# Squishy Castille



## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

I made a couple of batches of castille last night. One is 100% olive oil and the other is 90% Olive Oil/10% Walnut oil. I used a 50/50 lye/water solution and then made up the rest of the liquid with aloe juice. I used the full amount of liquid the soap calc calls for. Anyways, both batches are squishy this morning. Their consistency is similar to gel phase soap. There's a skin on the soap (sort of like a pudding skin) that is more like a normal soap but then if you break the skin it is squishy underneath. Is this normal for a castille made using full water? I have made castilles before but I always made them with a pretty steep liquid discount. It has crossed my mind that my OO may be adulterated but I did use some in another recipe (OO made up 30% of oils) and that soap turned out well.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

No clue....I've only done castille at 40%. Hopefully someone else will know. Do let us know the outcome.


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

Ughh! I should of just stuck with castille at 40% too.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

I have a friend who makes 100% olive oil castile all the time. (It's pretty much all she makes.) She said that the squishy soap is totally not normal and something went wrong somewhere along the line (accidental mis-measurement maybe?) She also added that without a stick blender (don't know how you mixed this) it can take literally HOURS to trace.


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

Stacey, do you know what solution strength your friend uses? If I remember correctly the solution strength that soapcalc is set at is 26%. I'm never doing that again. I'll stick to a 40% solution. I never had any problems with castilles at that strength level. The 100% OO soap hardened up enough after 48 hours that I was able to unmold it today. It may take forever to cure good but I think it will be fine. The OO/Walnut oil soap was a goof up. I must not of stick blended it enough because there is a lye heavy layer that settled on the bottom. I'm throwing that in the crock pot to remelt and mix back together. I'm glad I was never making this soap for sale. It was a request from my mom.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

She said that she has done it with no water discount at all from what the calculator recommends and hasn't had any problems like what you described. (She uses both soapcalc and MMS's lye calculator). I can't say for sure, but knowing her, I would bet that whatever the pre-sets are is what she used and then you know how they give a range of liquid...well, she's used everything from the max liquid on down.


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

We make an organic castile - 100% organic EVOO - in our experience, if you use the full liquid amount, it definitely ends up squishy. I don't think you made a mistake at all. We experimented with lowering the liquid until we found an amount that we were happy with the hardness of the bar. It makes a very big difference. No amount of cure time (up to 6 months) made a difference. It was still squishy. Reduce your liquid and you'll be a lot happier with the soap. 

PJ


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

PJ,
as squishy as gel stage? Unmoldable for nearly 48 hours squishy? Soft, I understand, but what she was describing sounded a lot softer than what I would expect. (Not trying to argue, just wanting to know!  )


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

Yep, super squishy, as in unmolded on day 3 and let it sit for 1 week before even attempting to cut it squishy. That was with the full liquid and 100% organic EVOO. Now we just discount the liquid and it's awesome. 

PJ


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

Thanks PJ. That helps. I didn't think I had made a mistake. So even after a 6 month cure you weren't happy with the soap? The reason why I had gone from using a liquid discount to full liquid was that I was working with a new floral. What kind of discount are you happy with when making castilles?


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

No, even after 6 months I wasn't happy with it. Still good soap, just not something I felt proud of or wanted to sell. I honestly don't have a clue what the percentage discount is. Jim makes the castile. I remember we just kept going lower (within the range obviously) until we were happy. 

PJ


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