Bastille Smoky Vanilla Woods & Bourbon Street (man bars)

Nurture 5 lb Loaf — Cold Process Method

Batch #4 — June 2, 2026

Mold: Nurture Handmade 5 lb Premium (18" L x 3.5" W x 2.5" H liner cavity) Yield: 15 bars at 3cm cuts | Cure: 4–6 weeks | Active: ~1 hour Basis: Bastille 72/18/10 @ 5% SF at the corrected 1,600g Nurture fill — the first batch run with the refined process

Safety: glasses and gloves before lye · lye into water, never the reverse · ventilate · soap-only equipment · raw batter is caustic until cured.

Recipe

5% superfat. Oil blend 72% olive / 18% coconut / 10% castor. Fragrance is a 50/50 SVW / Bourbon Street blend at the strong 6.5% rate (104g) — the "guy bar." Both are non-accelerating and both brown → deep, uniform brown bar, on-brand for kraft wrap.

Lye: confirmed at SoapCalc.net — 72/18/10, 1,600g oils, 5% SF, 38% water → 217.90g, rounded to 218g.

Instructions

Step 1 — Gear Up

Glasses and gloves on. Ventilation on. Pre-weigh everything into separate containers.

Step 2 — Prep the Mold

Assemble the silicone liner in the wood frame, push-out holes down; set the clear acrylic lid aside. No towel insulation — the clear lid handles soda ash.

Step 3 — Lye Solution (allow ~30 min to cool)

1. Weigh 608g distilled water into the 2qt stainless bowl
2. Weigh 218g lye separately (into a container of at least 350ml / 1.5-cup capacity — a 1-cup prep bowl is too small for 218g of pellets)
3. Pour lye into water — never reverse. Stir until clear (heats to ~185°F, brief fumes — don't lean over it)
4. Stir in 20ml sodium lactate
5. Cool to ~105–120°F

Step 4 — Oils + Clay

1. Melt 288g coconut oil, then combine with 1,152g olive and 160g castor in the 6qt stockpot on the induction element
2. Stick-blend 32g kaolin clay straight into the combined oils until smooth — no slurry cup
3. Bring oils to ~105–120°F, within ~10°F of the lye

Step 5 — Combine and Trace

1. Pour the cooled lye solution into the stockpot (no transfer — blend in place)
2. Stick-blend in 5–10s bursts, alternating with hand stirring
3. Blend to light trace — 3–8 min

Step 6 — Fragrance

1. Pre-mix the SVW + Bourbon Street in a cup, then add at light trace
2. Both are non-accelerating, so a few low-speed stick-blend pulses fold them in cleanly (hand-stirring 1–2 min also works)

Step 7 — Pour, Spritz, Lid (24–48h in mold)

1. Pour into the liner; smooth the top
2. Spritz the top with 99% IPA
3. Seat the clear acrylic lid
4. Leave undisturbed 24–48h (up to 3–4 days is fine)

Step 8 — Unmold and Cut

1. Firm and not sticky before you pull it
2. Remove the wood sides, lift the liner, peel it off the loaf
3. Cut at 3cm with the Nurture wire cutter → 15 bars

Step 9 — Cure (4–6 weeks)

1. Rack with airflow on all sides; cool, dry, out of direct sun
2. 4 weeks minimum; 6–8 is better for high-olive bars
3. Label with the batch date

Batch Notes

• Method era: the refinements land here. First batch with (1) kaolin stick-blended into the oils up front instead of a post-trace slurry, (2) the 6qt stockpot on induction for oils with no transfer step (the 3qt All-Clad was retired), and (3) non-accelerating FOs stick-blended on low instead of hand-stirred. This is the process every batch after uses — except the cut, which was still the 3cm wire cutter (the miter box arrived at Batch #6)
• Lye staging needs a real container — 218g of NaOH pellets won't fit a 1-cup bowl
• SVW + Bourbon Street both confirmed non-accelerating in this batch

Outcome

• Poured 2026-06-02, cut ~2026-06-04 at 3cm with the wire cutter → 15 bars. Fill ~98% with the lid seated — the corrected 1,600g ceiling proved out.
• Cure verdict: not recorded. Cured ~6 weeks by now; no note on the finished guy-bar — scent strength after cure, how polarizing the Bourbon Street smoke actually reads, hardness. Ripe for a cured retro.

Resources

• Lye calculator: SoapCalc.net
• Supplies: Nurture Handmade | Brambleberry | Jedwards International (Braintree, MA — local)