Nothing lazy about you Uncle Jon! You're calm, rational, to the point and a great teacher! You don't make us feel stupid or inexperienced, and you explain things very well!❤❤❤
As a new soapmaker, two batches under my belt, it's really good to be able to hear from other folk. I appreciate your honest and frank appraisal of the various issues you discuss in your videos and have learnt quite a lot from you. Many thanks, Nick.
I made a Christmas soap that had glycerin rivers and it looked awesome, there was a swirly throughout the soap that looked like it was going round and round and we called it Christmas swirl. It was beautiful. I love your channel and how chill you talk to the camera, like you’re just having a conversation with us on the other side of the porch.
I agree with you on evaporation. I can use my cp soap within 24 hours for myself. The only difference is it doesn't last as long. I cure 4 weeks for selling but if I am crammed I let it go at 3 weeks. No problems at all.
For me, myself and I, I don't wait to use it. If I've put a lot of herbs or oats and such in it, I learned to let it get dry enough so the additives won't mold. We just stored ours in the dish pan we stirred it in, let it set overnight, cut it in chunks, popped it loose from the pan, separated the pieces and covered the pan with a towel, on a shelf, behind the washing machine. Done.
I'm new to soap making and finding your videos was the best tool I have found! I'm so happy I found your videos! It has helped me to lose my fear at soap making and also to save time and money 😊. Thanks!
I'm a beginner making soap, but in my last recipes, I noticed that in less than a week, I can use the soap without any discomfort in my skin...and without making water discount. Maybe is the oils I used🤷♀️...or the recipe, but I liked it. Thanks for sharing your experiences and good information. 🙏
Heard ya loud and clear...I'd add in though that there is a max to how much water you can discount. There must be at least a 1:1 ratio of water to lye for the lye to absorb into the water. If this does not happen the soap wont properly sapponify. This is where playing with a good soap calculator comes in handy
@@jasonstouder i know it from science. Lye absorbs water on a 1 to 1 ratio. If you have less water than lye the lye cannot fully dissolve. You don’t have to do something yourself to know something about it.
Ok. You are a riot! Love watching you! I get what you say about this and like you, was told I should never make soap when I asked someone to teach me. Here was my conclusion to her answer as to why I shouldn't make soap... She is jealous of the fact that things just come easy to me. I'm able to watch,listen, understand and become successful with whatever I want to do and I have with my soaps! I follow rules to an extent, and mostly my own. I also render down my own animal fats to make a beautiful old fashioned bar with a modern twist to them. That's why I am me and not a cookie cutter crafter. Been making soaps for last 7 years with cp and hp at least, and loving every process and turn out. I had 1 hp batch volcano in my kitchen and I was able to not only save it but got more bars from it and it was the same size batch as the one I did before. Not sure how or why it did that, but hey, enjoy the process right? And that was one of my best selling bars.. wait, there are so many that sold out quickly. For me also, money comes to play and so when making soap, I use what I have or can afford. I'm not a big business yet.. that I'm working towards. Being disabled does have limits in some fields. 1 is money and 2 not allowed to drive due to medical reasons but I never let that stop me ever from doing what I love to do! Maybe in the spring I'll be up and running and on the road ,(Hubby driving). Anyway, those "imperfections", I don't get it.. that's what makes handmade soap perfect and different than the cookie cutter ones that are full of who knows what and honestly, are we sure they washed their hands and wore gloves after relieving themselves? At least I know what's in my soaps and at the end of the day,I can stand behind what I make and say; hey, there is nothing in my soap that will hurt anyone. Even my fragrance and dye free soaps. Completely all natural. So keep up the great work John. P.s. when I started out, I used Pringle cans lined with freezer paper and cardboard cartons from eggs and etc until we took scrap materials and made some. And I still use freezer paper for now. But I am looking into making my own silicone or rubber inserts for my molds.. one day soon hopefully! And I still use Pringles cans for the fun round shape.
I like a heavy water discount in my castile soap. I have to cut at 18 or so hours or it gets to hard.. rebel rebel lol...I soap at room temp to a little warm. I used to do hot process. Soponification is done in a bar (that nothing went crazy in) minimum in a week for cold process and in a few hours for hot process. Then its just getting the bar to be hard so it doesn't melt as fast... to be honest though after 2 weeks if there is a water discount the evaporation rate levels out.
I am new to soap making, really enjoyed this video, I did notice my first few batch of an all white soap, had glycerin river, then I read somewhere and reduced the water and still checked it on lye soapcalc and checked the ph level, everything checked out and I ended with the perfect all white soap bar so creamy and beautiful. I also mixed at a lower temperature 80F.
I have always been a little foggy on this. This helped a lot. I like a 20% discount for my 100% coconut oil bars. Love the bubbles and how hard it is. Never dry with that recipe.
I've tried sodium lactate, and I can't get it to work. I like using a water discount better. In terms of "is this soap safe" I answer that question by using it myself. Once I get a standard recipe, and know how long it takes to cure, I should be all set. For now, though, I have an assortment of bars in my bathroom. At least I don't have to worry about running out?
I am so glad I stumbled on your videos this evening! Thank you for this ... I have been wondering about water discounts. Like you, if someone says I can't do something, I say "Watch me!" You've helped me gain a little more confidence on discounting my water and maybe having my soaps set up faster.
I have doubt that why do we need to add extra water to dry out, wt happens if we make soap with only 50/50 lye/water solution without adding extra water, so that we doesnt need to dry them for 4 weeks... I think it will be ready in a week. I m just asking, can we do this? Thanks for ur reply in advance.
Hey! I never piped a single thing (in my life) before and certainly not a cake! R U nuts?! But oh my goodness I love to pipe frosting on top of the soap! It is so much fun, hope you will get a handful of piping tips and try it too! After all if I can do it - you can do it! IJS! It’s just soap! -Momo
I’m new to soap making, so I’ve been learning & trying to comprehend about water discount, so I thank you for explaining. What’s your opinion when having 4 ingredients like olive oil 30%, coconut 60%, castor 10%, Lye ...then coconut milk in place of distilled water with 25% super-fat calculated in recipe, so not to dry out skin? Is the coconut milk considered as water discount or is it the same, I’m confusing myself!🤣
Not tó bad. I would lower the castor oil to 5% and make it up with one of the other oils. Also, not sure if the cocon6milk will add much to the soap but it could be worth a shot.
I live in Malaysia, I think full water is not really suitable in my country. Cp soap will be take so long long time to cure. In a week, your 60gram soap will only lost 1 gram of water. It might takes a year to fully cured. . I use lye to water, 1:1.50 for full coconut+palm oil recipe. . While for 50% hard oil + 50% soft oil with 7% lye discount, I only times my lye amount with 1.1x, to get the number for my water. . I use cavity silicone mould. So far, nothing bad happen with this formula. . Yup, if you use higher amount of hard oil like 60% above, the formula will gone wild & very hot if you use 1.1x water to lye. It will hard enough to unmould within 4-6 hours only. . I already done a few small testing batch lately & that's what I found.
Please clarify something about superfatting, water discounting and lye discounting. I've watched your videos, and other videos, and read online to learn what each one of these is and does. Is it correct to say that discounting water or lye is technically superfatting because a higher oil ratio results? If so, is it also correct that adding extra oil is discounting a recipe's water and lye ratio? Aside from the pros and cons of these techniques, I want to make sure I understand how they relate to each other. It seems like the three act as a balance and counterbalance by default. Great video as always. Thanks for the straight talk.
So.. there's a lot here...lol. Discounting water does nothing for superfat. It just makes the soap cure a little faster or at least able to take out of the mold quicker. Taking away lye is the same as adding more oil basically. Just different ways of getting the same end result. It's better to go with adding oil than tryi g to discount lye.
@@unclejonssoap >>>>Taking away lye is the same as adding more oil basically. Just different ways of getting the same end result. Thanks for confirming what reddit could not.
Thanks for the informational video. Where do you keep your soap to cure? Do you cover the bars with paper towel or something else so they don’t get dusty? Thanks a lot!
every time i water discount -_- my soap volcanos. i do Hot process and it does finish VERY quickly but makes it very difficult to pour and to add color and scents.
I've seen videos where people pour the lye straight in the hard oils to melt them. Is that water discounting or is it just taking it away form the lye solution?
Neither really. It's just a way to melt the oils in one less step. The water and lye proportions are the same. I prefer to have my solid oils melted before had though just to make sure 😁
Hi Jon, just found you on RU-vid. Love your advice. Can you explain superfat with cold process soaping and will superfat help with making my soap moisturizing? I just started making cold process soap and I feel like it leaves my skin dry. Any advice? Thanks and keep those videos coming.
Hey there! So.. there's no easy answer really. More super fat could help with being less drying. But it also depends on your recipe and proportions. Sometimes, the drying feeling is really just a diff6tyoe of clean. Super fat is basically just more oil than the recipe needs to make soap while leaving no active lye behind. I just wouldn't go too high on that percentage because it could make the soap dissolve too quickly or go rancid.
Hi there, firstly I just want to say thank you for sharing clear concise information. I really appreciate it. I have a couple of very basic questions if you have a minute. Is it ok to not use glycerine and just use coconut and olive oil? & I've bought silicone moulds and was wondering how long to leave them in the moulds for? I am assuming not using glycerine my curing will be around 5 or 6 months. I appreciate you may be busy so no stress with the questions. Have a good week brother James : )
Yep.. I don't add extra glycerine since the process produces glycerine. I've found that using silicone molds makes it take a little longer to get the soap out of the mold. Cure time, once out of the mold should be 4 to 6 weeks roughly. Hope that helps.
How long to leave them in the molds will depend on temp, humidity, etc.. so you're going to have to experiment a little to see when the soap is ready to come out unfortunately. Freezing the soap for a little while after it has been in the molds a day or two should help to remove them easily.
I don’t bake either.😜 And don’t “feel” ur lye water again without it actually being in ur hand. That looked weird! 😂😂 JK! You are really a great source of info. I appreciate you.👍😁 I’m with ya on the cure time thing. 👍 Thanx for the video.
What's the rule with salt adding? I like the sound of that. I make ugly hot soap. I'm too impatient and I hate the ash layer I always get with cold process.
About a teaspoon pretty young of oils to start. Add the salt to your lye water and let dissolve before actually adding the lye. But be prepared to cut way sooner!
I wouldn't discount the water at all and just as a couple others of the aloe. Just keep in mind that aloe doesn't really do much in handmade soaps since it's a wash off product and the saponifies night mess with the gel and some of its properties. Just food for thought.
Uncle Reddit thank you so much. It makes senses to me. I only use the leftovers since I make juice to my family to drink occasionally. But I would rather use it for hair then. Thank you!
I dont know how its gonna feel yet but I switched water with concentrated goat milk ice cubes, then I also added the liquid goats milk that the recipe called for. That was my 3rd batch that I've made. Still a beginner.
@@unclejonssoap just an experiment. I milk a goat so I froze some. Unlike cows milk, goat milk separates. I poured off the whey and froze the more solid part. One cube equaled about one and a half ounce. It'll be 2 months during around the middle of may but after watching your video, I may go ahead and try it.
Hey boss man, you might have answered this before, but i haven't found it yet. The soy wax you use, what would it be in the soapcalc? I made my first batch the other day. Just waiting on it to cure. I think it'll be ready by the weekend! Whats your take on stamping logos in the soap?
Howdy Uncle Jon! I understand you are lazy, cuz hey, why not; but would you please explain how water discounts are figured in when using additives like avocado for instance or other types of additives other than FO, EO's or colorants.. if you feel like it of course..For example if I want to use avocado because it will become liquid do you just substitute the water for the avocado, I'm thinking no but I would really like if it if someone would explain how water discounting is used into these type additives and how to figure the amounts needed ...
lol... I think I can do that. But, for now... adding things like avocado, pumpkin puree, etc... you should either plan on deleting some of that weight in water since the organic matter will turn mostly liquid. Also, the avocado has some oil content. So that will throw off your super fat a little. Unfortunately, there really is no hard and fast rule as to how much water to discount for adding organics like these. You can run the recipe at full water plus the add-ons but it will just take longer to trace and cure. A lot of this is up to experimentation since everyone does it differently. I would keep the avocado type additives low at first. They really are a little more difficult to work with and can be frustrating.
@@unclejonssoap Wow thanks Uncle Jon, thats the fastest reply I've got to date! You are not lazy today, you are gettin it done! Got it I think... To be safe then would it make sense to not use 100% of a puree as the water for the water/lye solution since part of it is also a solid..so like maybe a 90% puree 10% water of the water weight..(just an example) Hope you had a great Halloween!
