Lake Neuron

Last weekend’s soap-making, as I posted, was a good introduction to the basic technique, but the resulting soap was softer than it should have been because we did not have a scale with which to measure our ingredients by weight. I haven’t thrown it out; I’ve kept the block wrapped in paper towel, in hopes of wicking away some of the excess moisture. But it’s still soft and slightly squishy. I could, once it’s cured, probably dilute it and use it for liquid hand soap or something.

Well, I tried again — this time, without Carolyn Schussler to advise me — this afternoon. So far, so good. I got a trace after about an hour and a half. The “trace” stage, in soap-making, means that the lye-and-fat mixture is thick enough that when you pick up your spoon and drizzle a stream onto the top of the mixture, it stays there.

I’m still kind of paranoid about the lye; I even took off my normal glasses and donned safety goggles from my tool box. And I didn’t think to pick up any essential oils. Homemade soap is usually scented with essential oils, not perfumes or extracts. At the time you add the scent, the soap is still chemically quite active, and it often kills the scent of perfumes or extracts by the times it’s finished curing. Also, I think the alcohol is supposed to be bad for the soap-making process somehow.

Still, I didn’t want my soap to smell like lard. I took a little peppermint extract from the cupboard and nuked it for a few seconds to evaporate some of the alcohol. I added it at the trace stage, just before pouring the mixture into molds. We’ll see how it works.

I should be able to see tomorrow whether this batch is firmer than last weekend’s. However, it will take a couple of months to cure before it can be used.

(In case you want to know about the post title, “saponification” is the process by which lye and fat react to create soap.)

Tags: Soap-making