How to fix (rebatch) a lye heavy soap 😳
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- In this video I demonstrate how to rebatch a lye heavy soap, using the rosemary soap I made over a year ago now! It's been sitting on my shelf looking at me since then crying 'fix me!!' Glad to finally get to this video. I hope you enjoy it and find it helpful 🙂
The original rosemary soap video • 🌿 Making soap with fre...
Blog post with written summary www.ellysevery...
The Zap Test method for pH testing soap • The old fashioned, rel...
Using pH strips to test soap • Handmade Soap Testing ...
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The information provided in my videos and website is based on my own personal research and experience and is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only. I am not a professional soap manufacturer, nor do I have formal qualifications in chemistry or skincare formulation (or any other related field) and I make no guarantees about the correctness of the information presented. Use the information in my videos and on my website at your own risk.
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I hope everyone enjoys this, for what it is. I can't believe that poor (once beautiful) rosemary soap sat on my table for a whole year! 😭 Oh well, all's well that ends well in soap making. If you're not sure what soap I'm talking about, you can check out the original video here th-cam.com/video/dsY4MRexguA/w-d-xo.html
There's nothing wrong with making mistakes, we all do, and the real secret to happiness in life (IMO 😄) is to roll with your experiences, be kind to yourself, learn from what happens and make things right again if you can. Now that this video is done, I am excited to have some real fun again and make more gorgeous and hopefully beautiful soap! No more wild experiments for a while I don't think. Thanks for watching as always, I really appreciate all of you. Please comment if you have a moment, your encouragement really inspires me on this channel. Any recipe or video suggestions you want to see? I'd love to know what you're all making, or wanting to make, right now. And if you're able to support me with a metaphorical 'coffee' to help me continue making these free resources for the soap making community, you can do that here www.buymeacoffee.com/ellyseveryday Big thanks to all my supporters, you make such a difference to my ability to continue TH-cam as one of my part time jobs 🌼
Happy soap making everyone, even when you have tricky days.
Have a great week, Elly x
The interesting thing happened. I have save your previous video in my watch Later list because I had not free time to watch it and make soap but I was interested to watch this. Today I watch your previous video of rosemary soap. Then I visit your channel and I watch this video after that. .. 😅 First confused then I read your comment here.. 😊 thanks for sharing your correction tip with us.
Two stars! One for being real and admitting that not all your soap is perfect. Second star is for a clear detailed description of how to recover! Thank you!
Thanks Lynda!
This is literally the most helpful channel on the subject of making cold process soap at home. Very reliable explanations and demonstrations, no glam clickbait rubbish and an overall likable down to earth person behind the content. Really helped me along and motivated me to get into soap making. 👌🏻👏🏻
@@felix_christopherabsolutely agree. Ely is a great teacher and soapmaker
I just came here, to write the same… 😊
Thank you. This makes me feel better knowing what to do with the soap when I mess up. Learning from our mistakes makes us much more knowledgeable. I am grateful to have someone to teach us. Your knowledge is invaluable.
Thank you
I so appreciate your doing this. You're always a wealth of knowledge.
You're very welcome, thanks for commenting :)
Thanks for this! After 4 years of soapmaking, I've started making mistakes... Lye heavy this week and last month I forgot the lye! This was really helpful to see how a rebatch soap can look (my attempts don't look nearly as smooth as yours).
OMG I MISSED YOU! I MISSED WATCHING YOUR SOAPMAKING VIDS AAAAAAA after like years i'm watching ya again! Really love your voice! And you're simple explanations!
Thanks! :)
Yes, me too - like soap ASMR!
Those soaps are pretty! Anyway, for newbies, to prevent mistakes when infusing herbs, just stick to one oil, like olive oil ONLY, for ease in computing the lye amount. Second, always measure everything! It doesn't mean that since you added 1000 grams of oil to make the infusion you'll still end up with 1000 grams. If you strain your oils to remove the herbs, there will be lost oils. I would not rely on the ratio of each oil as computed prior to the infusion.
Another mistake made was you rounded up your palm oil to the nearest ones. It was only 21.64ish%, but you made it 22%, that's why you ended up with a bit more lye.
Thank you for this valuable lesson. Even the more experienced soapers still make mistakes, so newbies don't be too hard on yourselves
Thanks for your comment, I completely agree it's best to infuse only one oil! Makes it a lot easier. I respectfully disagree with your other comments though, I did re-measure the oils after straining them, and there would be very minimal impact on the recipe with a percentage difference of 0.36% for the palm oil. The reason I say this is that the SAP values in soap calculators are not exact anyway, they are based on average values, and often our individual oil batches have different fatty acid compositions compared to the average values used by soap calculators. I think I made a far worse mistake and mis-measured my NaOH! I've checked and re-checked my calculations and they were all fine. It was in the physical lye measurement where I think I went wrong 😞
@@EllysEverydaySoapMakingoh my. That 😢
But despite the mistake (or mishap), the rebatch is still very good looking. All is well that ends well. I would have loved that as dish soap and hand soap ❤ happy soaping!
I can now be easy on myself. If pros can make mistakes, novice can be forgiven. Thank you for your honesty and showing means to recover
I have a lot of experience, but I wouldn’t say I’m a professional soap maker. You are right though, it’s perfectly normal to make mistakes.
This is super helpful, thank you. Also, your sinks are always spotless! HOW??!! 😂
😅 thank you. I like clean sinks! Clean my kitchen sink every day :)
Thank you for showing how to rebatch. It looks so lovely. Thank you for all you do, Elly.
Thanks, you’re very welcome
Thankyou for showing us what to do, it has ended up beautiful looking, well done, good job 👍 😅
Thanks so much 😊
Hi Elly! This was a surprise! I remember watching the rosemary soap video and thinking of how it might go with a peppermint EO (love me some rosemary and peppermint soap/shampoo). It’s a shame it turned out lye-heavy, but I greatly appreciate your openness with us in showing when things go awry (as they sometimes do for us all), there’s a way to work it out for a resulting lovely and usable soap.
I haven’t started my soap journey yet, but your videos and recipes will be the backbone of my practice. They’re so very helpful and encouraging. (I’m only planning to make soap for myself, and maybe some family - if they want any.)
That sounds like a good place to start. The rosemary soap video is still really useful in terms of the oil infusion method, which was what it was all about :)
Loved this video Elly. I love that you showed how to fix a mistake. So helpful. I was very worried about your poor arms with all the stirring! I felt exhausted watching you. I’m hoping the pain was worth it. Your soap looks stunning. I find it very therapeutic watching you wash your sink!!😂 Thank you again for your wonderful content and always lovely to hear your soothing voice. ❤ Cassandra.
Thanks Cassandra, I love hearing your feedback as always. There is definitely something very therapeutic about cleaning the sink! 😂
This is awesome, I cant remember how I stumbled on to your channel, but I have made 5 batches since watching my very first one which was the 100% castille soap, a couple of failures, eg the liquid washing one, from soap bar, that went to Gel. I also made the 100% castille which is now full of DOS. But also made some others that even my kids like, plain and unsented is my go to. Going through all your videos, I can see the errors and why it happend, eg DOS to high superfat, Gel cause it bloody cold down here . Going to hack into my wife rosemary bush soon and have a crack at that one. Thanks for the great info.
That’s so awesome Tristan, thanks for sharing. Glad my videos have been interesting and useful for you.
Wonderful improvements Elly! The video AND the soap. Love your channel!💗
Thanks Megs! 🤗
Oh my god feels like yesterday i cant believe .. still on the list i must try it 😅
Thank you, Ellie! This was helpful as I have a soap that I'm monitoring right now because I fear it may be lye heavy. Its been a few weeks so I'll be testing the PH again. But now I know all may not be lost. 😅
Glad to help :)
Great things are worth the work! I love this info!! Love your channel!
Thank you!
Love your soap experiment and your honest review🧡🧡! Thanks for sharing!!!!!
Thank you! You're most welcome :)
Your original rosemary soap is my most favorite soap I’ve ever made!
I want to make it again!
@@EllysEverydaySoapMaking
Hi Elly , many thanks for all the lessons you are teaching us .. I cannot stop watching your channel
And Yes I agree. please make The Rosemary Bars one more time ,
I infused my rosemary yesterday only , I would love to make your New Rosemary Recipe…
This will give me time to buy Rosemary EO ..
am not sure if you made Fresh Avocado bars before, it will be nice if you can
Happy soaping
I have been learning to make soap in my home. And your video has helped me a lot. Thank you ma'am! Love from India 🇮🇳......
Great, that’s good to hear
You should be named as (The queen of soap).Always happy to watch your videos🥰🥰
Aww, thanks. I appreciate that. I'm starting to look like the queen with my grey hair, so I guess that's appropriate 😂
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Love your humility, we are all human! I could listen to you all day. There is such a calmness to your voice and delivery that makes me think I can do anything.
My experience with HP: I messed up a batch of cp soap by adding potassium hydroxide (ordered the wrong lye and didn’t notice) instead of sodium hydroxide. After realizing my mistake I plopped the whole bit into the crockpot, adjusted the recipe for KH and now have an abundance of liquid soap that is nourishing for your hands. My recipe had a lot of olive oil, Shea butter, and cocoa butter in it. The hand soap is cloudy, but beautiful on the hands! This was my first attempt at hp soap.
Question: I have a 5 kg batch of dual lye pine tar soap with pumice - not sure of the lye ratios as I ran out of sodium hydroxide and topped it up with KH. Is there any way I can save it? It’s a huge slab that’s just been sitting there for about 4 months and I don’t know what to do with it. I’m certainly not throwing it away. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for everything that you do - I’ve learned so much from your channel.
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Thank you so much for this. New to CP and I've failed a few times. I have a batch that I need to try this with ❤
Now I know how to fix my soap meal. I have been waiting for this solution for a long time. Thank you, wonderful Elly
Great, you’re welcome
Thank you for the video.... Bcoz my papaya soap is recipe is faileddd .... 😔.... I will try this method now...following you I have made 5 to 6 batches of cp soaps till now 🎉.... Instead of hiding u shared with us that everyone can make a mistake thanking u once again.... 😊 For being real
Thank you so much ☺️
Thank you so much for making this video. There is always something new to learn with soap. Take care - Marcie
Thank you Marcie :)
Thank you for sharing! Helps in the learning process (especially for this newbie).
You're welcome Sandria, thanks! Glad this was useful for you :)
You are an amazing teacher. Fantastic job ❤ ty for sharing huni.
Thanks Stephanie :)
Fantastic video Elly, thanks for sharing your experience and how to fix the problem. Love your videos and soap recipes, have learned so much and not bought soap since I got started with you about 4 or 5 years ago 💐😀
That's so awesome Virginia!
Thank you for sharing how to fix lye heavy soap! You're awesome!!!
Thanks Belinda, you're welcome! 🤗
Hello Elly love all the way from India . Thank you for giving such detailed videos on soap making. I haven't made my own soap but your videos have given me the confidence to make a batch and hopefully i can make a batch soon. On this particular vvideo thanx for showing that we may make mistakes but they can be rectified .
Ps I come from Kerala ( i think you have a soft corner for my home state😊
You're welcome, thank you. Yes I love Kerala, we had such a good time there.
Hi Elly that was such a useful video. Love that you are happy to share the whole journey.
Thanks, always happy to share what really happens :)
Thank you so much, mistakes are important because you learn more from them than from the smooth work! ❤
The smooth work is nice, but the mistakes are inevitable! And yes, they are important for learning.
Thank you Elly, this is so informative and authentic. 😊
Thanks
Elly honesty is your policy and thank you for that, i didn’t know you could correct lye heavy soap, mind that was hard work…..your arms would have been aching. I know mine would cope and the soap would be binned. What it does show Elly is how important testing the pH is before using or selling a soap a point you did stress in early videos for newbies. Cheers from a very wet morning here in Tas.
Thanks Tassiegirl, I appreciate your comment. It’s been a wet week up here too! Not as cold though I bet. Stay warm x
I know you don't have to wait a year to remake your soap (it would take me a year to get over being mad at myself for making such a mistake), but how long after the initial make, is the soap stable and you absolutely know that is the pH that it's going to be and it needs to be remade?
p.s. a couple of months ago I ask about softening some store bought soap bars so it wouldn't splinter whilst cutting in half. You said to soak it in a bit of water. ... Here's what I did and it worked great. ... I put the bar in a small zip bag with 1/8c water and stuck it in the refrigerator. (I didn't want it to get moldy?) A couple of weeks later, I pulled it out and it cut pretty well. The half that was soaking in the water was mushy, so I put that side up when I cut.
The other bar (totally different, was for car grease and has grit in it) cut through on the soaked side, but was still too hard, so I turned it over and gave it another soak. After another couple of weeks (just because I'd forget about them), it was soft enough to cut through the second half. Like you, I set them out on a rack to dry and now I have my favorite soap in a size that fits my small hands and lasts twice as long. Next time I buy soap, I'll cut them as soon as I get them home and then into a plastic bag to keep them drying out completely. Thanks for the advice. You're always so kind. 💕🌞🌵😷
You are so clever! Thanks for your input and great ideas/experiments. Generally soap should be fully saponified within a week or so of making, so it can be tested then.
Love rosemary, great video. Thank you
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
This is one of the best rebatch soap videos I've watched so far .. the explanation in each step you provided was so simplified as always... you are always my favourite soap teacher 😊... the finished bar looks beautiful and the lather is fab ❤ the scrubber that you use ... is it steel wool scrubber or just a sponge Elly? thank you so much ❤❤❤❤❤
Oh thanks so much, I appreciate that. The scrubber is just a sponge with mesh covering.
Bummer, but I love that you didn't waste it! It's interesting that the rosemary retained its fresh punch, despite the re-processing, so you must have done something very right, too. You've actually inspired me to maybe have a go at this particular recipe. Got a slightly overgrown rosemary bush at the foot of the drive, that everyone has to reverse around, so perhaps a good time to begin!? We've got a lavender hedge that's just coming out now, as it's summer here in England. Maybe I could do a combination? Any advice?
I think a combination would be amazing! My advice would be infuse your herbs with one main oil. My mistake was in blending them for the infusion… I think…
Such a good teacher 😊❤
Oh that's too bad it happened to that soap! I did that too to one of my favourites too. I added so much water I waited 6 months for it to get rock hard again. 😂 Feels great on my hands though!
I see you use your handmade soap to clean the sink. When I first saw you do that i started using my liquid soap, you're recipe of course, to clean my sinks in the whole apartment and my showeer stall. Gets them way cleaner than harsh chemicals and doesn't wreck the finish.
Yes, thank you. I use my soap for many household cleaning tasks. I should do a video on that :)
@@EllysEverydaySoapMaking that would be a great idea 💡
Hello from Tokyo again.We all make mistakes, even a pro like you. I have a problem of a different sort. Made a few batches of soap with too much superfat that doesn't remove sebum well from my oily T-zone. Could I do the same as you and slowly add some Lye and test same as you and slowly add some Lye and test the PH as the soaps I made are
Hi, well technically yes you could do that, but it's very difficult to test how low your superfat is because the pH strips will only tell you if the soap is lye heavy - or not - so you could inadvertently add too much lye and not be left with much superfat? I think it would be better to formulate a new soap recipe and make it with the precise superfat amount you think you need. Use your other soap for body washing or general cleaning :)
Beautiful!
Thank you!
Thank you Elly! This is very useful. Are you able to reformulate the recipe that could lead to this correct version? Would be interested to know asI am really keen to try this rosemary soap. Thank you!
You could use any of my recipes that you like and just infuse one of the main oils with rosemary using my infusion method. The unique thing about the rosemary soap video was the fresh herb infusion :)
Hello Elly! thanks for sharing this useful info. Can the same be done with liquid soap base? My one batch has a ph of 10.6, another one is even even 11... i'm finding that strange, considering I used soap calk , and used the correct lye entry etc etc
Hi Elley ,thx for the recipe .can u pls make a video on too much oil ,as glycerin rivers after saponifying .can u pls reply or is it the wrong oil .i used sunflower oil.thx.
Lovely, also seeing a larther of soap ,with lot of learning.
My question is how did u find that it was lye heavy in the first place😮
Hi Joya, right at the beginning of the video I mentioned that - I tested the soap with litmus paper - pH test.
Right, but suppose one dosen't have one how accurate is the zap test, to just turn it into a HP soap
First of all, thank you, would you please tell us about your opinion about using 50% lye solution like big CP soap companies, master batching. They clame this concentration leed to 2 days curing time instead of 4 weeks.
Very lovely.. does the smell of essential oils stick to the skin when you add clay? I never tried clay.. i really love essential oils, but they don't stick to the skin for me.. 💔
No, they never stick to the skin. Essential oils are not pervasive like synthetic fragrances, and soap is a wash off product after all.
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Thank you for sharing Elly. I have a question. How much time should one cook it for like on the stove, say if the batch was 1 kg? Approximate time is fine.
It could take hours of mixing and cooking, it depends on your pot, how much heat you can safely use without the soap scorching, how long you have to stand there and mix while the heat is up. It also depends on how many times you need to add more oil. Could be half an hour, could be many hours unfortunately. It would be a lot easier to do in a large crock pot I think.
@@EllysEverydaySoapMaking thank you
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what was the spry you use at the end? should we spray it with Ethanol my soap get white spots , thank you ❤
Some soap recipes benefit from ethanol spray, but you don't need it with anything that is hot processed like this. I just sprayed the top with water so that I could mould the soap with my teaspoon without it sticking.
I'm very new to your channel, so I'm not sure if you have answered this question. I wanted to make a shampoo soap bar for my hair. It's curly and gets very oily. Is there a specific formula that would be best? I wanted to use rosemary infused oil, but im not sure what else would be a wise choice.
I don't use soap on my hair, personally I'm not a fan of it.
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What if you have the opposite problem, excess oil. Is it safe to add extra lye? And how do you calculate the amount? I made a batch of soap with used kitchen oil months ago and it feels greasy and has a rancid smell.
This is a bit harder unfortunately. You can add extra lye but you have to be super careful about it (danger when trying to mix it in) and there is no way of testing how close you are to having a lye heavy soap until you get there. Used kitchen oil is tricky to make soap with, the oils are not that great for soap making, and they will go rancid easily. Your soap might not even be lye heavy (have you tested it?), it might just be that way due to the oil you used.
@@EllysEverydaySoapMaking Yes, pH 8. It was supposed to be a laundry/kitchen soap, so I only calculated 2% superfat. It's the lowest value I've gotten so far. I have been testing all of my soaps as I am just starting my learning curve. I usually get a 9 or 10. Sometimes I get higher values, especially in the cold process, but it decreases after curing time.
Oooff, grating soap. My wrists hurt just thinking about having to do that.
Hi Elly,
How are you doing. I enjoy watching your videos, they are very informative. And thanks for replying to my previous question.
I again have 1 question, I made 3 batch of soap, and out of that 2 batch get crack just after 5min of putting in mould. IDK where i am wrong, please assist. Waiting for your sooner reply.
Thanks
Khyber Ali
Sounds like the ingredients were too hot? Or a fragrance or sugar or something else caused it to overheat?
@@EllysEverydaySoapMaking you are right, i felt this time the recipe was quite hot when i mixed both of them. Thanks for the assistance. :)
O my goodness I actually have a batch of your rosemary soap drying at the moment. How would you then change your original recipe, would you just add coconut oil
I didn’t share my recipe in the original video, only the method for infusing the rosemary, so hopefully you used a good recipe and your rosemary soap is awesome!
You shared the link to your blog with the recipe. That is the one I used
Can I apply this soap as hair shampoo?
I personally don't enjoy washing my hair with soap, but you can try it and see if you like it :)
I have never checked the ph of my soap what should it be?
I would not use soap without testing it! It should be 8-9. Check out the description box for links to easy testing methods.
Hry. I have been following you for some yime now. Do you perhaps have online classes for beginers? Your videos are very detailed and very informative.
Thank you, no I don't at this stage, but I'm considering making them :)
@@EllysEverydaySoapMaking Please take them. I'd sign up. I want to make soap to sell/ start a business as a South african living in South Africa.
Assalm.o.Alikum..iam form Pakistan 🇵🇰 waiting your new video...
I will say that nobody should ever put their soaps on a wire rack. Metals will cause problems such as DOS.
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Love your humility, we are all human! I could listen to you all day. There is such a calmness to your voice and delivery that makes me think I can do anything.
My experience with HP: I messed up a batch of cp soap by adding potassium hydroxide (ordered the wrong lye and didn’t notice) instead of sodium hydroxide. After realizing my mistake I plopped the whole bit into the crockpot, adjusted the recipe for KH and now have an abundance of liquid soap that is nourishing for your hands. My recipe had a lot of olive oil, Shea butter, and cocoa butter in it. The hand soap is cloudy, but beautiful on the hands! This was my first attempt at hp soap.
Question: I have a 5 kg batch of dual lye pine tar soap with pumice - not sure of the lye ratios as I ran out of sodium hydroxide and topped it up with KH. Is there any way I can save it? It’s a huge slab that’s just been sitting there for about 4 months and I don’t know what to do with it. I’m certainly not throwing it away. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for everything that you do - I’ve learned so much from your channel.
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