First try at liquid soap

[Ivanstein]

Just tried liquid soap and am in the cooking process. The stuff has turned into a VERY thick semi solid mass. Do I just keep cooking? Do I try to put more water in? I started with a 3:1 water:lye ratio anticipating water loss.

Recipe is 50% coconut oil, 45% lard, and 5% castor oil.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eUf3wmMRm7iqh8aj2

 

[jcandleattic]

Just tried liquid soap and am in the cooking process. The stuff has turned into a VERY thick semi solid mass. Do I just keep cooking? Do I try to put more water in? I started with a 3:1 water:lye ratio anticipating water loss.

Recipe is 50% coconut oil, 45% lard, and 5% castor oil.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eUf3wmMRm7iqh8aj2

It will become a paste, then after the cook, and when it's cool (or not - your choice) that's when you can dilute it into a liquid.

From the picture looks like it possibly needs to cook a bit longer. You want to make sure the paste gets past saponification. My liquid soap paste becomes a clear(ish) golden amber color one saponification is complete.

 

[Ivanstein]

It will become a paste, then after the cook, and when it's cool (or not - your choice) that's when you can dilute it into a liquid.

Ok. Thank you.

I have had other soaps get thick, but not to this degree. I will keep going.

 

[jcandleattic]

Ok. Thank you.

I have had other soaps get thick, but not to this degree. I will keep going.

yes, the paste will be much thicker than bar soap batter gets but it will remain squishy/soft, where as bar soap continues to harden.

This is what my soap paste looks like (this is a little darker than my typical because I ended up cooking it too long for this batch)

 

[Susie]

Test it for zap, if it is zapless, dilute. It looks like it has lots of air mixed in. And soap with lard looks like that.

 

[Ivanstein]

Well, ot eventually turned transparent. Although it was never a paste, more about the consistency of one of those hotel glycerin bars.

I diluted it using 2:1 water to soap per weight. It's way too much water. So, I guess I wait for a lotof the water to evaporate out to make it more like liquid soap.

I will post results when I get done.

Thanks for the help all!

 

[penelopejane]

Well, ot eventually turned transparent. Although it was never a paste, more about the consistency of one of those hotel glycerin bars.

I diluted it using 2:1 water to soap per weight. It's way too much water. So, I guess I wait for a lotof the water to evaporate out to make it more like liquid soap.

I will post results when I get done.

Thanks for the help all!

Are you following Irish Lass' instructions in post 8 of the thread below?
It's very simple and clear.

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

 

[DeeAnna]

"...I diluted it using 2:1 water to soap per weight. It's way too much water...."

Yeah, I'd say so. With that much coconut and castor, that's waaaay too much water. Next time you try a new recipe, dilute a sample first and sneak up on the dilution. Far better to do a sample than have to fix a whole batch.

With dilution only, liquid soap with that much coconut may never be thick enough on its own. If this is the type of liquid soap recipe you want to make, you should probably look at HEC or HPMC or other thickening agent to get the consistency you want.

If you want to make a honey thick soap by dilution only, then you need somewhere around 50% oleic acid in the recipe. Your recipe is roughly 25% oleic acid. And even a high oleic recipe may not be able to do a 2:1 water: paste dilution. I do more like 0.75 to 1 part paste to 1 part water with recipes around 50% oleic acid.

 

[Ivanstein]

I read through the post about liquid soap.

Lots of good info there.

I have my batch on "warm" in my crock pot and am slowly evaporating the soap. It is thickening, but no where neat honey-like. More like Dr. Bronner's overpriced (mostly) castille soap.

All is good. Live and learn!

 

[Saranac]

Well, ot eventually turned transparent. Although it was never a paste, more about the consistency of one of those hotel glycerin bars.

I diluted it using 2:1 water to soap per weight. It's way too much water. So, I guess I wait for a lotof the water to evaporate out to make it more like liquid soap.

I will post results when I get done.

Thanks for the help all!

You could always make another batch of paste and add it to your diluted soap--to avoid having to cook a lot of water out. This would also give you the opportunity to increase the oleic-based soap in the total batch (if you run a second batch with little to no coconut).

 

[Susie]

You're not going to get a honey consistency from that recipe. You truly need the glycerin/high oleic recipe given by IrishLass. Trust me, I've tried to do different variations on that recipe. Many, many of them. They just don't work. You can try to cook the water out, but you are just going to get paste again. I promise. It will start out as a skin on top, then you will get lumps and then paste.

 

[Saranac]

You could always make another batch of paste and add it to your diluted soap--to avoid having to cook a lot of water out. This would also give you the opportunity to increase the oleic-based soap in the total batch (if you run a second batch with little to no coconut).

. . . or . . .

You could just use the thin soap in a foamer bottle (this bottle with this top).

Even though ultra-thick liquid soap is akin to the Holy Grail, I much prefer a thinner soap in a foamer bottle for hand washing. The thicker soaps are nice for making body washes (where a bath pouf or sponge make quick work of lathering up), but for hand washing, I personally find them hard to lather. And then there's the issue of pumps clogging if the (already thick) soap starts to dry out. No matter what, if there's a glop of paste in the way, the stream of soap ALWAYS aims for an eye!

I still make both as I have customers who have strong feelings for one over the other, and I get a lot of pleasure from creating a beautifully clear and thick soap. . . but functionality-wise, I'd take a foamer bottle any day.

 

[Ivanstein]

Well, after evaporating a lot of water out, I hit it with the stick blender to liquify the film that kept occuring on top.

It is at a honey-like consistency. Very thick. It started out with an opaque color from micro-bubbles due to stick blending. However, they are dissipating nicely.

Here is half a bottle with some lavender lab color and lavender vanilla FO.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cuqBg3Jv9TjIMZ302

 

[Ivanstein]

You're not going to get a honey consistency from that recipe. You truly need the glycerin/high oleic recipe given by IrishLass. Trust me, I've tried to do different variations on that recipe. Many, many of them. They just don't work. You can try to cook the water out, but you are just going to get paste again. I promise. It will start out as a skin on top, then you will get lumps and then paste.

I had the skin. A bit of heat from the crock pot and the stick blender took care of it. Also, I stirred every time I walked by the crock pot to prevent the skin from getting too thick.

 

[Susie]

Uh huh...wait til morning.

I am the first person to admit when I am wrong, though. With an apology. But I have been there so many, many times that I remember that hopeful feeling. So, please, please prove me wrong??!! I would love to go exploring new liquid soap recipes!

 

[Ivanstein]

Uh huh...wait til morning.

I am the first person to admit when I am wrong, though. With an apology. But I have been there so many, many times that I remember that hopeful feeling. So, please, please prove me wrong??!! I would love to go exploring new liquid soap recipes!

Looked at the jars and bottles I made up yesterday before heading out to work. There doesn't appear to be a skin on it.

I did pour water in the crock pot liner to dissolve the remaining soap. LOTS of bubbles...most of them survived the night as well. Wow. This is NOT a good start for anyone who wants to make laundry detergent! [emoji6]

I will try to get more pics later when I get home.

BTW, i can't seem to post pics anymore through tapatalk. Is there a better way than the google photos links?

 

[Susie]

If you are making laundry soap, be sure not to use a superfat. And you only need at most 1 oz of liquid soap in laundry. You do need white vinegar in a Downy ball to lay the outer portion of the fibers back down. And you will not have as many bubbles as you think in the laundry from hand made soap. Just be sure not to add sugar or anything else to boost the bubbles.

 

[Ivanstein]

If you are making laundry soap, be sure not to use a superfat. And you only need at most 1 oz of liquid soap in laundry. You do need white vinegar in a Downy ball to lay the outer portion of the fibers back down. And you will not have as many bubbles as you think in the laundry from hand made soap. Just be sure not to add sugar or anything else to boost the bubbles.

I wasn't shooting for laundry soap. The comment was about the longevity of the foam created while soaking the crock pot liner.

But, thanks for the useful tips. I did a 1% lye excess and neutralized with borax on this run. So I may try this next go around for liquid laundry soap. [emoji6]

 

[Ivanstein]

Here is a picture of the rest of the results.

Looks decent. Will divvy it up and add fragrance and color later.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/e78ncpRpJOstOZwI2

 

[Susie]

Can you please post your full recipe, including weight of dilution liquid?