Cloudy LS

[topofmurrayhill]

Your right its melted soap on the bottom.

It takes a good amount of water to dissolve a high-olive liquid soap. If you homogenize the mixture by grating or stick blending, the excess soap will separate as that foamy goop on top. Add water very gradually, especially when there's not much goop left, to get the thickest soap. Borax will allow a little less water if you don't overdo it, but at this point you want to blend and lower the borax concentration so it doesn't cloud.

There are countless ways to make bar soap, but when you post here about liquid soap you have to conform to dogma. Sodium lactate is the only authorized thickener. From now on we are to make liquid soap as per the posted instructions.

 

[Persofit]

It takes a good amount of water to dissolve a high-olive liquid soap. If you homogenize the mixture by grating or stick blending, the excess soap will separate as that foamy goop on top. Add water very gradually, especially when there's not much goop left, to get the thickest soap. Borax will allow a little less water if you don't overdo it, but at this point you want to blend and lower the borax concentration so it doesn't cloud.

There are countless ways to make bar soap, but when you post here about liquid soap you have to conform to dogma. Sodium lactate is the only authorized thickener. From now on we are to make liquid soap as per the posted instructions.

Thanks for that info for diluting high-olive LS, your absolutely right about that foamy goop on top, im trying to get that gooy stuff disolved still.

 

[Susie]

Dilute with small amounts, allowing time for it to penetrate the soap. Then write down how much it took. Then you will know for future reference.

 

[Persofit]

This is my dilution without Borax

 

[Persofit]

This is my newly diluted soap with half of the cloudy mixture with Borax ( Half and half )

 

[Persofit]

So the problem was the Borax

 

[topofmurrayhill]

So the problem was the Borax

I was hoping that blending the two would be sufficient if you let the mixture sit for a while. If not, we still need to try and fix your soap. I would suggest a test that's not very exact, but it's easy and safe and could point in the right direction.

Take a small drinking glass and fill it about half full of the 50/50 soap mixture. With googles* and gloves on, get a KOH chip on a stainless steel spoon and drop it into the soap. Use the spoon to give the soap a brief stir to submerge the chip, then leave the spoon in there.

You can take off the safety gear once you've got the KOH stowed.

Unlike putting it in water, the dry KOH in soap is a no-drama thing. It will take some time to incorporate. Occasionally come back and give it a brief stir. Gradually it will seem to melt and then disappear.

We want to see if additional alkali has an effect on the clarity.

* goggles.

 

[Persofit]

I was hoping that blending the two would be sufficient if you let the mixture sit for a while. If not, we still need to try and fix your soap. I would suggest a test that's not very exact, but it's easy and safe and could point in the right direction.

Take a small drinking glass and fill it about half full of the 50/50 soap mixture. With googles* and gloves on, get a KOH chip on a stainless steel spoon and drop it into the soap. Use the spoon to give the soap a brief stir to submerge the chip, then leave the spoon in there.

You can take off the safety gear once you've got the KOH stowed.

Unlike putting it in water, the dry KOH in soap is a no-drama thing. It will take some time to incorporate. Occasionally come back and give it a brief stir. Gradually it will seem to melt and then disappear.

We want to see if additional alkali has an effect on the clarity.

* goggles.

Hi
I disolved up to 4 chips of KOH in 250ml of half borax soap and half non-borax 50/50. No clarity just a lighter color yellow.
( when i heat it up it turns clear until the next day its cloudy again)
Any other ideas?

 

[topofmurrayhill]

Hi
I disolved up to 4 chips of KOH in 250ml of half borax soap and half non-borax 50/50. No clarity just a lighter color yellow.
( when i heat it up it turns clear until the next day its cloudy again)
Any other ideas?

Plenty of ideas as long as you want to keep trying. I just don't know what exactly would work.

How long since you added the KOH? The results aren't instant, so it should probably sit overnight before evaluating the results. If it changed color then something might be happening.

If it's definitely a bust after waiting, I would get a thin film of the soap on a fingertip and test for zap. If it's negative, you can try more KOH. If low pH is causing the cloudiness, there should be some amount of alkali that will overcome the buffering of the borax.

You could continue testing KOH with just half the sample and add the other half little by little to non-borax soap (keep track of the weights) to see how it much it takes to cloud the solution.

Something to try later or separately is whether glycerin is helpful as a solvent since I don't recall you used any at the beginning.

 

[Persofit]

News update,
The soap thats clear in the picture above ( no borax ) turned cloudy the 2nd day, so i guess the problem is with the paste. I am going to make a small batch with the same oils and see if it turns out.

 

[Persofit]

A little observation, the soap that is mixed 50/50 cleared up a bit after sitting for a week.

 

[Persofit]

Hello,
Here is my new batch with the same oils as the last batch and its nice and clear ( just a little to liquid ) but not bad. Conclusion it was definitely the the borax that made my last batch so cloudy.
Thanks for all your help ( I hope i get the next batch thicker )

Michael

 

[Susie]

Your view is breathtaking! I just had to say that!

Congratulations on the clear soap!

If you have not already, consider trying IrishLass' recipe, it is nice and thick. I typically mix the KOH with half the weight in water, or you can do a third, then mix the glycerin in with the oils.

It is in post #8: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=46114&highlight=liquid+glycerin+soap