# reducing liquid soap cooking time



## enzymerich (May 1, 2013)

Hello,

I am trying to minimize cooking time to save energy and time. For my needs the soap doesn't need to be perfectly transparent.

I've read at a webpage online http://ourlifesimplified.com/house/soap-recipes/homemade-liquid-soap-the-easy-way/#axzz2RfOWCf9J  that once the paste is cooked enough to be neutralized  (you can check that by testing the paste with phenolphtalein) it is  cooked enough to be diluted and used and that any more cooking time only  serves to  make the soap more translucent and not safer (less caustic) to use.

Is this true?


So,  according to that webpage, if I am not concerned with transparency but  only need to make sure the soap is cooked enough to be safely used  (meaning no longer caustic) it may only take 45 minutes of cooking to  test neutral with phenolphthalein.


I'd much rather sacrifice transparency than wait for the paste to cook for 2+ hours and use all that gas/electricity.


Any feedback?


Thanks for sharing!

Richie


----------



## VanessaP (May 1, 2013)

Use glycerin for your liquid instead of water. You will have to heat the glycerin on the stove in order to get the KOH to dissolve, but there aren't any fumes like what NaOH puts out.

Glycerin traces in 2-3 minutes, even for 80% olive oil. After that, I simply turned off my crock pot and let it sit overnight.

Jcandleattic and new12soap have several samples of that batch of soap, I'll let them comment on the feel of it. I don't care about clarity, myself, since I like to use butters in my LS.

I would like to say that if you use Summer Bee Meadow's Advanced Lye Calculator, it is already configured for using KOH so you don't have to have a lye excess and then neutralize later. So I use the SBM calculator at a 3% superfat with glycerin instead of water. The calculator is configured for using water, and there is a spot for glycerin amount but that's for when you add it to a water-based soap so just leave that empty when using that calc.

Then I just dilute as normal with the water.


----------



## new12soap (May 1, 2013)

It is lovely lovely lovely soap! 

FWIW, everyone I know that makes liquid soap has said that once they tried the glycerin method they will never go back to using water.


----------



## lsg (May 1, 2013)

I love the glycerin method.


----------



## Smee (May 1, 2013)

Yeah, yeah, the glycerine method!
It is SO COOL to see it go from slop to soap in just that fast!

I will say, however, for my two cents' worth, that I think I like my cooked
water-based olive & coconut for hand washing dishes better than the
glycerine-based, but I don't have any good reason why.  The cost of
the glycerine can be an issue, too.


----------



## Mommysoaper (May 1, 2013)

I've also heard adding some liquid paste from a previous batch to the new batch of paste can speed up the blending time, but I haven't tried it myself yet.  I prefer the water based method at this point just for costs sake.  I hope to be able to use glycerin when I have a little extra money to buy it.


----------



## enzymerich (May 2, 2013)

Wow, thanks everybody for kindly answering. i knew it would be a good idea to join this forum! i hope to contribute more in the future as I learn.

Thanks Vanessa for the details on using glycerin to dissolve the KOH instead of water. I have a few questions about that in bold below:

You said:

"Use glycerin for your liquid instead of water. You will have to heat the  glycerin on the stove in order to get the KOH to dissolve, but there  aren't any fumes like what NaOH puts out.

SO THEN AFTER YOU DISSOLVE YOUR KOH IN THE GLYCERIN YOU THEN ADD YOUR NORMAL CHOSEN OILS (IN MY CASE 100% PALM KERNEL OIL) AND BRING IT TO TRACE IN 2-3 MINUTES?

Glycerin traces in 2-3 minutes, even for 80% olive oil. After that, I simply turned off my crock pot and let it sit overnight.

ARE YOU SAYING THERE IS NO ADDITIONAL COOKING AFTER BRINGING THE MIX OF YOUR CHOSEN OILS, GLYCERIN AND KOH TO TRACE?

Jcandleattic and new12soap have several samples of that batch of soap,  I'll let them comment on the feel of it. I don't care about clarity,  myself, since I like to use butters in my LS.

I would like to say that if you use Summer Bee Meadow's Advanced Lye  Calculator, it is already configured for using KOH so you don't have to  have a lye excess and then neutralize later. So I use the SBM calculator  at a 3% superfat with glycerin instead of water.

BY 3% SUPERFAT YOU MEAN JUST ADD 3% LESS KOH THAN THE STANDARD SAP VALUE FOR YOUR CHOSEN OIL?

The calculator is  configured for using water, and there is a spot for glycerin amount but  that's for when you add it to a water-based soap so just leave that  empty when using that calc.

Then I just dilute as normal with the water." 

YOU MEAN YOU DILUTE IT WITH WATER THE NEXT DAY WITH NO ADDITIONAL COOKING?

HOW MUCH WATER WOULD YOU USE FOR A GIVEN WEIGHT OF PASTE?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Richie


----------

