# Paste Not Forming



## Spud66 (Aug 14, 2017)

Hello, I'm new to the forum and LS making so would appreciate your advice. I tried making liquid soap using  glycerin in place of water with my KOH. In the video tutorial which I was following, the soap went from trace to paste fairly quickly, but while I achieved trace, extra mixing just caused the soap to separate. I continued to keep blending as the tutorial said that LS made with glycerin is forgiving, but it simply became frothy but not thicker. I was beating for over 30 minutes (and had to change to a hand mixer as my stick blender overheated)but it simply wouldn't thicken. Did I give up too soon? I used Brambleberry's lye calculator to ensure I had the liquid/KOH ratio correct. My formula had 60% coconut oil, 25% Olive, 16% Macadamia, 5% castor oil and 4%sheabutter. Any advice would be much appreciated as I really want to nail this


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## BattleGnome (Aug 14, 2017)

First a safety thing: not knocking you but it is dangerous to mix your KOH and glycerin. It's easy to miss undiluted bits and boils weird and is easily over heated and safety first. Best practice is to dissolve your KOH in an equal amount of water then add the rest of your water portion as glycerin. Again, not trying cause you.

Second, some questions.
How long ago did you make this batch and what does it look like now?
Did you use a cold process method or a hot process method?
How much KOH/glycerin did you use? What superfat?

The last liquid soap I made reached emulsion at a decent speed but then didn't want to thicken further. I put the lid on my put and walked away. A half hour later I had a solid paste and was ready to dilute. I've got my fingers crossed that you have the same issue. 

Answer the questions I asked and if the magic hasn't happened let us know.


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## Susie (Aug 14, 2017)

You don't have to have paste.  You only need to get it emulsified, put a lid on it, and walk away for a bit.  Then when you come back to it, you have gelled paste.  

BattleGnome is correct above.

Here is a whole long thread discussing exactly what to do/expect from liquid soapmaking.  I now use the recipe in post #8 exclusively for my liquid soap.  Pay attention to the method used.  I know it is daunting, but read it in sections over a few days. 

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=46114


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## BrewerGeorge (Aug 14, 2017)

In retrospect and IMO, the biggest thing all the soaping videos miss is the importance of just setting down the stick blender and walking away.  

Because they're generally edited for easy viewing, we lose the sense of the passage of time.  Also, the very nature of them being demonstrations of how to _do_ something means they generally fail at teaching when it's best to do nothing.  And of course, it tends to be human nature to want to control the process.

I'm with BattleGnome and Susie in assuming that you will find a paste this morning when you check.


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## IrishLass (Aug 14, 2017)

Yep- it's as the others above have said- just put the lid on your emulsified/traced soap (and make sure it's off of any heat source) and walk away. It'll turn into paste on its own without any further help. Just give it time. Mine turns into paste on its own anywhere from about 20 minutes to 6 hours or so with no interference from me.



			
				BrewerGeorge said:
			
		

> In retrospect and IMO, the biggest thing all the soaping videos miss is the importance of just setting down the stick blender and walking away


. 

I don't know why, but the famous secret bookcase scene from the movie 'Young Frankenstein' where Gene Wilder's character slowly and sternly instructs Teri Garr's character to "Put.... the.... candle.... back!"  just popped into my head after reading what you wrote above^^^, but it sounded more like this: Put..... the..... stickblender.... down! 

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ktmN0wvHQs[/ame]


IrishLass


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