Hi! I'm new to liquid soap making and have a few questions. What if I add more water in the recipe before trace or immediately after, but before cooking? Wouldn't this give a softer paste that can be dilluted more easily?
Welcome, ΦΥΛΙΩ ΣΥΚΑ! If Google Translate didn't steer me wrong, does your username translate to 'Friendly' in English?
If my experience with my glycerin liquid soap is anything to go by, yes- you can add more liquid up front and end up with a softer paste, but I don't know how well it will work in a non-glycerin liquid soap batch, though.
To explain, with traditionally-made glycerin liquid soap, the water called for to make the paste is completely replaced by vegetable glycerin using a ratio of 3 parts glycerin to every 1 part KOH (i.e., a 25% lye concentration), which is heated to boiling with KOH to dissolve the KOH before the solution is added to the oils/fats; and then during dilution, distilled water is used to dilute the paste. The reason why the KOH/glycerin is boiled is because that's the only way one can get KOH to dissolve in glycerin.
When I first started making glycerin liquid soap, I used the traditional method of boiling the glycerin/KOH on the stove to dissolve the KOH- which takes about 10 minutes of boiling, by the way- but now I use an easier/less time consuming/safer method: I dissolve my KOH into an equal amount of room temperature water in weight as per the KOH, which takes less than a minute, and then I add to it the full amount of glycerin that I normally would add,
which makes a much more dilute lye concentration (4 parts liquid to 1 part KOH- a 20% lye concentration). In the end, this makes a softer paste for me, and because of the extra water I add up front, I don't need as much water during dilution. And it does seem to dilute a little quicker for me.
What will happen if I don't cook the paste but leave it for a month or so for the alkali to completely nutralize-just like in CP soapmaking? Has anybody tried?
Like DeeAnna said, the paste doesn't take a month to saponify or neutralize- it takes a mere few hours, and without the need to cook it. You just mix the warmed oils and warm KOH solution together until emulsified, leave it on the kitchen counter (covered), and walk away. It will completely saponify and become tongue-neutral on its own in a matter of a few hours. The longest I've ever had to wait is 6 hours.
IrishLass
