new soaper great failure -liquid soap

alieya · Dec 15, 2015

Hello everyone,
im feelin devastated after my 2 attempts of making liquid soap yeild to nothing. My first batch i did with using KOH and water solution. After cooking for more than 7 hours, my soap did not turn into paste at all and still in pudding state,it feels really sharp on my hand too. 2nd attemp im using glycerin method hoping for success but my batch got separated into two layer with foamy bubbly layer at the top and the bottom still in liquid form. However the ph i got between 8-9 with litmus paper and no zappy feelin after ive teated using my tongue. Please, anyone knows what went wrong. Btw i calculated using summer bee meadow advance calculator.::cry::

Susie · Dec 15, 2015

Hey!

Don't give up on your batches just yet. Most liquid soap issues can be fixed if you know exactly what went into it. Please post both recipes in weights with superfat percentages so we can help you figure it out.

Not every soap goes through every stage. I have made many a batch that only ever got to pudding stage.

Also, throw away the litmus paper. Soap is going to have a pH over 9. If it is zapless, it is safe.

alieya · Dec 15, 2015

My recipe for glycerin method,
palm oil 5.26 oz
coco oil 5.26 oz
castor 5.26 oz
Olive 9.7oz
corn oil 9.7 oz(im short of olive oil, so i add up corn)
Koh 7.8 oz
glycerin 23.5oz

Update: after it cool down, the botton layer gettin thicker and sticky...ill try to dilute it tommorow and let see how it goes.

IrishLass · Dec 15, 2015

Definitely don't give up! Liquid soap is so forgiving. I've found most problems can be fixed quite easily.

It looks like you used a -4% superfat with your glycerin batch. With glycerin soap (especially if using Summerbee's calculator), you don't need to use a negative superfat. I always use a positive 3% superfat with mine without any problematic issues.

Also- can you tell us how you went about making your glycerin soap paste? That will go a long way in helping us be able to help you.

For what it's worth, I never cook mine. I whisk it until I see the 'flying bubbles' stage (usually about 10 minutes into whisking), then I cover it, walk away and leave it (off heat) to do it's saponification thing. By the way- it's okay if one never sees the flying bubble stage. If you've mixed/whisked it for 10 minutes, that should be plenty good enough before covering and walking away. With mine, it usually takes 4 to 6 hours off heat to become paste all on it's own. Mine looks like this when done...a foamy top with sticky taffy-like paste underneath:

IrishLass

galaxyMLP · Dec 15, 2015

According to soapee, its a 0.5% SF with a 90% KOH purity. So from my end the recipe looks ok. I wonder what KOH purity summerbee meadow uses for calculations.

ETA: just noticed alieya used summerbee meadow so I'd go w/ IL's advice.