Beer soap fail...

[Sudzy girl]

I tried a previously successful beer soap recipe using dark ale instead of the pale. The first batch never hardened. Just a jelly like goop. So I ran the recipe through the lye calculator and measured everything twice. Same results...I'm confused. Im wondering if I could turn my jelly soap into liquid soap and if so, how? Anyone else have this problem?

 

[Obsidian]

If you post up your recipe including amounts of liquids and lye, we might be able to figure out why your soap has failed. CP soap doesn't work well as liquid, it will dilute when mixed with water but it will get snotty after just a couple days.

 

[Sudzy girl]

The recipe I used:
50 gr avacado oil
248 gr canola oil
248 gr coconut oil
198 gr palm oil
248 gr pumice oo
136 gr lye
11.5 oz dark ale
1tsp cappuccino mica
59 gr chamomile bergamont fo
One strange thing I noticed was this strange hissing noise when the lye hit the beer plus it only heated up to about 140 degrees.
I did boil the beer for about 15 minutes and kept it in the fridge for a few days. It was at room temp when I used it. The first fail was cold process the second was hp in crockpot which I cooked for 75 minutes til it was gelly like. What happpened?

 

[Obsidian]

With that recipe, it should have worked just fine. The hissing is either from the beer getting hot from the lye or a reaction from residual alcohol. I always cook my beer down into a thick concentrated liquid then add it at trace. That way I don't have to worry about how it will react with the lye.

How long ago did you pour your HP? Was is really thick where you had to spoon it into the mold? If its firm enough to cut, just let it cure and it should harden up. If its really soft, leave it in the mold a few days and see if it gets firm enough to cut.

The only other thing I can think of is if you have bad lye. Have you made other successful soap with your current lye? Is it 100% sodium hydroxide?

 

[lsg]

I ran your recipe through SoapCalc and it looked OK. Maybe you have a bad batch of lye. I had a can from Essential Depot that was bad. I ended up using it for a drain cleaner after two failed batches of soap. I tried an even older container of lye from Snowdrift Farms and it is working great.

 

[Seawolfe]

Silly question, when you blended the oils and lye together - did it reach emulsion and trace well?

 

[Sudzy girl]

Actually it is a new container of lye from Brambleberry. The batter did reach trace but it looked kinda curd like. It was thick like pudding when I stuck it in the silicone loaf mold. Would leftover alcohol in the batch keep it from solidifying. Should I uncover it while waiting for it to harden up?

 

[Sudzy girl]

I just checked it again and it is very soft and pudding like. :-(

 

[Sudzy girl]

I made it 24 hours ago..

 

[Obsidian]

I don't know what could be the issue. the recipe is good and it should be hard by now. Does it lather if you try washing with it? I would try cooking it longer, see if maybe there is too much water.

 

[Sudzy girl]

Yes it lathers really nicely. Ill try cooking it longer. Wont hurt to try, right? Thanx for yours (and everyone else's) imput!!!

 

[cmzaha]

One strange thing I noticed was this strange hissing noise when the lye hit the beer plus it only heated up to about 140 degrees.

I just have to ask this, did you happen to use KOH instead of NaOH? Koh, (potassium hydroxide) will hiss when added to water and does not heat up as much as sodium hydroxide. Koh is used for making liquid soap or even just a soap paste

 

[Sudzy girl]

Cmzaha...I used potassium hydroxide. I had no idea there were two kinds of lye and just grabbed a container at the soap store. There's the problem. I'll make sure I pay attention next time Im at the soap supply store. Thank you...mystery solved

 

[CaraBou]

Good call cmzaha!

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Cmzaha...I used potassium hydroxide. I had no idea there were two kinds of lye and just grabbed a container at the soap store. There's the problem. I'll make sure I pay attention next time Im at the soap supply store. Thank you...mystery solved

Not only does soap made with KOH stay softer, but the SAP values are different for KOH.

I just played around with SoapCalc until I figured out what your superfat would be with the recipe you gave... That's a 34% SF, assuming that the KOH was close to pure! Many KOHs have up to 10% impurities, so that would leave an even higher SF level.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Carolyn Holmes!

 

[cmzaha]

The hissing when the lye was added was the clue! Glad I could help

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

The hissing when the lye was added was the clue! Glad I could help

Elementary!