I Hate to Ask, but I'm Confused

Sorry to do this because I know it's redundant to info that's already in these threads, but there is SO MUCH info that I'm confused.

What's the current "state of the art" method for GLS? I've read the BIG thread several times, and I've read/watched Irish's recent tutorial. But there's creamy vs clear, hot glycerin vs water dissolve, cooked vs not cooked, PS20 vs PS80, and all kinds of other subtle distinctions that have my head spinning.

So I've got a quart of glycerin. I've got a few pounds of KOH, and all the typical oils, scents and colors from making bar soap. I even have some stearic acid. And I want to try GLS tonight. Can somebody cut through all the fog and just tell me what to do?

You are asking a bunch of opinionated soapers to tell you to do -- liquid soapers at that???? Brave man! Here's my opinion!

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1. Make your first LS using a recipe that will give you a clear liquid soap when diluted. This will make it easier to troubleshoot problems, should that be needed. After that, the field is open.

To that end, a good place to start is IL's recipe for general hand and body use --
65% Olive Oil
25% Coconut Oil
10% Castor Oil

Another good recipe would be Susie's LS for laundry -- either 100% coconut oil OR a blend of 95% CO + 5% castor.

To make very roughly 1 quart of diluted liquid soap, size your recipe to use 250 g to 300 g of oils (9 oz to 11 oz).

2. Calculate the lye and "water" weights for your recipe.
I put "water" in quotes because you're going to use water and glycerin to make up this total.

If your KOH is about 90% purity, use SoapCalc with the 90% purity setting turned ON.
If your KOH purity is close to 100%, use Soapcalc with the 90% setting left OFF.
If your KOH purity is about 95%, use SummerBeeMeadow calc.

Set the calc at your choice of 1% to 3% superfat. I use 3%.
Set the calc to 25% lye concentration -- that's a ratio of 3 parts "water" to 1 part lye.

3. Make your lye solution.

First dissolve your KOH in room-temperature distilled water equal to the KOH weight.
Measure glycerin equal to 2 times the KOH weight.
When the KOH is completely dissolved in the water, combine the glycerin with the lye solution and mix.
You can use this water-glycerin-lye solution right away -- no need to cool it.

4. Make the soap paste per Susie's tutorial: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=465968 see Post 2.

5. Dilute the soap paste per Susie's tutorial (see Step 4 above) or per IL's tutorial: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=46114 see Post 9.

Unless you have better information, start diluting the paste at 0.5 parts water to 1 part paste by weight. Add SMALL amounts of water after that to find the best dilution.
Use only distilled water for diluting the soap paste. No tap water, no aloe, no fragrance, no infusions -- nothing but plain distilled water.

6. After the soap is diluted and any problems are fixed, add fragrance to the diluted soap as you wish.
I suggest scenting at 0.5% to 1% of the total diluted soap weight (0.5 gram to 1 gram of scent per 100 g of diluted soap).
I recommend testing each fragrance in a small sample before you scent a larger amount -- some FOs and EOs will change the thickness or texture of the soap.

7. Pour into bottles and use. No cure time is required.

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I'm sure you'll get a bunch of other opinions, but hopefully you'll be able to sort some sensible ideas out of the chaos.

BrewerGeorge said:

What's the current "state of the art" method for GLS?

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"State of the art" is actually whichever way works easiest for you. In other words, you can't go wrong with any of them- they all work wonderfully and will give you lovely liquid soap in the end- but it will all come down to what is easier/more comfortable for you and the way you like to work/soap.

For what it's worth, the easiest/less fussy way is to mix your KOH with enough water to dissolve, and then add the full complement of glycerin to it before dumping into your melted oils.

Cooked vs. Uncooked: uncooked is the easiest/less fussy way to go.

PS20 vs PS80: PS80 is the better of the two when making liquid soap. PS20 is too weak for this task.

I will help you through step by step if need be.

Step one: Do you want to make clear soap or creamy/opaque soap?

Edited to add: DeeAnna beat me to it again! lol


IrishLass

Wow, DeeAnna. That is extremely helpful in a very concise way. I've been looking at LS methods since I want to try it this summer (must research everything for 6 months first, according to my weird brain!) and there is so much to read and look at that it all felt a little overwhelming. Bookmarking this thread!

There are many ways to makie soap and many of the methods work perfectly fine. This diversity is part of the fun ... and the confusing frustration ... of soap making.

Hopefully my suggestions will encourage beginners to give liquid soap making a try. With a basic first batch under your belt, I hope people will feel braver to branch out.

DeeAnna said:

You are asking a bunch of opinionated soapers to tell you to do -- liquid soapers at that???? Brave man! Here's my opinion!

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Thank you for cutting through the fog! These will be my marching orders for tonight.

Thank you too, IrishLass!

BrewerGeorge said:

Sorry to do this because I know it's redundant to info that's already in these threads, but there is SO MUCH info that I'm confused.

What's the current "state of the art" method for GLS? I've read the BIG thread several times, and I've read/watched Irish's recent tutorial. But there's creamy vs clear, hot glycerin vs water dissolve, cooked vs not cooked, PS20 vs PS80, and all kinds of other subtle distinctions that have my head spinning.

So I've got a quart of glycerin. I've got a few pounds of KOH, and all the typical oils, scents and colors from making bar soap. I even have some stearic acid. And I want to try GLS tonight. Can somebody cut through all the fog and just tell me what to do?

Click to expand...

Thank you for asking this, and thanks for DeeAnna and Irish Lass for responding (and anyone else who does) - I was pretty much in the same boat as you. I'm not a detail person - and all that information from the thread was overwhelming for me. Have to get polysorbate 80 - but first find our if its save for kids.

I vowed to never make liquid soap as I never liked it. However, our little one has trouble with bar soap (homemade soap is so slippery) that she scrapes the bar with her fingernails. She finally swiped a fresh bar of soap off the shelf, shredded it (she's a pro at shredding soap and cheese!) soaked it in water and put it on the food processor! Turned out quite nice actually. But I'm taking that as a hint that I'd better learn to make liquid soap. :idea:

What recipe size should I use if I want to fit comfortably in a quart Mason jar?

I use 1-qt jars when I dilute my paste, and I can comfortably fit 16 oz. of the paste, plus all my dilution ingredients.


IrishLass

Well, that was interesting. Went from looking like a good gelatinous gravy, to a graininess like a slightly broken custard, back to shiny smooth and thin for about 30 seconds, then instantly set to the consistency of taffy when you're about half-way done pulling it. Sure looks like soap paste. I covered it and will give it a couple hours before zap testing and hopefully diluting overnight.

What's the dilution ratio for the recipe DeeAnna posted? When do I add the sodium lactate?

I'm assuming you're using IL's recipe? If so, you'll want to see IL's tutorial where she answers those questions: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=46114 and look for Post 9.

Your experience sounds pretty close to mine! Fun, ain't it???

I diluted mine at .75:1 and found it a little runnier than I expected. I'd recommend starting at .5:1. You can always add water; you can't take it out.

Good point, Misschief. It's always wise to sneak up on the final dilution, especially if you're using a recipe that is new to you. Susie recommends adding dilution water = 1/2 of the paste weight to start with and then working up from there, and I'd say that's a pretty safe plan. Even though I know IL's dilution ratio for her olive-CO-castor recipe, I follow Susie's method of diluting the paste.

And keep good notes on dilution amounts. Then you can just start with that next time.

We have zapless paste. Diluting in the stock pot now. Think I'll just put a little litsea in this one for scent. (I don't have any PS80 yet, so I'm only diluting 200g.)

This is the paste I can put in a push tube for hand-washing on the go, right?

BrewerGeorge said:

We have zapless paste. Diluting in the stock pot now. Think I'll just put a little litsea in this one for scent. (I don't have any PS80 yet, so I'm only diluting 200g.)

This is the paste I can put in a push tube for hand-washing on the go, right?

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I'm interested in that idea, too. I happen to have some push tubes I bought for deodorant about 10 years ago. They'd be perfect for hand-washing on the go.

How would you get it into the tubes?

Yep, BG, this one will work fine (before dilution) for Susie's idea for Soap2Go. At least that's been my experience. Just mark the tube as Soap or whatever, so's you don't confuse it with your lip balm. Don't ask me why. Ahem......

Misschief -- I just smoosh the paste into the tube with my fingers and the blunt end of a chopstick. Not very scientific or elegant, but it's the easiest way to fill a few tubes for personal use.

^Yep, exactly that way. Did that, too.

Here's a pic a couple hours after dilution. Hopefully it will be uniformly clear-ish by tomorrow. It doesn't look like it's going to clear completely, probably because of the litsea without PS80, but we'll see.

And if it looks extra orange, that's because I used my bargain CO with the beta carotene.

Thanks, All!

Looking good!