Basic Soap Terminology & Precautions For Working With Lye.
Saponification - The chemical process of an alkaline solution combining with fatty
acids to make a salt. (Soap)
Super fat - Refers to the perctage of excess fats in the soap batter that are
unable to saponify. Leaving the soap with unsaponified fats that contribute to the
skin conditioning qualities of the soap.
Alkaline solution (lye water) - sodium hydroxide (lye) and water solution.
Trace - when your soap batter has reached the consistency of thin pudding. Or,
when you move your stick blender through the batter you can see a 'trace' of where
is was.
SAP Value of oils - Each fat has a saponification value. This simply means how many
grams of lye to grams of that particular oil that it takes to make soap. It is
different for each type of fat.
Gel Stage - When soap batter begins to heat during the chemical process of
saponification and changes into a very hot, gelatinous texture.
DOS - Dreaded Orange Spots..... DOS can occur in any bar of soap that does not
contain preservatives. Usually they occur when the oil used is old or has begun to
turn rancid. To avoid DOS use the freshest oils available.
Basic safety precautions: Wear snug fitting safety glasses/goggles and a face mask
to prevent inhaling fumes. You will also need to be wearing rubber or kitchen gloves.
Long sleeved shirts and long pants.
We will be working with lye. Lye is a caustic material. Food grade lye is used in
preparation of some foods such as lutefisk. Most people are familiar with it as used
in drain cleaners. When making soap make sure that you have 100% lye crystals.
Other drain cleaners will not make soap. If you spill or splash lye in your eyes it
could cause blindness. Flush your eyes with clean tap water for 15 min. Call 911 first
for medical attention. Then call poison control.
If you should accidentally ingest lye do NOT induce vomiting. Drink more cold tap
water. Call 911 for medical attention then poison control.
If you should splash your skin or clothing with lye water. First remove the splashed
article of clothing and flush the affected area for at least 15 min. with cold water.
Contact your physician or if severe call 911 for further medical attention.
Lye crystals have a tendency to bounce all over the place. They also are prone to
sticking to your measuring container from static electricity. Protect your work
surface with newspaper. Once you have finished your soap carefully fold up the
newspaper and discard being careful not to spill any crystals on the floor where
children or pets might come into contact with them.
Never leave lye solution or raw soap batter where children, pets, can reach as
lye and raw soap batter can be fatal if swallowed.
Never make soap when children or pets are present and could cause a distraction.
A common but dangerous myth is widely circulated on many soaping websites.
Do not ever flush a lye burn with vinegar.
Always flush with copious amounts of cool, clean tap water.
Vinegar may be used to wipe up your work area after wiping with a papertowel and
water.
Never use aluminum utensils or containers while making soap. Aluminum and lye
water will produce a poisonous gas. Heat resistant plastic, pyrex glass, or stainless
equipment is safe. (Check out your local Goodwill, Savers, or thrift store)
These precautions do sound scary. Some down right terrifying. But, if you cook
meals for your family using boiling liquids you are already following many of the same
safety precautions daily. With soap making, we just add a few more precautions.
Every time you make soap always check your recipe with a lye calculator. It takes a
precise amount of lye solution to change a specific amount of oils into soap. If you
measure incorrectly you may end up with lye heavy soap. This is a bad thing! Lye
heavy soap will burn your skin. This is why almost all soap used on skin is made with
a certain percentage of super fat. As described above, all this means is there is
more oil in the recipe needed to change the amount of lye used into soap. Kind of
like an insurance policy. You can find lye calculators online at many websites. A
basic lye calculator can be found on Brambleberry.com. It's really easy to use and
we will go over that in class.
Always use a silicone, heat resistant plastic, or stainless steel spoon or spatula to
stir lye solutions and raw soap batter.
Remember - Never use aluminum utensil or containers as they will react in a bad way
with the lye solution. Wooden spoons are also not recommended as the lye solution
will begin to break down the wood. Eventually you will end up with wood splinters in
your soap.
Never add the water to the lye crystals! This could cause your lye to 'volcano'. A
lye volcano will cause the solution to shoot up and out of the container all over you
and your work area. A lye volcano is definitely something you do not want to
experience.
Always slowly add your lye crystals to your water while gently stirring.
You will
want to be sure you are in a well ventilated area or even outside. Lye and water will
create fumes that are very dangerous if inhaled. These same fumes can also
irritate your skin. Similar to a sunburn so be sure to wear rubber or household
gloves while stirring your lye solution. You will notice that your lye solution will be
cloudy at first and will rapidly heat up. You will stir your lye solution gently until all
lye crystals are dissolved. Once all the crystals are dissolved set the solution aside
in a safe place to cool while you measure your oils.
It is widely recommended that soap be made with distilled water. This insures
there are no impurities that may react poorly with our soap batter. Now, you
certainly do not have to use distilled water once you have a few batches under your
belt. Many soapmakers do not use distilled water but prefer their tap water,
collected rain water, spring water. Today for this class we will be using distilled
water.
Never use your soap making equipment to cook with.
Once you have finished soapmaking flush any equipment that has been used with the
lye solution with clean water. Items with raw soap batter on them should also be
rinsed. Once everything is rinsed you should wash everything with hot soapy water.
Rinse throughly and let them air dry. Some soapers also run all their equipment
through a cycle in the dishwasher as well. It is not necessary but if it makes you
feel more comfortable then go right ahead.
Most soap can be removed from the mold within 24 hours. If the soap is still soft or
sticky you can leave it longer. As long as you have followed your recipe carefully
your soap should be fine to use after 24 hours.
It will benefit from a 4 - 6 weeks
rest period or cure. During this period your soap will become slightly lower in ph and
mild. But, more importantly, it needs this cure time for the excess water to
evaporate and make to become a harder bar of soap. No one wants to shower with a
bar of soap that will turn to mush when it gets wet. Personally, I have also noticed
that the bars I have let cure longer seem to have a much nicer lather. And finally,
Before you use your soap or give any away you will need to test it with ph strips or
give a 'zap' test. I use the zap test method. It's super simple. Take a bar of
your new soap and gently stick your tongue to it. If it is lye heavy you will feel a
tingle or 'zap' Much like touching your tongue to a 9V battery.
If you do get
zapped your soap is not a total failure yet. There are steps we can take to salvage
your soap.
You can re-batch your soap. We will not have time to cover that here
but if you should need to do this you can contact me and we can go through the steps
to save your soap.