Hard, lumpy paste

[gabrielet]

Hello,

I cooked up my first batch of liquid soap (as per the recipe on this blog: Basic Beginner Liquid Soap and Information).

I doubled the ingredients because I have only a 6-quart crock pot, and followed the instructions carefully.

The soap thickened up to the consistency of something like slightly soft, crumbly beeswax chucks (see attached photo). So clearly I could not cook it down.

Can someone give me some advice on what happened, and what I should do with this batch?

Thank you for any response,

Gabriel

 

[Obsidian]

That is way overcooked. Try adding enough water to cover the chunks and let it sit overnight.
We can reassess tomorrow.

 

[Arimara]

What temperature did you use for your crock pot? Did you run this recipe through a soap calculator while I'm at it?

 

[Zany_in_CO]

It looks to me like you either cooked it too long or didn't use enough water to make your lye solution. When you doubled the recipe, did you run the new numbers through a calc to get the lye & water amounts? You might want to double check your recipe to see it you left anything out. In any case, it looks ready to dilute to me.
CONGRATULATIONS on making your first LS!

 

[gabrielet]

Thank you for the responses.

I brought the temperature of the KOH and oils to about 150ºF, according to the instruction on the page link I attached, before mixing them. But the temp climbed rapidly when I mixed them with the hand blender.

And, no, I didn't do a calc on it since the instructions were quite explicit in having already done that.

Does "overcooked" mean it's a ruined batch? It didn't scorch on the bottom surface.

 

[gabrielet]

oops

 

[gabrielet]

Well, Zany, that is somewhat encouraging. I did do my doubling calculations and conversions to gram/ml three times to make sure I got them right.

Perhaps in my sophomoric level of experience in this, I was thinking that, after bringing the oils and KOH solution to the same temp before mixing them, the increased heat (up to 180ºF) may have caused the problem.

 

[Obsidian]

Does "overcooked" mean it's a ruined batch? It didn't scorch on the bottom surface.

No, it just means its been cooked too long and has gotten dry. It should be fine once diluted.

 

[gabrielet]

Thanks. I kind of thought that was the case, but wanted an opinion from someone who actually knows something about this.

I took your advice and covered the chunks with water.

 

[gabrielet]

By the way, how long should the final dilution cure before it can be used?

 

[Obsidian]

You don't have to cure liquid soap. Once its diluted, its ready to use.

 

[Arimara]

Thank you for the responses.

I brought the temperature of the KOH and oils to about 150ºF, according to the instruction on the page link I attached, before mixing them. But the temp climbed rapidly when I mixed them with the hand blender.

And, no, I didn't do a calc on it since the instructions were quite explicit in having already done that.

Does "overcooked" mean it's a ruined batch? It didn't scorch on the bottom surface.

Rule from the wise- NEVER trust a soap recipe as written and always double check it via running it through a soap calculator. People make mistakes and you could have easily made a lye heavy or overly superfatted batch of soap without knowing it. Even doubling a recipe is not advised in that you may actually have needed more/less lye than you used.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Does "overcooked" mean it's a ruined batch? It didn't scorch on the bottom surface.

Nope. It's not ruined. It may take a little longer than usual to dilute though. LS high in Olive Oil requires more water than a Coconut based LS.
100% coconut oil LS - 40% soap + 60% water
100% olive oil LS - 15-20% soap + 80-85% water
All other combos are somewhere in between. You'll know when you've hit the right amount of dilution water when a skin forms on the surface. Add a bit more water to dissolve the film and you're done.

That being said, many soapers add just enough water to get a consistency they prefer. This results in having to rinse longer and a lot more soap ends up going down the drain. I'm looking forward to reading your results. This recipe should make a lovely all-purpose soap.