OriginalFace said:
So, based on a small quantity, cold process recipe, i'm guessing:
300 ml olive oil
300 ml coconut oil
300 ml palm oil
100 ml jojoba oil
50 g MHRB
50 g lye
150 ml water
Dissolve lye in water and allow to cool to about 35 deg C
Warm mixure of oils to about 35 deg C and stir in MHRB a little at a time until well blended
Add this mixture to the lye solution
Stir like the wind until an emulsion starts to form and pour into molds
Leave 3 days to finish saponifaction, remove from molds and dry
Comments please?
OF
Hi again,
Your numbers are a way off, you really do not need loads of coconut, palm or jojoba oil (esp jojoba which is expensive and does not have many saponifiable fats!). You would also need much more lye for the amount of fats you state.
A good recipe would be:
300g olive oil
100g coconut oil
100g palm oil
25g jojoba oil.
[[[Note that oils are measured in
GRAMS (i.e. weight) when making oil, not
ML (i.e. volume). If you don't know the density of each oil you cannot convert ml to grams. All calculations for the amount of lye are based in grams.]]]
Now we go to the lye. If you add too much lye the soap will become pretty caustic, that is you wash yourself and skin fells off:d. If you add too little then not all of teh oils will saponify and the soap will be runny and oily. You need the right amount. Another concern is that if you add the MHRB during teh saponification you'll most likely destroy most of its pharmaceutical value due to the high ph.
So, for the recipe above do the following:
1. Extract your MHRB (20-50g) as you would normally do, (simmer in warm water for 30min, then strain and simmer again, do this thing 3 times like an acid cook but DO NOT ADD ANY ACID!!!)
2. Concentrate the MHRB aqueous extract to 50-60ml. Leave aside for the moment
3. get 71g of lye and dissolve it in 130ml of water. 71 grams is 71 grams, not so don't really go below 70 or above 72! Be totally careful here, do not use any metallic items/containers; if you need to stir use a wooden spoon or similar. Let it cool down. This concentration of lye is insanely strong.
4. Melt all the oils together, allow to cool
5. Mix the liquid oils with the lye. A good temperature for the saponification is 25-30 Celsius. Wait till both the oils and the lye solution cool to around 25-30 C, then mix them together.
6....and stir gently over a period of 30min. maybe 1-2 hours. During this step the oils will be saponifying and the mixture will be thickening. Lye is also getting used up and solution becomes less alkaline by time.
7.When it is thick enough, but not too thick to pour in a container, add the 50-60ml of MHRB extract in the soap mixture and stir.
8. Finally add it in a shallow tray and let it alone to thicken. After 2-3 days the soap will be hard enough to cut in soap bars. Do this but do not use it straignt away. This soap will be still immature and alkaline, not not not good for the skin. Allow it to mature for at least a month (in which period the saponification completes, no lye is left back in the soap and teh soap hardens properly and does not melt away after 3-4 uses.
Note in steps 1-2 you would be better of doing an ethanolic extraction of MHRB, say using 50% alcohol with no heat. You'll pull much more stuff and maybe more compound with pharmaceutical applications and there will be no heat to potentially destroy them.
Have fun!