can i fix this liquid soap recipe?

[tinytreats]

GAHH!!!! I have been trying and trying and trying to make liquid soap and I just cant seem to do anything right.

I accidentally forgot to click "liquid soap" in SoapCalc, and got the values for Sodium Hydroxide instead of Potassium Hydroxide. I didn't realize this until after I made the soap, however. The batter wasn't going thru any of the stages, and my stick blender died so I got fed up and left it for a few days to try again another day. So I decided to check my recipe one more time on soap calc, and I got totally different values. then I realized that I had calculated wrong.

Is there anyway to fix this? Right now there is a hard layer sitting on top and an oil layer sitting on the bottom.

 

[FGOriold]

You most likely did not use enough KOH to fully saponify your oils if you calculated for Sodium Hydroxide. What I would do is figure out how much KOH you were short based on your recalculation and how much you already used and dissolve that into distilled water 1:1.1 (you want your water to be at least a bit more than the weight of the KOH). Try to incorporate your current paste back together (the top layer and the oil on the bottom), then add the additional water/KOH to your paste and keep cooking to see what happens.

 

[Susie]

Yes, what Faith said. :-D

I only want to add that I think you would do better making sure you heat that "soapish" mixture up and add the KOH/H2O mixture while it is hot to speed dilution a bit.

Also, go get you a new stick blender first. No need torturing yourself any more than absolutely necessary.

Good luck! And let us know how it turns out, OK? You would not believe how much us newbies learn from each other on stuff like this. I threw out a whole batch I did this very thing on. I probably could have saved it had I known of this group then.

Susie

 

[tinytreats]

So this is just an update on what happened.

I went and bought a brand spankin' new kitchen aid stick blender. I wanted a stainless steel one because I've gone thru 2 plastic SB's because they break and melt. So I did my calculations and added in my lye and glycerin. I stick blended the CRAP put of it with no success. It would go thru a false trace, and then turn to pure liquid. My temperature was about 170-180. I ended up tossing the whole thing.

Does anyone have any tips? I tried a simple coconut, palm, and castor oil recipe using the glycerin method.

OH, THE FRUSTRATION!

 

[FGOriold]

If you really want to use the glycerin method I would suggest instead a 50/50 method. Calculate the amount of potassium hydroxide and water using a 0 - 2% superfat using either summerbee meadow or brambleberry's calculators base on your oils and amounts. Once you are ready, dissolve your potassium hydroxide into water that is 50% or your calculated liquid. So if you need 10 ounces of liquid, start with 5 ounces distilled water to dissolve your KOH. Once the KOH is dissolved, add the rest of the liquid in glycerin. You do not have to heat up the glycerin. The temperature of your water/lye mixture is hot enough that it will heat your glycerin to make it more fluid. Then proceed as normal mixing your oils and water/glycerin/lye mixture.

This gives you the benefits of the glycerin method without the mess and danger of heating your glycerin to such high temps just to get your KOH to dissolve.

 

[DeeAnna]

Nice tip, Faith! Thanks for sharing -- I'm going to file that one away for when I work up to making LS.

 

[seven]

So this is just an update on what happened.

I went and bought a brand spankin' new kitchen aid stick blender. I wanted a stainless steel one because I've gone thru 2 plastic SB's because they break and melt. So I did my calculations and added in my lye and glycerin. I stick blended the CRAP put of it with no success. It would go thru a false trace, and then turn to pure liquid. My temperature was about 170-180. I ended up tossing the whole thing.

Does anyone have any tips? I tried a simple coconut, palm, and castor oil recipe using the glycerin method.

OH, THE FRUSTRATION!

i think i know what went wrong, as i believe the same thing happened to me as well not too long ago.

when you said:
It would go thru a false trace, and then turn to pure liquid

did you mean that you've SBed till it got really thick like a wet, sticky bubblegum, and then when you started to cook it, instead of turning into vaseline, it all just fell apart within minutes (separation)?

if so, then perhaps you can try this.. SB until you reach thick trace and just stir a few times with a spatula (to make sure there's no separation) and start the cooking process. mine went successfully with this method. and i also believe someone here said that different recipes can go thru different stages. some never got to the thick, taffy stage (like mine, and prolly yours too).

my reference when i did mine was a recipe made with all water. mine was with part glycerin part water. i dunno, but perhaps that accounted for the different stages the soap went through.

 

[lady-of-4]

When I did Glycerin method, I never got trace and the whole batch stayed a liquid until it cooled. I hope that gives you a little optimism.

 

[tinytreats]

Ah! This makes me feel better knowing this. I just tried too many times and got fed up. I wish I would've never tossed the batch.

lady-of-4, did you ever let the liquid come to room temperature, or did you dilute right away? Because I'm wondering if your batch would turn to a thick, taffy at room temp...?

 

[lady-of-4]

Ah! This makes me feel better knowing this. I just tried too many times and got fed up. I wish I would've never tossed the batch.

lady-of-4, did you ever let the liquid come to room temperature, or did you dilute right away? Because I'm wondering if your batch would turn to a thick, taffy at room temp...?

When I let it cool overnight, I got up the next day and it was literally solid in my crock. What was really cool was turning the crock on and watching it literally melt back to a liquid. I started to slowly dilute, since I didn't know what to expect, using the recommended 30% dilution amount on the Summer Bee Calc, 8 ounces at a time. I only needed half of what was recommended for 30%. So I'm glad I went slow. Aside from my Glycerin mishap in the beginning, which was all my fault, this batch was literally one of the easiest I'd ever worked with in my 2 years of exclusive liquid soaping. I believe I opened a thread and posted pics.

 

[tinytreats]

When I let it cool overnight, I got up the next day and it was literally solid in my crock. What was really cool was turning the crock on and watching it literally melt back to a liquid. I started to slowly dilute, since I didn't know what to expect, using the recommended 30% dilution amount on the Summer Bee Calc, 8 ounces at a time. I only needed half of what was recommended for 30%. So I'm glad I went slow. Aside from my Glycerin mishap in the beginning, which was all my fault, this batch was literally one of the easiest I'd ever worked with in my 2 years of exclusive liquid soaping. I believe I opened a thread and posted pics.

Oh wow! Thats exactly what I had but I ended up tossing it out! Poo. I'm going to try and find that thread! Thanks so much.

 

[lady-of-4]

Oh wow! Thats exactly what I had but I ended up tossing it out! Poo. I'm going to try and find that thread! Thanks so much.

It's called Glycerine Method and Product Accountability.