Soaping 101 liquid soapmaking video?

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Yes, you add additional distilled water. I usually double my weight of diluted soap, then it always takes a little more, but you have to tweak it based on your foamers. The ones I have in my house (that is 4 hours from where I am living) take an additional 1 oz per 8 oz double diluted soap, the ones here take an additional 2 oz. You are just going to have to play with it. My best advice is just to dilute for one foamer until you get the proper amount.

Thanks! Do you have to re-heat or just mix in the water? - I will try just mixing and if it doesn't come together I guess there is my answer :)

Yes, you add additional distilled water. I usually double my weight of diluted soap, then it always takes a little more, but you have to tweak it based on your foamers. The ones I have in my house (that is 4 hours from where I am living) take an additional 1 oz per 8 oz double diluted soap, the ones here take an additional 2 oz. You are just going to have to play with it. My best advice is just to dilute for one foamer until you get the proper amount.

Thanks! Do you have to re-heat or just mix in the water? - I will try just mixing and if it doesn't come together I guess there is my answer :)
 
If I know I am diluting for the foamer bottles, I just add all my water at once in the crock pot as soon as I know I have zapless paste, so it is still warm. If I have diluted soap already, it does not matter the temperature.

When I make my paste, I make a 32 oz oil size batch. So, I scoop out paste in 16 oz amounts to dilute later. Those I store in the refrigerator (I can't lose them there.) in Ziploc bags. So, I know exactly how much water to use.
 
Hello everyone - I have just begun my liquid soap making journey, although I have been researching it for over 6 months and i have been making regular cold process soap for 6 years. I tried the "normal" hot process way and HATED it! But I saw the process that Irish Lass and Susie have posted about and thought it would be so much better. I tried it tonight and everything went great up until about the "apple sauce stage" of mixing. The mixture had heated up to about 172 degrees and I thought "oh boy!" here it goes! And then the temps started dropping and dropping and it never got any further along.

I think I followed the post pretty well. I checked my recipe twice with two different calculators and they both showed the KOH and Oils to be correct. Here is my process:

I disolved the KOH in an equal amount of Water. Then added glycerin (twice as much as the KOH). My oils were already mixed(and warm). I combined the KOH/Glycerin and oils together. Then started stick blending. The temp rose to 140 deg very quickly. Then continued stick blending up until it hit 172. Then nothing. Its sitting in my pot getting cooler and cooler and is not anywhere near paste.

I did do a zap test. And it is completely zap free. Which I thought was strange. Any ideas what went wrong? I added a pic so you can see it.

Thanks for the help,
Heather

20170918_222223.jpg
 
Looks fine to me. At this point I'd go finish up some chores and come back in an hour. Magic will happen, it's just magic, no hard work needed.
 
Unfortunately nothing changed overnight. Im going to try and dilute it and see if it works out or not. I really think something went wrong...I just dont know what.
 
"...I really think something went wrong...I just dont know what...."

Why do you think something's wrong? Honestly, the stuff in your photo looks like fine soap paste to me.

You said it reached 172 F and that's plenty hot enough to finish saponifying nicely within an hour or so of reaching that peak temperature.

Just because you didn't see the exact same physical stages that you read in the tutorials, doesn't mean there's a problem. I've never seen flying bubbles and my finished soap paste ranges from opaque yellowish white goo with the sticky consistency of peanut butter to a transparent amber paste that's very stiff and firm. It's all good soap.
 
Hello house, I have made both of IL recipes in the past using 50:50 distilled water to glycerin with success I must say. Yesterday I got a little too ambitious me think and I decided to try the pharmacist method. I failed woefully. See how my lye glycerin solution turned out below....
 
hello house, i have made both of il recipes in the past using 50:50 distilled water to glycerin with success i must say. Yesterday i got a little too ambitious me think and i decided to try the pharmacist method. I failed woefully. See how my lye glycerin solution turned out below....



IMG_0983.jpgIMG_0984.jpg

First picture was taken yesterday. Second picture taken this morning. Question is can the lye glycerin solution be used? Will the KOH dissolve completely in glycerin? Or should I trash the solution?

Recipe: 34oz of fats/oils. 13.30oz water (100% glycerin). 7.81oz KOH

Thanks all
 
Try adding distilled water to the existing solution bit by bit till lye dissolves. Since both glycerin and lye are water soluble, you should not have an issue.
 
Hi to all,

I've been lurking and planning to post for soo long that I can't believe I am actually writing. I guess it all takes a soapy failure :) Just want to say this forum is so amazing. I learn so much.

I've been so scared to try liquid soap. I read C. Failor's book when I was 15 and remember thinking this is too complicated. Years years later and after many cp batches I decided its the time. I followed couple of tutorials but nothing worked well. Finally I started reading this thread and its been so useful. At some point I was taking notes and then I had to give up because I just wanted to write everything down. :D

I still haven't finished the whole thread (but read most of it) and couldn't wait any longer so I gave it a go today.

I don't have a designated soap pot (since I do my cp in plastic containers but I have crockpot for soap making so I used it. Just kept it on to melt the coconut oil and then switched off.

I used 3bees~1flower's formula that Irishlass shared and followed her perfectly detailed instructions. I am fairly sure I measured everything correctly. Although I couldn't find my whisk and after stirring with a spoon for 15 minutes I gave up and used my stickblender (yes its plastic but I remembered I safely used it in boiling soup before I gave it a career in soapmaking - still I don't recommend this). So I stickblended it for 5 minutes and I didn't see the flying bubbles but it looked like it's not separating so I closed the lid and left it alone.

I checked it 20 mins later and saw that glycerin was separated. So I stick blended again and very quickly it became very thick. I stirred it with a spatula for a bit but wasn't separating and so I left it alone.

6 hours later it was looking like magic was done. I had a thick paste. Then I realised there is a bit of liquid left so I thought it needs more time. I was so sure it will come out perfect and so I left it for 2 more hours.

2 hours later I zap tested it. And boy it zaps! There is a nice looking paste and everything looks like it should be. But then I started poking it with a spoon and realised there is a layer of oil at the bottom of the pot. I have this paste sitting on a layer of oil :shock:

So I guess I didn't mix it well or I maybe it was this false paste that Susie wrote about in post #107.

So now I gave it a good stir. I am not sure its going to be enough though. The paste was very thick. I think I'll leave it overnight and hope for the best. If its still zappy in the morning I am thinking to turn on the crock pot in the lowest setting (and maybe add wee bit of water) to soften the paste so I can mix better. Any other suggestions are more than welcome.

Well...I am learning. :crazy I just wanted to post this because I learned so much from others experiences and replies written to them here.
 
Hi, other than FO and preservative, I want to incorporate these ingredients into my glycerin liquid soap, I will use the dilution method in this thread post #8. Should I just blend everything into the dilution while diluting or I need to dissolve any of them first? And would any of these effect the clarity of the ls? They are: crothix or xanthan gum, salt, aloe powder 2:1, allantoin powder, coco betaine, liquid extracts.

Pointers and tips would be appreciated on when and how to incorporate these to ls. Thank you!
 
Hi everyone, I'm finally going to try the method in post #8. I would like to use 1 part glycerin and 2 parts h20. How does this change my dilution rate? I was going to dilute at 60% h20. Math is not my strong suite. I would appreciate the help.
 
Hi everyone, I'm finally going to try the method in post #8. I would like to use 1 part glycerin and 2 parts h20. How does this change my dilution rate? I was going to dilute at 60% h20. Math is not my strong suite. I would appreciate the help.

You will still need about 75% H2O to dilute. The ratio of H2O:Glycerin does not affect dilution amount required. There is a minimum amount of water required to dilute paste that is determined mostly by the oil.
 
Hi Claudsoap- just seeing this.......

I've found that much depends on the amount of liquid I add up front when making the paste as to how honey-like my finished liquid soap ends up. If I use Carrie's original, up-front lye solution rate of 1 part KOH to 3 parts glycerin (a 25% lye concentration), then a dilution rate of 1 part paste to .75 parts water works perfectly to end up with a honey-like consistency.

But when I use my revised method for this recipe by which the KOH is dissolved in an equal amount of water first before adding in the full complement of glycerin normally added up front (which basically turns it into a 20% lye concentration) then the dilution rate to get a honey-like consistency later on needs less water (.62 parts water to 1 part paste) to end up with a honey-like consistency.


IrishLass :)
 
Okay- to continue.......

To dilute, I use Carrie's canning jar method. It's easy and it prevents evaporation as your're diluting:

A) I heat up some water to simmering in a large soup pot (enough water to come up the sides of my canning jar without making the jar float). Also- I stick a round cake cooling rack in the bottom of the pot so that my canning jar won't be in direct contact with the pot's bottom.

B) While the pot of water is coming to a simmer, I weigh out my paste (dried foamy head and all) into an appropriate-sized canning jar, i.e., one that will accomodate my paste and dilution liquid with enough room to spare for stickblending purposes, and set aside.

C) I weigh out my dilution water and my sodium lactate and add them together into a separate pot (using the dilution rate of 1 part paste to .75 parts water, and 3% sodium lactate as per weight of my paste)*[See edited note in post #8 under procedure #3]. I bring this mixture to a boil then immediately pour it over my waiting paste in my canning jar.

D) Then I cover the the jar tightly with its matching lid, give it a shake, then place the jar into the large soup pot of simmering water to warm and soften things up.

E) After about 15-20 minutes or so I take the jar out, wipe the water/condensation off the jar, then I open it so I can stick a clean knife inside to stir things around and test how soft the paste has become. If it's as soft as jam/jelly, I hit it with my stickblender for a minute or so of on and off pulsing until there are no more lumps, but if the paste is not soft enough to my liking yet, I'll just cover it back up and let it sit in the simmering water about 10 minutes more and check again before deciding to stickblend or not.

I need to mention that when I hit it with the stickblender, the contents turn an opaque milky white color. This is normal and only temporary.

F) Once it has been stickblended, I squeegee off as much soap as I can from the stickblender back into the jar, cover with the lid, and stick the jar back into the pot of hot water (off the burner this time). If all goes as planned, the soap will clarify over the next few hours from the bottom up and turn into clear liquid soap with a foamy head on the surface.

G) Re: the foam: The foam eventually dissipates if I let it sit long enough (the warmth of the water helps greatly with this), but sometimes when I get impatient I'll spritz the foam with a spray or 2 of alcohol periodically to help the foam to dissipate in a more timely fashion. I try not to over-do the alcohol,though, because I don't want it to thin my soap out. I've read of people just skimming the foam off, but because I hate waste, I like to let it sit and dissipate to become part of the main body of soap.

H) When the soap is foam-free enough to my liking, I partition off as much as I would like to scent and bottle at that time, and I store the rest in the canning jar at room temp for later use.

I) When I add scent, I make sure to also add an equal amount of PS80 as per the amount of scent so that the scent will not separate out of my soap. I mix the scent with the PS80 and then stir the mixture into the soap. If it looks like the soap is clouding up from the scent at all, I'll just add more PS 80 drop by drop until all is clear again. Thankfully, that doesn't happen but once in a blue moon.

The finished soap is quite lovely, thick, and crystal clear:
View attachment 28474


Here is a shot of it outside held up to the sky:
View attachment 28475



My suds:
View attachment 28476


IrishLass :)
i know its too late but its a very helpful thread, i know nothing on liquid soap or where to start from but this thread really helps me a lot , thank you for your time,effort,information and generosity
 
i know its too late but its a very helpful thread, i know nothing on liquid soap or where to start from but this thread really helps me a lot , thank you for your time,effort,information and generosity

It isn't too late. This thread is one we still suggest people come read. It was a game changer for me and many others on making liquid soap. It is just so full of useful info!
 
sorry for interruption but here is a thing i couldn't understand,the amount of glycerin we use to dissolve the KOH ,is it a fixed ratio between it and the lye or what, as no one mention the amount he used , or we just do the calculation and divide the amount of water between water and glycerin ?? depending on the recipe you have written
and about the temp we used for cooking, is there a required temp i should wait to add my lye or just by dissolving the glycerin i add it , and after the 2 ingredients being dissolved i remove it and stay a while and add it to the oils or add it immediately??
another thing ,why we would use a superfat if we used sodium lactate, aren't they do the same job, providing smoothness to the pates ?
is the liquid soap can be considered as a body wash? and if not what is the difference ??
thanks in advance @Susie @IrishLass
 
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