Bath Bomb Press (Maker)

Lip Balm and Pouring Trays

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Lye Tanks

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Professional Air Soap Cutter System

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Scales (General) - (Troubleshooting)

Hot Process Soap

Shipping

Question:

I am interested in producing bars that are 2-1/2" high by 1-5/8" wide by 5/8" thick. Do you see any problem with drying a bar of soap this size, such as curling while curing? Is there difficulty in cutting a bar so small?

Answer:

You can stack bars on edge, as thin as 3/8", kind of like dominoes and then on top of the row lay other bars flat to bind the row. Bind two rows together with this same layer. Space the bars on edge about 1/8” (3mm) apart This way you can move them on trays and it allows them to dry quickly without warping and without needing to turn them. There is no difficulty in cutting a bar this size.

Question:

How do you go about mixing the sodium hydroxide with the water for such big batches of soap?

Answer:

For mixing your sodium hydroxide (lye) you can simply mix it in a five gallon plastic bucket, using one bucket per mold/batch. You can use one of our NaOH (Lye) Tanks and gravity feed it into the Pot Tipper sitting on a floor scale. You can put a scale below the tank valve, zero it out and empty into a bucket.

Question:

When must soaps be cut?

Answer:

Generally you cut immediately upon de-molding. If you are asking, when can you de-mold and cut then this depends on individual conditions, temperature of the room, how you cover it, oils used, etc. but usually around 48 to 72 hours for Air Soap Cutter molds, 24 to 48 hours for Manual Soap Cutter molds, overnight for the Block and Loaf molds. HP Processed cut as soon as possible.

Question:

What type of natural preservatives do you use to protect your soaps. Right now I am not using any and some soaps go rancid and some do not, usually the light colored ones.

Answer:

If made properly and saponified fully, soap will last several years. I am sure you are making it properly so I imagine it is oxidation. Some oils and EOs are prone to this.

Using a good food grade sodium hydroxide is important for consistency. Of course you do need fresh oils but I have kept olive oil for two years with no difficulty. There are different compounds you can try. We used to use Rosemary Extract.

Contact: Rockland Foods in NY, 914-358-8600 - ask for information on Stabil enhance-OSR liquid product #2601. They should be able to email you some technical information. I forget what the cost is. It has been several years but a gallon lasted us about three years.

We used 11 grams per 54 lbs of oil. Very little is needed. You can also put it in your olive oil to get more life out of it. This does make a slightly darker shade on your soap even though it is a tiny amount. You want to shake it when you use it and keep it in a dark place. Every few months warm it to about 120F, then shake it up.

Vitamin E (natural) helps but is expensive. There are other products that are available.

Question:

You say on your site that the Pot Whipper will reduce my tracing time and give me a better blend of ingredients. Can you give me an idea as to what my tracing time might be using the Pot Whipper?

Answer:

Generally speaking, your tracing time will be between 5 to 7 minutes, depending upon your batch.

Question:

Can you give me some advice on soap coloring and swirling? There is very little information and I am a bit desperate. We have pigments here but they are not dissolving. Do you know anything about that?

Answer:

If you could tell me the kind of pigments you got and where, it would help possibly. Some are water-soluble and some are oil soluble. It sometimes helps to heat the medium (water/oil) to around 180 F to dissolve.

When we would swirl soap, we would use anywhere from 1/4th to 1/3rd of the entire batch to make the swirl color. It was sometimes difficult to incorporate the scent in the swirl color since it could be getting pretty thick by the time the main pour was made. We would just put all of scent in the base and not divide it up into the swirl solution.

Pour the soap with the swirl color, into the tray in an S pattern, back and forth. Then using a spatula, just swirl it around either across this pattern or with it. Experimentation will show you what look that you prefer. You can do the same with large block molds by just layering it up. Here are some sites that give tips on swirling.

http://www.halderman.net/soap/instructions/cpswirling.htm

http://www.geocities.com/blueaspenoriginals/how_to_swirl.html

http://www.teachsoap.com/swirlsoap.html

Question:

I want to produce soap in large quantities but in single molds with a 3D look and hopefully with a logo. Would this be cost effective?

Answer:

M&P (melt & pour) soap works well with single cavity molds but CP (cold processed) does not. The soap must go through a saponification stage where the sodium hydroxide / water and oils combine to form soap and glycerin. Heat generated by this process, helps in the conversion of the oils. Small cavity molds do not allow the soap to fully develop and finish off and you get an inferior quality soap. You also generally get ash on the top of the bar that must be removed by scraping it off, again displaying incomplete conversion of oils.

M&P would be fine for single cavity, 3D molds but it is not cost effective for CP production. M&P can be cooled rapidly and de-molded fairly quickly,. CP must sit for 12 hours or more, even in the small cavity molds. Large production of M&P has it's problems which we can explain if you like.

80 Gal. NaOH Tank

Question:

You said that I can add my goats milk into the oils instead of when I mix my lye/water solution. Will this affect the lasting quality of the soap over the old tried and true method of mixing in with the lye/water.

Answer:

That is correct. You can just put the goats milk into your oils, then mix in the lye/water or put in the lye/water into the oils, then the milk, it doesn't matter. The reason that someone originally and probably thought they had to put the milk into the lye/water, at the same time the lye/water was mixed, is because they probably considered it as part of the water. And.....they probably didn't think past this solution since they were making small batches for friends and family.

You see, most of the early books on soapmaking were written by people making small batches without much care to production and efficiency. There was little need for a "better way".

Some of this filters down into what I call, < Urban Legend >. One very good example of this is pouring in your lye. There is no need to dribble it in, you just dump it in. It is amazing the bad habits I run across regularly that people have passed down to others.

You can also let the lye cool down completely to almost room temperature, then add the milk. It will increase in temperature a little due to reacting with the new liquid but it won't scald your milk. If you are doing multiple batches you can do this in the lye tank. With a little observation and note taking you will soon know exactly what temperatures you will have.

There are probably other ways to add milk that I haven't thought of but rest assured, your soap will last just as long both ways, if everything else in the formula is just the same. The method of incorporating the milk will make no difference. Matter-of-fact, if you think about it, your milk will be going through less stress and fewer temperature changes, so your actual end product should by all rights be of higher quality.

Question:

The drying racks are wonderful, but from there should they (Soap Bars) be in cardboard, plastic, bins, open, or closed or what??? (until they (Soap Bars) get into stores)

Answer:

You can just push the soap together on a drying tray and then put a piece of liner paper or butcher paper over the tray. This holds the scent in better than spaced apart, yet lets the soap breath.

However, you can put them in cardboard boxes but make sure there is some breathing room on top and don't line with plastic. In humid climates the soap can sweat, if too tightly enclosed. Plastic bins work but should be vented in humid climates.

If you are in a dry climate, you may find you can store in air tight containers or tightly packed in boxes.