Current batch is being interesting

[FlybyStardancer]

So, using lard in a LS is supposed to give it an opaque pearlescent quality, right?

Well, today I worked on a batch of laundry soap, 75% CO, 25% lard. It only took about 2.5ish hours for the paste to cook, and now I have it diluting...

Though it seems to be diluting clear, as if I had used entirely coconut oil. I would not have expected that. It does seem to be diluting rather slowly, compared to how quickly it cooked, but I'm not worried. I did overestimate how much my new soaping crock could hold, though... I won't be able to dilute all of the paste in one go. I'll have to ladle off some of it tomorrow, and then finish diluting it. It'll be tricky to get the borax in somewhat evenly... (The borax is for chelating and boosting the cleaning power, since I have hard water, not neutralizing or thickening.)

 

[Susie]

At 25% lard, your soap will have a faint cloudiness that will eventually rise to the top. And be careful not to get the pH too low with the borax. I "broke" one batch of soap that way. I ended up having to adjust with KOH. Took me longer to fix it than to make it. As much as I love lard in soap, I can't use it in laundry soap. My folded clothes tend to hang on to that smell.

 

[FGOriold]

Borax will not take your pH lower than 9.2 as that is the pH of the borax - it is a buffering agent not a pH adjuster like citric acid is. But, even though it will not lower your pH below the its own pH, it can mess up your soap (cause cloudiness, break it apart) if you use too much. I tried to add borax to a 50% lard/50% PKO soap and I ended up with a layer of soap on the bottom and a thick gooey mess on the top half - and that had nothing to do with the resulting pH.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

That's interesting about borax breaking the soap. I'm a bit surprised, given that borax is recommended as a thickener because it can't drop the pH too far down.

I'm not really worried about cloudiness. It's a laundry soap that's going to be in an opaque container. It doesn't need to be pretty as long as it works!

 

[Susie]

Borax will not take your pH lower than 9.2 as that is the pH of the borax - it is a buffering agent not a pH adjuster like citric acid is. But, even though it will not lower your pH below the its own pH, it can mess up your soap (cause cloudiness, break it apart) if you use too much. I tried to add borax to a 50% lard/50% PKO soap and I ended up with a layer of soap on the bottom and a thick gooey mess on the top half - and that had nothing to do with the resulting pH.

Ah-hah! So that is what I did! Thanks! I resolved to never use Borax again. We have soft water, so it really is not necessary.

 

[FGOriold]

Susie - that was the first and last time I used borax. I don't know if it actually breaks the soap apart or just creates a mess with it - I dumped the whole thing as it was unusable.

I superfat my liquid soaps at about 2 - 3% and do not neutralize or adjust the pH at all with citric acid or anything else as that is the only time I have ever had problems with liquid soap. Without neutralizing, my resulting pH runs between 8.7 - 9.3 depending on the oils I use and other ingredients which is perfect. I know that people use borax for other reasons, but I have never had any use for it. I use other thickeners or methods to get a thicker soap and also have a water softener so don't need it for that purpose either.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

This was calculated at 0 SF, and shouldn't have needed a neutralizer. However, my water is really bad. As in, I've tested it with a hardness test for aquariums and it was twice as high as the chart went to... and the top of the chart is considered 'very hard'!

 

[CanaDawn]

Have you considered using citric acid as a wash booster/water chelator instead of borax? My understanding is that borax only really works in very hot water, and citric acid requires much less in the water to be effective. Then your soap wouldn't be at the mercy of borax's reactions.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

CanaDawn--then I'd have to go back to the old lye-excess-and-neutralization , with the carefully calculated amounts. Unless you build in the lye excess, citric acid would be even worse at ruining a perfectly good soap!

 

[FGOriold]

Citric acid is pH adjuster - so you can use it to lower your pH even without a lye excess. BUT, you really have to be careful with citric acid as it can take your pH too low (it is not a buffer like borax) causing clouding and separation as your soap breaks apart if you lower your pH too much with citric acid.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...Have you considered using citric acid as a wash booster/water chelator instead of borax?..."

It's my understanding that it's sodium citrate that is actually does the water softening aka chelating. Not an expert on this, however.

Sodium citrate is just citric acid reacted with 0.6 grams of NaOH for every 1 gram of citric acid. Why not make sodium citrate and use that in the LS?

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Hmmm, I hadn't thought of that, DeeAnna! Will have to remember for next time, or just buy sodium citrate, at the rate I'm adding citric acid to things just to get sodium citrate.