Lenarenee- can you post the recipe and the exact amounts of oil/glycerin and Koh that you used in order to make the paste, and also how you proceeded to make it? Something just seems very off to me.
IrishLass
IrishLass
Just how long should dilution take?
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I am going to second the request for the entire recipe in weights. Just to be sure, mind you.
Or if the recipe isn't available, I'll take some scones while I wait.
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Total 11 ounces oils, soapcalc with koh at 100% purity, used 97% koh, 1% sf
70% oo
20 co
10 castor
part = 62.49
Dissolved 1 part lye and 1 part water, added 2 parts glycerin, lye rounded down, water and glycerin rounded up
added to measured oils, sb'ed until obvious saponification, let it sit and visited with a whisk occasionally until taffy stage. No zap, we both went to bed.
Morning: nice stiff paste, began dilution using mason jar water bath method, and .5 water to 1 paste.
3 hours in - added .25 water to 1 paste with 3% sl added. Turned off heat to water bath.
End of day 1
Is that enough information?
70% oo
20 co
10 castor
part = 62.49
Dissolved 1 part lye and 1 part water, added 2 parts glycerin, lye rounded down, water and glycerin rounded up
added to measured oils, sb'ed until obvious saponification, let it sit and visited with a whisk occasionally until taffy stage. No zap, we both went to bed.
Morning: nice stiff paste, began dilution using mason jar water bath method, and .5 water to 1 paste.
3 hours in - added .25 water to 1 paste with 3% sl added. Turned off heat to water bath.
End of day 1
Is that enough information?
Thanks, Lenarenee! That helped!
You have 5% more olive oil in your recipe than I normally use in mine. Generally speaking, the more olive oil in a liquid soap recipe, the more dilution water it will need. The recipe I use contains 65% OO, 25% CO and 10% castor oil, and it dilutes to a beautifully viscous honey-like consistency with 1 part paste to .75 parts water.
If I understood correctly, you are now up to .75 parts water to 1 part paste, and the paste is stubbornly hanging on. Knowing that and all of the above, the answer now is clear and simple...the higher % of OO in your recipe is is making your paste thirsty for more water, and that's simply and precisely all you need to do- just add more water since .75 parts water to 1 part paste has shown itself to not be enough. You may need to go 1 part water/1 part paste, or even higher, but start slow just in case it's not much higher.
IrishLass
That helped!You have 5% more olive oil in your recipe than I normally use in mine. Generally speaking, the more olive oil in a liquid soap recipe, the more dilution water it will need. The recipe I use contains 65% OO, 25% CO and 10% castor oil, and it dilutes to a beautifully viscous honey-like consistency with 1 part paste to .75 parts water.
If I understood correctly, you are now up to .75 parts water to 1 part paste, and the paste is stubbornly hanging on. Knowing that and all of the above, the answer now is clear and simple...the higher % of OO in your recipe is is making your paste thirsty for more water, and that's simply and precisely all you need to do- just add more water since .75 parts water to 1 part paste has shown itself to not be enough. You may need to go 1 part water/1 part paste, or even higher, but start slow just in case it's not much higher.
IrishLass
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Thanks, Lenarenee!
You have 5% more olive oil in your recipe than I normally use in mine. Generally speaking, the more olive oil in a liquid soap recipe, the more dilution water it will need. The recipe I use contains 65% OO, 25% CO and 10% castor oil, and it dilutes to a beautifully viscous honey-like consistency with 1 part paste to .75 parts water.
If I understood correctly, you are now up to .75 parts water to 1 part paste, and the paste is stubbornly hanging on. Knowing that and all of the above, the answer now is clear and simple...the higher % of OO in your recipe is is making your paste thirsty for more water, and that's simply and precisely all you need to do- just add more water since .75 parts water to 1 part paste has shown itself to not be enough. You may need to go 1 part water/1 part paste, or even higher, but start slow just in case it's not much higher.
IrishLass
Thanks Irish lass. This is day 3 of dilution and I am way beyond .75 dilution. My best estimate is 4 parts water to 1 part paste. Since the paste had spent so much time heated it certainly lost a lot of moisture despite being covered.
I ditched all caution and soaping procedure and just went with my instinct. I added an addition 1% sl and repeatedly tossed in unmeausured water and stirred. When I thought it looked "right", I turned on the crock pot and left for 90 minutes.
When I came back, I had liquid soap!!!!!! I'm working now so can't do anything more with it.
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The foamy head on the soap actually got thicker in the last few hours. I poured off a lot of the liquid soap, added more water to the foam and turned off the crock pot. Is the foam supposed completely dissolve?
If there's enough dilution water present, it will dissolve either completely, or at least near enough to complete (just mere wisps). You can help to knock some of it down with a spritz or 2 of alcohol from a spray bottle, but don't go overboard or it will thin the soap out. Once the foam dissipates to about 1/4" - 1/8", some people just scoop it off and call it done. I like to wait until I just have mere wisps myself, and then knock them out with a spritz of alcohol.
IrishLass
IrishLass
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If there's enough dilution water present, it will dissolve either completely, or at least near enough to complete (just mere wisps). You can help to knock some of it down with a spritz or 2 of alcohol from a spray bottle, but don't go overboard or it will thin the soap out. Once the foam dissipates to about 1/4" - 1/8", some people just scoop it off and call it done. I like to wait until I just have mere wisps myself, and then knock them out with a spritz of alcohol.
IrishLass
By your above comment, I must have still been very deficient in dilution water. I poured off about 6 volume ounces of liquid soap, and still had a lot of foamy head. Added 3 volume ounces of water over the course of a couple hours and let it warm in the crock pot.
The ls I poured this morning is too thick to bottle - it's almost like a gel. Can I simply add water to this cooled soap to thin it? Or does it need to be heat to "accept" the water?
I'm also wondering if pouring off the liquid soap from the foam head is a good idea? Does it leave a disproportionate mix of superfat components? Does that cause the thicker gel type soap? (The first bottle of soap I bottled is thick and rich, but dispensable. No gel)
Also, this batch of soap has been subject to heat for about 15 hours...does that affect the end product?
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I finally got every last bit diluted last night!!
I've washed hands with it several times and I love it! Why didn't I try this sooner?? Huh? Why didn't you all tell me about the wonders of liquid soap? It's better than my tallow/shea soap for all the dozens of times I wash my hands in a day.
Dare it say it? It's....moisturizing. I swear!
Dilution still stumps me, so I'm going to have to make some more! (gonna need more bottles...hello Amazon)
I've washed hands with it several times and I love it! Why didn't I try this sooner?? Huh? Why didn't you all tell me about the wonders of liquid soap? It's better than my tallow/shea soap for all the dozens of times I wash my hands in a day.
Dare it say it? It's....moisturizing. I swear!
Dilution still stumps me, so I'm going to have to make some more! (gonna need more bottles...hello Amazon)
It is a good idea to divide your paste up into separate containers. (Ziploc bags work fine if the paste is cool.) Then you don't have to have so many bottles. Once you figure out your dilution ratio, you can write that on each bag.
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Thanks Susie - and thank you so much for your previous comments which I never got around to acknowledging! I'm going to do that next time I make gls AND the...what did you call it....soap to go? I had a bad reaction to some public bathroom soap that took 2 months to fully heal because anything synthetic would irritate it including my scented bars and homemade lotion. Good thing I had unscented soaps and body butter.
But your idea of having a tube to carry around is going to be a godsend to me! I may have to call it "SusieSoap!"!
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