lye and soap making help

[wabbit955]

thought i have a go at soap making from sratch
been soaking my ash for a few days now and started straining today to make the lye
no the stove reduceing now
but i can not find a recipe how much lye to fat anywere
has any one done this all help great full

if i can make it work i can get loads of fat from work so cheap soap all round

[The Riff-Raff Element]

The reason that you cannot find a recipe is that you are realms of the imprecise!

Traditionally, if you can float a fresh egg in the lye so that at least one inch is showing above the liquid, then you have the desired concentration. Then you combine 200g of lard with one litre of the lye to make the soap using the hot method (i.e. warm up the lye to around blood heat (don't use a finger to test this) before adding your just melted lard) with any fragrance you desire.

The alkali you have in your lye is potassium hydroxide, which is mostly used for making soft soap, but you can make a hard soap by adding about half-a-teaspoon of salt to the mix.

Once matured, you'd be wise to test the pH of the soap with some pH papers - you want it to be as close to neutral (pH 7) as possible. Personally, I wouldn't put anything with a pH higher than 10 on my skin, but I'm not saying that with any real confidence of being right, and I'd be happier at pH 9.

[wabbit955]

great stuff
200gms to a litre thats the bit i been looking for

and i even got ph paper from my wine making so can test it out

i will have soap by the end of the day
thank you

[wabbit955]

10 bars of soap sitting drying now with a ph of 8
very happy with myself
total cost 2 teaspoons of salt
rest of the stuff would not of been used

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Excellent! Pleased it worked for you.

[Helsbells]

Wow well done, I would love to see pics