help please. hard Liquid Soap problem

happyprince · Dec 13, 2019

Hi everyone...
I tried my first liquid soap batch today. I heated the oils up to 70 or 80 degree Celcius and I prepared the lye mixture.When the lye water is hot and the oils are around 80 degree celcius I mixed them on a heater and the heater was on;though low.
When I watched vids of LS making people said that it took a long time to reach the trace and paste form.But mine reached the trace after a few minutes and it was even in gel form after like 10 minutes. I thought that it is a fault gel phase and continued to mix.I gave a pause of ten minutes after turning off the heater.I then turned the heater on (low) and mixed again.But it never got hard.It was in mashed potato form anyway.After doing that three times I decided to cook it and I cooked the soap for about 3 hours.And it turned into gel phase towards the end.But when I turned off the heat and it cooled down it hardened and it became kind of like cold process soap. It is ok if I dilute it?Is there a problem?I did the clarity test and it is really very clear.Also I did the phenolphthalein test and it is very very light pinkish colour ;so it is also very good.I just wanted to be sure and did the Zap test too.And there is no zap. Any ideas are welcome and thanks a lot in advance.
I now put my recipe here for you to have a better idea:
40 OZ olive oil
12 Oz Coconut Oil
12 Oz Castor Oil
21 Oz Distilled water
5 Oz Glycerine
13.1 OZ potassium hydroxide.

IrishLass · Dec 13, 2019

Hello Happyprince! If there's no zap, your paste is ready to dilute!

Also- there's actually no need to cook your soap liquid soap batter all the way to the paste stage. I never do. I just make sure the initial liquid soap batter comes to a trace, then I cover it, remove it from the heat, and leave it alone on my counter for about 6 hours. It turns into solid, zapless paste all on its own during that time.

IrishLass

happyprince · Dec 13, 2019

oh... That really helped me a lot. Next time I will do that way. Thanks so much IrishLass

Zany_in_CO · Dec 13, 2019

happyprince said:
It is ok if I dilute it?Is there a problem?I did the clarity test and it is really very clear.Also I did the phenolphthalein test and it is very very light pinkish colour ;so it is also very good.I just wanted to be sure and did the Zap test too.And there is no zap. Any ideas are welcome and thanks a lot in advance.

For a first-timer, you did an excellent job. Yes, it is ready to dilute. No problem.

Keep up the good work!

ETA: Be sure to weigh the paste before diluting. I wouldn't dilute it all at once. 64 oz is a HUGE batch. So, I would do a small portion first to see how it goes before diluting the whole batch.
With that combo of oils, I would use 35% (or less) to 65% (or more) dilution water. It should dilute fairly quickly due to the amount of glycerin in the KOH solution water. EXAMPLE:
3.5 oz soap
6.5 oz water
10 oz finished LS