Black Cocoa Butter Homemade Soap Recipe

Here is a really interesting hot process soap recipe from Skin Naturals. Black Cocoa Butter Homemade Soap Recipe was made in a slow cooker and then plopped into a bag when it was cooled for future batches and adding color. I have heard of making a soap recipe in a slower cooker before but I have to admit that I have never heard of a soap recipe kept into a plastic bag and store for future batches.  Has anyone tried this before?  I would like to try some day but as of now I do not have a place to store it?  My main question is where to store it - in a cool place or what?  Any advice on this?

How To Make Hot Process Soap in the Microwave

I have heard of making hot process soap in a slow cooker or an oven, but I never hear do doing it in the microwave. I have done melt and pour soap in the microwave but not hot process. Is it really possible? I guess it is because Amy Warden of Great Cakes Soapworks wrote this helpful How To Make Hot Process Soap in the Microwave tutorial on her blog. There are some interesting comments ranging from want to try to yikes. Has anyone out there tried to make hot process soap using the microwave? Since I am more familiar with the slow cooker version (and yes I have a dedicated slow cooker), I would like to hear your experiences.

In the mold hot process soap tutorial

In the mold hot process soap is a variation of hot process soap. In making a typical hot process soap the oil and lye are combined, mixed till trace and then cooked on the stove or in the oven until thick and slushy-like, then combined with additives, fragrances, essential oils and the like. The last step to the usual hot process method is to place it in the mold and let it cool. At the end of 24 hrs or so the soap is ready to use and cut into useable pieces. In contrast, in the mold hot process soap or ITMHP is soap that is cooked (baked) in a mold in the oven.

In this way this method mimics the cold process method without the weeks of waiting for the soap to cure and be free from lye. Another benefit of this type of method is that the soap has a smoother, less grainy texture than soap that is cooked on top of the stove or cooked in the oven and then poured into a mold.

Why use In the Mold Hot Process method? Well, if you like cold process soap but do not like waiting for weeks for the soap the cure and be free from lye, then this method is right for you. In a mere 24-48 hours the soap will be ready and though this way to make soap sounds a lot like regular hot process in the oven soap, yet the advantages to this method is that the soap has a much more refined and smoother appearance. All in all, this method to making soap is preferred by folks who just don’t like waiting for soap to cure or soap that has a primitive and lumpy appearance like regular hot process soap.

Most recipes for cold process soaps can be adjusted for this method. Below are some important points to consider before making in the mold hot process soap:

1. The mold has to be sturdy enough to withstand the constant heat of the oven without conducting too much heat. Thus, I advise using a mold that is 100% wood, not particle board or plywood. Inspect the joints to make sure they do not have glue that will come apart under the heat of the oven. Check with the manufacturer also to make sure that any glue used will not give off any toxic fumes such as formaldehyde, which is present in some wood substitute products.

2. The ingredients used and especially fragrances and essential oils will need to be ones with flashpoints that are higher than the temperature of the oven. The typical oven temperature for this method is anywhere from 175-180 Degrees Fahrenheit.

3. The oven has to be protected from any seepage from the mixture by lining it with tinfoil or placing a baking sheet under the mold.

4. Keeping the temperature under 200 degrees is very important. What we are trying to do is mimic the saponification process of cold process soap. The difference here is that we are extending this process a bit by cooking it for 2 hours and then leaving it in the warmed oven another 12 or more hours to set. Typically, cold process soap heats up and saponifies at temperatures between 175 - 190 Degrees Fahrenheit. At the end of which there is some left over in the soap so that it has to be cured for 3-6 weeks to get rid of that lye.

Directions

***Most regular cold process soap recipes can be finished in this method.

For full directions for making cold process soap see article How To Make Cold Process Soap Follow directions 1-9, then follow directions for In The Mold Hot Process Soap listed below:

As in making cold process soap, combine the lye and oils and mix with a sturdy wire whisk or stick blender till it reaches trace. Next, pour the traced soap into a sturdy, lined wooden mold or one deemed safe by a mold manufacturer for oven use. I like to use sturdy plastic for lining the mold going into the oven.

Cut the plastic lining for mold large enough so that there is extra to fold and cover the soap to prevent it from drying out snd forming s crust. Place the covered soap in a preheated oven 175-190 Degrees Fahrenheit for 2 hour, after which you turn off the oven and leave the soap in the oven for another 12 hours or more to solidify. The soap is ready to cut once it is firm enough to cut.

Test a piece of soap before using for lye. I like to break a piece off and use it to wash my hands.

If there is no tingling, the soap is fine to use. If there is tingling, slice soap into bars and leave to cure in a cool location for 3-4 weeks. At the end of which it is adviseable to test for lye.

Tongue test for lye

Some folks use the tongue test to test if the soap is ready to use. I do not use this method because to me the soap tastes horrible and I cannot distinguish the awful taste of the soap from the sting of lye if it is present! So to do the tomgue test, break off a piece of soap and taste it with the tip of your tonge. if it burns, thenthere is lye in the soap. If the taste is just awful without the burning, then there is no lye present and you can test the soap further by using a small piece to wash your hands.

Reprinted with permission from Winsome Tapper, Soapmaking Editor,www.Bellaonline.com/site/soapmaking

Source: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art10361.asp

How to make Hot Process in the Oven Soap

Hot process soap making is one of most gratifying types of soap making because the results are immediate. When soap is made in this way, the fragrance tends to be more pronounced owing to the fact that the lye is cooked out before fragrances or additives are added so the lye does destroy or morph the fragrance.

One of the challenges with making soap this way, though is that after the soap is cooked, you have only minutes once it reaches a manageable temperature and a temperature below the flashpoint of the fragrance or essential oils used, to manipulate it into the mold and finish it off with whatever embellishments you choose.

The first step to making consistent batches of hot process soaps is to get a good basic recipe that works and vary this recipe with additives and luxurious oils or butters.

Here is a basic recipe that gives amounts for 2 pound, 3 pound and 4 pound batches. This recipe calls for a coconut/olive oil/butter blend that is both mild and very sudsy owing to its base of olive oil and coconut oil. Olive oil produces a bar that is low in bubbles yet very mild on the skin, while coconut oil produces a bar that has lots of bubbles, but maybe drying to the skin. Pairing these two together, one gets the best of both worlds – lots of suds and mildness.

Next to having a great recipe for consistent batches of soap, is having a lye calculator that calculates lye and fat ratios that ensures that excess fat, rather than lye is leftover in the soap after saponification. One of the best lye calculators on the web is the lye calculator from Majestic Sage.

With this calculator, I have formulated a soap that is 50% coconut oil and 50% olive oil with the addition of 2% shea butter super fatting to make this bar more luxurious and moisturizing. Die hard purist suggest that no more than 20-25% coconut oil should be used in soaps because the coconut oil, though lending large fluffy bubbles to the soap, tends to be drying. Thus, to counter that, I have added shea butter (or any other kind of nut butter or luxury oils may be used) at 2%.

Finished batch size: 2 pounds
16oz. coconut oil
16oz. olive oil
12oz.water (6oz. liquid per pound of fats)
4.80oz. lye (allows a buffer of 6% fat to be in soap)
0.64oz. shea butter(to superfat)

Finished batch size: 3 pounds
24oz. coconut oil
24oz. olive oil
18oz. water
7.21oz. lye
0.96oz. shea butter(to superfat)


Finished batch size: 4 pounds
32oz. coconut oil
32oz. olive oil
24oz. water
9.61oz. lye
1.28oz. shea butter(to superfat)


Directions:
Follow instructions and precautions for making cold process soap. After lye and oil are cool, say to no higher than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, combine lye water and melted oils in a large pot with about 4-6 inches head room and stir. At this point, you may stir until soap traces, but this is optional. Soap does not have to come to trace. Instead, stir mixture with a wire whisk until opaque and place in a 225 degree preheated oven. Set timer for 60 minutes. After twenty minutes, take mixture out of the oven and stir with wire whisk. Mixture may not appear any different from when it was first put in the oven, except for a pool of clear liquid floating on the surface. Stir and place back in the oven and check again in twenty minutes.

What we are looking for is for the mixture to change and become translucent somewhat like applesauce. This may take a further twenty minutes or so. At the end of the 60 minutes, check mixture. If it is not looking like applesauce, place back in the oven and let it sit for another twenty minutes. At this stage it should have passed the applesauce stage and should look like curdled applesauce. Wisk vigorously and test for lye. Depending on various factors, including oven temperature and the oils used, some mixtures take longer to cook than others. At the end of the cook, which may last anywhere from 6o minutes to 90 minutes, all the lye should have cooked out. The only discernable liquids in the pot should be soap, which appears as separated applesauce and some liquid, which may be a mixture of water and excess fat. Use a whisk to whisk these into one homogenous mass.

I usually take a small piece of soap and soap my hands with it under running water. If it stings, then there is some lye in it. If that happens, put pot back in the oven and set timer for another 20 minutes, then test again. Lye should be completely cooked out of soap. Aternatively, litmus paper may be used to test for lye. Run soap under water and create a generous lather. Run PH paper through this. A good PH for soap is anything under ten. After taking soap out of the oven, it may appear that soap has some liquid at the bottom of the pot. This is excess water and oil. Use a whisk and stir the soap until smooth.

Fragrances and essential oils may be added at this stage. First check flashpoint of fragrance/essential oil and add to soap after it has cooled ten or twenty degrees below that flashpoint temperature. Try to handle soap as little as possible and work as fast as you can. The soap will be difficult to manipulate. Combine super fat oils or melted butter with fragrance/essential oil and stir vigorously into mixture. Pour soap into plastic lined mold. The soap will be thick and not easy to manipulate into mold. Shake the mold to get soap to level into the mold and fold back excess plastic to smooth out the top of soap. If decorating top of soap, spritz with water and sprinkle on herbs, seeds, etc. Leave in a secure place to cool and set. I usually leave my soap in the mold to cool and set for about 4-6 hours. At the end of which soap is ready to be turned out and cut into bars.

Resources:
Magestic Sage Lye Calculator - Good Lye Calculator
Majestic Sage PH test strips - PH Testing Strips

Source: Permission to reprint by Winsome Tapper, Soapmaking Editor, http://www.bellaonline.com/soapmaking.

Hot Process Soap Making Tutorials & Articles

If you cannot find classes in the Hot Process Method, I found some sites that have links on this method on soapmaking. For those who would like to see a tutorial on the Hot Process Soap Making by the Crock Pot method, here is a link for you:

http://gracefruit.blogspot.com/2006/01/crock-pot-hot-process-soap-tutorial.html

or better yet try this website for step by step tutorials:

http://www.candletech.com/hptsoap

If you are interested in learning more about this method of soapmaking, check out the following blogs or websites:

http://thesoapbar.blogspot.com/
http://gracefruit.blogspot.com/
http://ziggurat.org/soap/hp/
http://www.soapnuts.com/snhp.html
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art10202.asp
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Make-Hot-Process-Soap&id=376831
http://www.zensoaps.com/hpsoap.html
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/homemade-soapmaking
http://www.best-crock-pot.com/Instructions%20for%20Making%20Crock%20Pot%20Handmade%20Soap.html

http://www.auntroma.com/hot_process_soap_tutorial_1.htm
http://www.auntroma.com/hot_process_soap_tutorial_2.htm
http://www.auntroma.com/hot_process_soap_tutorial_.htm

If you do not have a crock pot but would like to create soap by the Hot Process Method, check out this link about using a double boiler instead:
http://crafty.dyskolus.com/soap_cosmetics.html

For swirling and layer techniques by using the hot process soapmaking method check out: http://lovenaonline.com/soapmaking/index.html

or take a look at this link: http://beauxeaux.com/swirltutorial/howtoswirl.htm

There are many more site out there on this particular method. And I have to be honest, I have never tried this method of soapmaking before. I am interested in learning how and will be taking a class in the near future. I recently took a class on the Cold Process Method and I feeling more comfortable with the idea of working with lye. I will be looking for more information on this subject to pass along. So look forward to recipes and other information on this process of soapmaking. See you soon!