Need help for my liquid soap

[Chyeiti]

Hello

I need help for cold process liquid soap.
I have been making cold process liquid soap from the last couple of years.. Since last two times my soap has turned cloudy.
I don't know if there is a problem in one of the ingredients I'm using..
I didn't switch from olive to pomace & I do not use fragrance in liquid soap.First time when this mess happened I thought KOH might have degraded so I bought new pack and made it again but still it's cloudy..Every ingredient I bought was fresh & climate is also not humid/ rainy
I am posting a recipe
Olive oil 255 gm
Castor oil 15 gm
Coconut oil. 30 gm
Koh 90% purity
Half glycerin & half water to dilute KOH
Thank you

 

[DeeAnna]

I'm seeing a bunch of weird stuff at the top of your post -- the SMF logo, business ads, etc. Can you edit your post to remove this content?

Your recipe is incomplete. How much weight of KOH did you use? How much liquid (water, glycerin) did you use to make the paste?

It's not clear to me what you are showing in the photo. It looks like normal soap paste, so can you explain what we're supposed to know from the photo?

Also what does the diluted soap look like? It would be good to see a photo looking through the side of a clear container. I'd like to see what, if any, separation might be occurring.

 

[lsg]

I think I edited out most of the unnecessary stuff.

​

 

[Chyeiti]

I think I edited out most of the unnecessary stuff.

​

Thank you

I'm seeing a bunch of weird stuff at the top of your post -- the SMF logo, business ads, etc. Can you edit your post to remove this content?

Your recipe is incomplete. How much weight of KOH did you use? How much liquid (water, glycerin) did you use to make the paste?

It's not clear to me what you are showing in the photo. It looks like normal soap paste, so can you explain what we're supposed to know from the photo?

Also what does the diluted soap look like? It would be good to see a photo looking through the side of a clear container. I'd like to see what, if any, separation might be occurring.

Thank you for replying & Sorry for posting an incomplete recipe.

I am posting a full recipe,Please go through it.
Castor oil 15 Gm
Coconut oil 30 Gm
Olive oil 255 Gm
KOH 90% purity 58.86 Gm
Distilled Water 57 Gm
Glycerine 57 Gm
I uploaded photo of soap paste becoz it looks normal but turned cloudy after dilution.
2 nd photo is of a cloudy soap after diluting in distiiled water.
I am using the same recipe & process from last 3 years but this has never happened before .

 

[DeeAnna]

Looking down on the diluted soap isn't helpful, because most freshly diluted soap has some foam on top. A side view is critical to show degree of opacity and any separation.

According to my soap calc, your superfat is set to 10% assuming KOH purity of 90%. That is far, far too much extra fat. I'm sure that is the reason why the diluted soap is cloudy and probably separating.

Also, you should be diluting the KOH in an EQUAL weight of water to ensure the KOH fully dilutes. You're using less water than KOH.

> "...I am using the same recipe & process from last 3 years..."

I think you need to re-evaluate this recipe.

 

[Chyeiti]

Thank you I will re- evaluate recipe& will give it a try one more time .I will let you know.
Thank you once again

 

[Chyeiti]

I re calculated entire recipe ,kept superfat % 0.
I added 5 gm extra KOH.I will neutralise it with citric acid later.I am relieved it finally worked.Soap is no more cloudy.
Thank you DeeAnna

 

[AliOop]

I re calculated entire recipe ,kept superfat % 0.
I added 5 gm extra KOH.I will neutralise it with citric acid later.I am relieved it finally worked.Soap is no more cloudy.
Thank you DeeAnna

I am glad that you were willing to try this, as that is the advice I also gave you in the PMs we exchanged.

 

[Chyeiti]

I am glad that you were willing to try this, as that is the advice I also gave you in the PMs we exchanged.

Yes ...Thank you so much

 

[DeeAnna]

....I will neutralise it with citric acid later...

Unless a zap test shows otherwise, I wouldn't automatically expect this soap to need neutralization.

If you've never neutralized with citric acid, the most common problem using citric acid is people get impatient and add too much. A little bit goes a long way.

 

[Chyeiti]

Unless a zap test shows otherwise, I wouldn't automatically expect this soap to need neutralization.

If you've never neutralized with citric acid, the most common problem using citric acid is people get impatient and add too much. A little bit goes a long way.

DeeAnna you are ✓.I am already scared of cloudy soap . so without zap test I won't neutralise it.I usually put few drops of a Phenolphthalein in 5ml to 10 ml liquid soap to determine if it is neutral.
I will finish this process and if everything goes well I would like to share photo of the clear soap which I haven't seen in a long time.
Thank you DeeAnna,AliOop for prompt suggestions & support !!

 

[DeeAnna]

Phenolpthalein (ph-ph) turns from clear to pink at a pH of about 8.2 if the indicator is used correctly in a dilute sample of soap. This means the ph-ph indicator should always be pink in soap, since even properly made soap with no excess lye always has a pH of about 9.5 or higher.

The ph-ph indicator shifts back to colorless if the pH is very high (over 13 speaking from memory) which would be caused by a large excess of alkali in soap.

Another reason for a colorless result is if the soap doesn't contain sufficient water in the soap sample. In that case the lack of water is the reason for the colorless result, not that the actual pH is below 8.2. This is the reason why liquid soap makers believe ph-ph does give a pH reading in their KOH soap. Problem is the result is telling them more about the water content, not about the actual pH.