Burned soap paste - what did I do wrong?

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Anstarx

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2019
Messages
412
Reaction score
1,065
Location
Cloud District
I wanted to make a batch of liquid soap to use as hand soap. I used to make liquid soap paste in crock pots but I no longer have one, sp I want to make it in a stainless steel pot on an electric stove. I also want to add glycerin thinking it will make the soap milder. First of all, here are the result photos:
1.jpg
2.jpg

In short, right after I added glycerin, the soap start to turn brown and volcano.

My recipe:
Coconut oil (40%) 200g
Castor oil (25%) 125g
Rice bran oil (20%) 100g
Sweet almond oil (15%) 75g

KOH (85% pure) 125g
Water: 125g
Glycerin: 250g

My steps:
1. Measure out and mix all my oils.
2. Mix KOH with ice water. Cool to room temp.
3.Warm up the oil to melt. Kept the stove on the lowerst setting, which usually could barely boil water.
4.Pour in the lye solution slowly while stirring.
5. Stick blend in bursts with hand mixing. The mixture gotten thick and a little grainy. The stove is still on lowerst setting.
6. Remove stick blender and start pouring glycerin while hand mixing. I poured about tow thirds of the glycerin in one-go.
7. As mixing I see the mixture start to hace streaks of brown. Turn off the stove and moved the pot into the sink to cook.
8.The mixture is volcanoing and kept expanding. I can smell a mix of hot soap and caramel-ish scent.
9. I let it sit in the sink for about 5 min before it finally settled down and stop expanding.

I think my mistake is:
1. Should have turned the stove off after all oils melted. This made the mixture to hot and burned the glycerin.
2. Should have added glycerin along with the lye solution, not after the lye had emulsified.

So what do you think could be the main culprit here? Both, one of them, or maybe something else?
I'm about to ditch the mxiture once it cooled completely but can it still be salvaged?
 
I'm so sorry that happened to you! Were you able to salvage it?

When I've made GLS, I've always added the glycerin to the melted oils after removing them from the heat source. Then I add the KOH solution, and stick-blend to trace. Once I reach trace, I usually cover it and let it sit overnight to fully saponify. It's always been ready to dilute the next morning.

Not sure if that helps at all? I hope you were able to save your soap, or make a new batch that worked well for you!
 
I'm so sorry that happened to you! Were you able to salvage it?

When I've made GLS, I've always added the glycerin to the melted oils after removing them from the heat source. Then I add the KOH solution, and stick-blend to trace. Once I reach trace, I usually cover it and let it sit overnight to fully saponify. It's always been ready to dilute the next morning.

Not sure if that helps at all? I hope you were able to save your soap, or make a new batch that worked well for you!
Thanks, I think me keep heating the pot while blending lye and oil made the temperature too high is the problem. I will try your method and add glycerin to the oil first, and reduce the use of heat.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top