liquid soap fiasco

[cmzaha]

This sounds great! I just have a few questions:

I see 96% oils, what is the other 4%?

I also see coconut oil on there twice, is this 76 degree and fractionated?

How do you get the "gel" consistency?

What superfat do you use?

OOPS I should have proof read what I typed. Good reason why we tell everyone to use a soap calc.
Here is the corrected:
Palm 30%
Olive Oil 28%
Castor Oil 20%
Coconut Oil 6%
Sunflower Oil 5%
Kokum or Coco Butter 6%
Avocado Oil 5%
I do a superfat of 0 with no problems. It is 76 degree coconut oil I use. It does not make a hard paste but the ls is amber but clear

 

[Susie]

Thanks! I am looking for a good gel, so this is definitely my next soap!

 

[mommyhen42]

Did you run the recipe through a soap recipe calculator before you made this batch? I'm guessing you didn't, so here's an important lesson -- ALWAYS check every recipe before using it to see if it makes sense.

Do not trust any book author, blogger, or best friend to give you a recipe that is properly formulated. Even the most thoughtful, careful, conscientious soaper can make mistakes. And many of the less careful soapers just are clueless or are passing on recipes they haven't bothered to try.

According to my soap recipe calculator, the blend of fats you listed will need these amounts of KOH at 3% superfat (the max you should use for liquid soap) --

90% purity KOH: 6.4 oz
94% purity KOH: 6.1 oz
100% purity KOH: 5.7 oz

You used 5.8 oz KOH which would give you 3% superfat at a 99% KOH purity. Typical KOH ranges from 90% to 96% pure. If your KOH is typical, you did not need to neutralize this soap at all. If anything, you should have used rather more KOH to keep your superfat below 3% rather than add a bunch of borax to neutralize. The stuff floating on top of your soap is most likely fats and fatty acids, not more soap!

"How do you keep it from doing this?"

Simple -- check and doublecheck any recipe and try to see for yourself if it's safe ... if it doesn't have too much superfat ... if it's actually the right kind of soap you want to make. Next ask the folks here to critique the recipe to make sure you're on the right track. THEN make the soap.

And another critique of this recipe -- it needs a bunch more water. Set the lye solution concentration to 25% (a 3:1 water:lye ratio) in SoapCalc or use Summerbeemeadow calc which is already set to 25% for liquid soap. You'll be much happier.

I did run it thru soapcalc but left it at 5% superfat without realizing it.
I added a small amount of more lye to this cooked it for another hour, then added 1 cup of lemon juice to neutralize and 1 bottle of beer.
To my suprise it gelled up nicely and looks and feels wonderful.

I tried the same thing with another batch that separated, but did not get good results... but ah well at least that one worked.

 

[Susie]

I did run it thru soapcalc but left it at 5% superfat without realizing it.
I added a small amount of more lye to this cooked it for another hour, then added 1 cup of lemon juice to neutralize and 1 bottle of beer.
To my suprise it gelled up nicely and looks and feels wonderful.

I tried the same thing with another batch that separated, but did not get good results... but ah well at least that one worked.

If you had too high a superfat to begin with, you should not have had to neutralize unless you added too much KOH.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...I added a small amount of more lye to this cooked it for another hour, then added 1 cup of lemon juice to neutralize and 1 bottle of beer.
To my suprise it gelled up nicely and looks and feels wonderful. I tried the same thing with another batch that separated, but did not get good results..."

Citric acid (lemon juice) is a relatively strong acid for soapmaking, and it is extremely easy to over-acidify a lye soap with citric acid. I'm not surprised to hear this method is giving you some variable results.