Liquid soap going hard and bright green

[spurky]

So I got a new supply of KOH on the bag is says 90% pure but the last two times it has gone hard and bright green. Today it went solid within 30mins from trace.

Liquid Required (Excluding: Glycerine) 885.18 g
KOH Weight at 90 % Purity 590.12 g (adjusted for citric acid)

Olive Oil 1625g
Coconut Oil, 76 deg 625g
Castor Oil 250g

Citric Acid 25g (added to lye water)
Glycerine 590.12 g added at same time as lye to oils.

Previous successful liquid soap stayed a nice yellow.

Whenever I have done a soap that has olive oil that goes green my husband & I pretty much determine that it is unusable. But maybe we are wrong.

But why has it gone solid? Could the purity be not 90% and maybe higher. It made a very loud crackle sound when I add to water (more than my previous supply). Attached is the soap gone hard and bright green within 30mins of trace and yes that spoon is being held up by the paste.

Please help.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...Whenever I have done a soap that has olive oil that goes green my husband & I pretty much determine that it is unusable. But maybe we are wrong...."

So what is leading you to the idea that the soap is unusable? Just the color? Or is are there other specific reasons why you think the soap is not good?

It's pretty common for soap made with some olive oils, especially extra virgin OO, to have a greenish color. Doesn't always happen, but it seems to be common. That would be my first thought about your soap.

A KOH soap paste becoming firm within 30 minutes is also fairly common. All that means is the soap has changed from a plastic or semi-liquid state to a more solid physical form. The fact that this happened with this particular batch but not with others is probably due to differences in the water/glycerin content of the various batches.

As far as the crackling goes, it might be this new KOH is higher purity than your previous KOH. Hard to say.

And it's also impossible from the info given to know whether that means your soap is lye heavy or not. You need to do a zap test or do a total alkalinity test to know if your soap has excess lye or not.

 

[AliOop]

I agree with DeeAnna’s response. My KOH always crackles and hisses; if your prior batches did not, they may have been old and weakened by exposure to air.

Your picture looks exactly like my soap paste after I have mixed to trace. No need to cook it - it will saponify on its own just like CP bar soap would do.

At that point in the process where it becomes thick like that, I cover it and let it sit until it is zap-free. Usually that’s within a few hours, but sometimes it is overnight. Once it is zap-free, I dilute it with water as usual. That is typically 2:1 water to paste ratio for a pump bottle, or 5:1 for my foamer bottles.