Recommendations to save my laundry soap

[Guest]

Making the laundry soap that is posted on the recipe forum. Using my "one gallon pitcher", but thought that was too deep and narrow, so I moved it to a bucket and then I messed up the water.
The directions say to add water to equal 1 gallon.
So I only had 14.7 oz of lard, went to lye calculator and readjusted lye to 2.1 oz. (origianl recipe is 16 oz and 2.25 oz lye in 1/2 gallon of water.)
Did not have washing soda so did 7/8 c borax. (said you could use just borax. So I think I am okay there.)
Then I added a about 96 extra oz of water, rather than "enough water to fill a gallon container" It is the morning of the third day. I still have the scummy stuff, no curdling or thickening, yet.

Can someone help me to know how much lye and oil to add to this batch to make it work?

 

[Guest]

Puleeese! Anybody know how to save this batch?

 

[Sunny]

Hummm. Well I'm confused about what you did, so I'll ask.

It sounds like you poured lard, lye, water and borax into a bucket. Can you explain what you did or where you got your recipe from?


(---I can tell you a much simper way - when you make liquid laundry soap you'll have to stir it every time because it separates a bit. I haven't made the liquid before because of the hassle.

So I make the dry laundry soap and use grated bar soap (100% coconut with 0 superfat but have also used "ugly soap," just any bar soap that didnt' work out as planned), borax, and washing soda.

I use 1 part of each but some people do it differently.

So for an example I would use 1 cup grated soap shreds, 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda.

Then I add 1/4 cup (more or less) to each load and wash normally, with vinegar in the fabric softener cup.


And I'll be honest, I was scared of getting soap scum in my washer and on my clothes even with vinegar in the rinse so I went back to Tide. I like the smell better anyway.---)

 

[Guest]

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5223
Here is where I got the recipe. The recipe forum here - and it sounds easier than shredding soap.
I added WAY too much water.
How much fat and lye would I need to add back to the batch to make the laundry soap?

 

[Laurie]

What I would do is wait one more day and keep stirring as per the recipe. Maybe by tomorrow it will set up. Keep in mind though that if it does you would have to add more to each load to compensate for the extra water. But with that much extra water I doubt it will set up. You may have to start over.

I have made this 2 or 3 times and I do like it. Need to make some more. I have a 1 gallon pail so I can't overfill.

Best of luck.

Laurie

 

[xyxoxy]

I make this recipe frequently.

I can't decipher exactly how much extra water you used but it doesn't sound like much. My best guess is that you added 64 ounces to start with (half gallon), added your other ingredients, then added 96 more ounces of water for a total of 160 ounces. If that's right then you have approx. 32 extra ounces of water. Now I'm using fluid ounces which are not exactly the same as ounces by weight but I think it's close enough here... and maybe you even used fluid ounces when you measured anyway.

My other guess is that you have a lump of white goop floating on top of that water. If you have been stirring it for 3 days I suspect that the lye and the lard have already been introduced to each other and have done their thing. Now you just need to get the water into it.

So my best suggestion is to siphon off approx. 32 ounces of your liquid (carefully in case there is any lye left) and then stick blend the heck out of it every couple of hours or whenever you walk past it. If it doesn't incorporate the water in another day or so then pitch it and start over. The great thing about this recipe is that it is CHEAP!

FYI - I always stick blend mine and it is usually finished and fully incorporated near the middle of the second day. And I feel like I could keep adding water and it would keep taking it. Also... if you want washing soda just go to a pool/hot tub supply store and ask for PH increaser a.k.a. sodium carbonate. (not to be confused with sodium BI-carbonate which is baking soda).

HTH

 

[Guest]

While you were typing, I thought it would not hurt to bring my lye and fats to the recipe amount and add them. So I just added 1.3 oz lard and .2 oz lye. Took some of the soap out, mixed the lye, added fat and soap/lye mixture together, and blended. Then read your post so I stick blended a couple of times and will keep doing that off and on today. If it doesn't start to set up, I will pour some off, but I don't see how that would help because I am proportionatley pouring off fat and lye.
I think it is ALL expensive. My lye seems expensive to me. $11 for about a pound of lye. Gotta be cheaper somewhere.

 

[xyxoxy]

Mine usually has all of the fat etc floating on top of the water... at least after it has settled a while. The water may be slightly cloudy but I'm pretty sure it is mostly water. So I was thinking that you could poke through the stufff floating on top and just pour off some water. I guess you could save it in case you wanted to add it back in later.

Your lye sounds VERY expensive to me too. The MOST I've paid for it is approx. $4 per pound if I had to get it locally from the hardware store. But ordering from the Lye Guy brought that down around $2 per pound. Then a while back I bought a 50 pound bag from a local chemical company and my cost was $1.10 per pound. Still using that and will be for a while.

And lard is $2 per pound at the most locally and much less if I buy in bulk. With the borax and washing soda I estimate that a gallon of this laundry soap costs me well below $3.

 

[Guest]

So, it is now Jan 8. I have used the laundry soap a few times and find it to be effective. It kept separating. I would shake it up - (had put it in an old vinegar container since it was watery), pour in about 1 cup, put vinegar in the rinse cup. Now it is the consistency of soft yogurt. So, it will set up after a week. It may help that I was using it some but have only done about 4 loads with it.

Thought this might be interesting to others who mess up the laundry soap Since I like unscented stuff this works fine. I used 1 C of borax and my clothes are very soft. I think that must be the borax.

Fran