Liquid soap turned cloudy during sequestering - add sugar?

kdaniels8811 · Feb 27, 2014

Hi, all. I have made several successful batches of liquid soap that turned out great. Tried Catherine Failors Coco-Loco and it was fine, dissolved in hot water and poured into large jars for sequestering. Usually after a week or so I have nice clear soap with white stuff on the bottom. This time I have nice clear soap that turned cloudy! What gives? I followed her recipe of adding borax to the quantities specified and I believe the borax is what caused the cloudiness.

Okay - my point is I have read of using sugar to clear cloudy soap. What kind of sugar- white? brown? and how much? I am assuming I will need to heat the soap again, this is how I add fragrance but this has not been fragranced so that is not it. Any help is greatly appreciated!

lady-of-4 · Feb 27, 2014

kdaniels8811 said:
Hi, all. I have made several successful batches of liquid soap that turned out great. Tried Catherine Failors Coco-Loco and it was fine, dissolved in hot water and poured into large jars for sequestering. Usually after a week or so I have nice clear soap with white stuff on the bottom. This time I have nice clear soap that turned cloudy! What gives? I followed her recipe of adding borax to the quantities specified and I believe the borax is what caused the cloudiness.

Okay - my point is I have read of using sugar to clear cloudy soap. What kind of sugar- white? brown? and how much? I am assuming I will need to heat the soap again, this is how I add fragrance but this has not been fragranced so that is not it. Any help is greatly appreciated!

I just pulled out Failor's book. In the back are troubleshooting instructions, and from what it sounds, you may have over neutralized. It's recommended that you use other sequesterings solvents like alcohol, sugar or glycerine, then sequester another week or 2. So I'd go ahead and refer back to the book to determine how much of these solvents you need for your sized batch.

FGOriold · Feb 28, 2014

What is the temperature of the room you are storing and sequestering soap in? Cooler temperatures will cause liquid soap to cloud (I find each formulation will have a different clout point and things that I add to the finished soap also affect the cloud point). Adding sequestering agents like glycerin, sugar or alcohol is supposed to lower this cloud point but I have not found that to be true. I have a large jug of coconut milk shampoo sitting in my kitchen sequestering and it is clear as could be. Yesterday, I put 4 ounces into a small bottle to take upstairs to try it out and this morning that small portion was white yet the large jug in my kitchen is still clear. It gets very cold in my bathroom and that small amount will experience a temperature drop faster than the larger quantity. Is it the formula or additives (fragrance for one) that affect the cloud point? Wish I knew for sure.

I find that there is not much you can do to lower the cloud point (the temperature at which the insoluble substances solidify and precipitate out of solution - the soap is still fine and heating it back up will clear it again). Using solvents (glycerin, alcohol, sugar) is supposed to help with this, but I have not seen a lot of evidence of that.

kdaniels8811 · Feb 28, 2014

Thanks, I will try sugar and if it is still cloudy will color it tan and scent it with oatmeal milk and honey! Good recipe, it turned out really thick so I think I will make the same recipe again without the borax. I used 3 oz borax dissolved in water per her recommendation for 5 pounds of paste and 5 pounds of water. Really appreciate the responses.

lady-of-4 · Feb 28, 2014

kdaniels8811 said:
Thanks, I will try sugar and if it is still cloudy will color it tan and scent it with oatmeal milk and honey! Good recipe, it turned out really thick so I think I will make the same recipe again without the borax. I used 3 oz borax dissolved in water per her recommendation for 5 pounds of paste and 5 pounds of water. Really appreciate the responses.

Oh wow 3 ounces sounds like a lot. I used 2.5 for my 7lb paste batch