Translucent soap?

[topofmurrayhill]

I have plenty of everclear(moonshine) around the house. Could you expand on the recipe? I'm a semi newbie and would like to give it a try.
Thanks Curt

You might like to get the transparent soap making book by Catherine Failor. That's where an alcohol method is described that you can do at home, and there is a lot of good advice. You can get a Kindle edition for instant gratification.

I've done a few different kinds of transparent soap and I have more ideas to try. This one is an alcohol soap:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=59007

When you start using it and the surface smooths out, it becomes more transparent. A wet bar in use is crystal clear.

 

[Saponomancer]

Stearic has done that to me before. I usually rebatch or use for toilet cleaning. Do you mind if I try to back calculate and reformulate? Perhaps making up for water with excess in alcohol step just can't be done? I may try later this week - I just don't know if I'm quite up to it yet.

Feel free to give it a try!

 

[Saponomancer]

You might like to get the transparent soap making book by Catherine Failor. That's where an alcohol method is described that you can do at home, and there is a lot of good advice. You can get a Kindle edition for instant gratification.

I've done a few different kinds of transparent soap and I have more ideas to try. This one is an alcohol soap:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=59007

When you start using it and the surface smooths out, it becomes more transparent. A wet bar in use is crystal clear.

That is impressively transparent, I wish I had the money to grab the book and some tallow to try the recipe straight

 

[nikkisessence]

Post #17 was modified from that book. It's a good book to have! I have just moved back to dealing with lye after my last relapse. I hope to try making transparent and m&p soap again but getting the solvents and having the time and coordination to do it is tough for me. So sorry to have bothered you. Good luck with your soapy adventures!

 

[nikkisessence]

Melt and Pour Soap from Scratch Without Using Alc…: http://youtu.be/AOVPvbwfscI

http://oilandbutter.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-make-your-own-melt-and-pour-soap.html?m=1

The above is what I have done only I add sugar to water (dissolve) before adding lye. I've added sugar up to ½ lye amount.

Catherine Failor’s basic recipe is rather what I have done (I modify batch size)
Copra Soap Transparent Bar
Lye
1lb 7oz distilled water
11oz lye
Oils
1lb 9oz palm, tallow, or lard (I usually use tallow because I have a source I can render myself)
1lb 9oz coconut
13oz castor
8oz stearic acid (melted and added separately) – (I melt other oils first then add melted stearic)
Solvents
1lb 13oz ethanol
1lb glycerin
Sugar Solution
12oz distilled water
1lb 1oz sugar

With your lower proof alcohol (recommended 190 proof). It's hard to make up for lower solvent concentration. You may need to account for a reduction in alcohol concentration. So, perhaps you could reduce the other ingredients in recipe by the percent difference, keep alcohol concentration the same, and reduce water in lye portion yet by accounting for extra water in alcohol. There will still be excess water but we can take water from lye solution and sugar solution to bring down excess water by just over half. Here is modified recipe taking into account reduction in alcohol by 2.37 (95/40=2.37)

Water 4.6
Lye 4.6

Palm/tallow/lard 10.5
Coconut 10.5
Castor 5.4
Stearic 3.3

Alcohol 1lb 13oz
Glycerin 6.7

Water 3.5
Sugar 7
(sugar solution is saturated so will need to be heated for sugar to dissolve)

Sorry to have been a pain for you, TheDragonGirl. You seem like a very knowledgeable soaper and great person. I wish you the best of success with your soapy journey

 

[Saipan]

The thing to consider, a shot of 80 proof alcohol has the same volume as a shot of 150 proof alcohol, or 190 proof alcohol.
The difference is the 80 proof has water making up the remaining volume vs alcohol.

That's why the discount formula I gave is so important, and I think you need to get it closer to 150 proof to have enough alcohol.

Just my 2 bits.

 

[Beans]

Ended up clearish. Copied this from the forum (cant remember where):

Here is the recipe I came up with after reading Failor's book:

Here is the recipe I have:
25 oz Castor Oil
16 oz Coconut Oil
40 oz Palm Oil
1% lye discount = 11.8 oz Sodium Hydroxide
32.1% Lye Solution Strength = 25.1 Distilled Water


28 oz Everclear Alcohol
8 oz Glycerin
20 oz White Sugar
15 oz Distilled Water

Measure out 15 oz boiling distilled water, add 20 white sugar, stir until dissolved, cover and set aside. Measure 11.8 oz lye and 25.1 oz of water, mix lye water. Add lye water to oils and stir for about five minutes until thick trace. Add the alcohol and stir for another five minutes. This should form a clear solution . I use an extra large crockpot to cook the paste. I put heavy parchment paper under the lid to keep in the moisture. Do not turn heat up too high or the soap will leak out from under the lid. This solution will take two hours or more to saponify/neutralize. After saponification, stir in the glycerin and the sugar solution. Stir for about three minutes. To test put a spoonful of soap onto a cold inverted glass. Once cool, is it clear? If not, try adding two ounces or more of Everclear, which may have evaporated during the cooking. Cover and let set for 15 minutes before adding color and fragrance. Pour into molds. Spray top with rubbing alcohol.

 

[Saponomancer]

You may be right about there simply being too much water in the alcohol, although I wonder if it can be made up using glycerin and sugar and reducing the water elsewhere- the problem, as we saw in my first attempt, is that we run into issues if the water is reduced too much up front with a hot process soap

I have made translucent soap using everclear before, so I am already familiar with the process in a general sense.

 

[Saipan]

You may be right about there simply being too much water in the alcohol, although I wonder if it can be made up using glycerin and sugar and reducing the water elsewhere- the problem, as we saw in my first attempt, is that we run into issues if the water is reduced too much up front with a hot process soap

I have made translucent soap using everclear before, so I am already familiar with the process in a general sense.

Well, you could distill the 80 proof Alcohol again.... Take a specific gravity reading before and after to determine the new proof once your done distilling.

 

[Saponomancer]

Well, you could distill the 80 proof Alcohol again.... Take a specific gravity reading before and after to determine the new proof once your done distilling.

haha, I'm afraid I'm not quite set up for that!