first timer want to make liquid soap

[mrdan]

while ive been looking at tons of recipes online, it seems the ingredients and cooking methods vary greatly. not to mention some of the tutorials are not documented very well.

so i settled on a book by catherine fowler 'making natural liquid soaps' which seemed pretty thorough. however the two batches that ive tried with 5 ounces of coconut oil and 43 ounces of olive oil have both turned to much rather than paste.

is there a solid proven recipe for either liquid castile soap or body wash thats well documented and a good starter for someone brand new to soap making?

thanks

 

[mrdan]

i figured i should post my problem for better responses

im using a recipe of
5 ounces coconut oil
43 ounces olive oil
11 ounces lye
33 ounces distilled water
(all by weight)

i heat the oils up to 160, mix the water and lye and wait til it cools to 140 then mix with our hand held mixer.
things go fairly normal for a while, blend starts to thicken according to book and other info.
but right before it gets to trace, it starts to separate and looks like mashed potatoes in water.

this time around we let it cool to re-heat and remix, but it just looks like cookie dough.

what can be done to salvage this mass of cookie dough looking goop?

 

[Muzhik]

I had very good luck with the tutorial from Silver Firs Farm:

http://silverfirsfarm.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/liquid-castile-soap-tutorial/

Note that you need to use POTASSIUM hydroxide (KOH), rather than the SODIUM hydroxide (NaOH) that's used in hard soaps. (If you bought your lye from the hardware store in the plumbing section, you've got NaOH.) You'll need to look around on the web for a source of KOH; it's frequently used by people making biodiesel, so it's out there.

 

[mrdan]

aarghhhh....

guess ill have to look at some hard soap recipes in order to resolve this mess ive got right now.
next time ill make sure to get the right type of lye

thanks

 

[Muzhik]

One more thing: you'll have to run your potassium hydroxide through a lye calculator. KOH crystals tend to have water molecules -- H2O -- bound up in them, so you can't just substitute equal amounts of KOH for NaOH. I believe Soapcalc takes this into account when calculating the amount of KOH needed.

 

[mrdan]

the place i bought the proper lye from had an explanation of how to properly mix lye and fats based on saponification

http://www.certified-lye.com/lye-soap.html

from that info, i used some other online soap calculators along with info i got from my book, liquid soaps

http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp

none of the recipes were identical: water to lye ratios varied, over alkilined on purpose

i ended up using
25 oz olive oil
2.5 oz coconut oil
koh lye 5.4 oz
h2o 12.5 oz

i got to trace and then started the cooking of the paste
i thought it was supposed to get translucent, but its staying pretty opaque
its turned a brownish peanut butter looking color but isnt getting opaque

i am hoping to salvage this batch if possible

 

[agriffin]

Yikes, it should get translucent. Are you sure you used potassium hydroxide and not sodium?

And it should not be brown but more amber.

How did it turn out?

Also, what are you cooking it in?

 

[mrdan]

im on batch #3 and every time i seem to get one step closer, but not quite there yet

i remade a batch using
16 oz olive oil
3.3 oz KOH lye
10 oz distilled water

it took a while to get to trace, possibly because 100% soft oil.
i baked the paste until translucent, which took a while also using double boiler.
i am now trying to dilute the paste, but after adding prescribed amount, its not quite liquid, but still a paste

when heated, its more viscous. but when cooled, its real sticky.
i guess i can add more water, but or approx 20 oz of paste, i added about 42 oz of water.
perhaps i need to boil the paste / water mix a little longer?


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[mrdan]

i reheated the batch, brought it to a boil and it started to foam up.
after letting it cool a little, while stirring the foam down, i could see clear liquid under the foam.
im trying to reheat and get the foam to turn liquid, but not sure whats the best approach for that...hot...cold?
i may just skim off the foam and keep the liquid, but it feels like a small success!