because it is made with a liquid oil. Try just un-wrapping it and stirring it up well with a wooden spoon. That should take care of it, but it MAY need stirred a second or even a third time.

I have never made a Hot Process soap recipe like the crock pot castile before. I am confused I guess. What is the additional heating supposed to accomplish?

The 100% olive oil castile recipe that I make has three ingredients.

52 oz of olive oil
7 oz lye
20 oz of water

I use a stick mixer and while it does take a while to trace and it definitely needs insulated, but it seems like a simpler recipe than even the crock pot one. At least to me.

 

[Bettacreek]

The crock pot saponifies everything "instantly" (ehh, over the cook time). So it's not going to saponify if it hasn't already. My CP soap is high EVOO, so it "sweats" some like a castile would, but it's not "greasy". It shouldn't look like it's seperated, but if it's just minimal sweating, it should be ok. It'll soak that sweat back into the bar. If it's truely greasy, where you've got an entire layer of grease, especially in HP (crock pot) then there's something wrong.

ETA: It will harden up a bit after a few days, however, castile is not a hard bar soap. It'll be gooey if it isn't left to dry between uses. Mine only has about 60% olive oil, but it still gets nice and gooey when it doesn't dry between uses.