HELP. HP needs saved

[sliceoftxhillcountry]

hi, and good morning to yall. im in texas and have started my journey on soaps. i went from cold process to hot process, and thought i was a genius....for a moment till it turned to a gloppy mess. my guisness was thinking i could add distilled water to my HP soap after it had cured. it started to become a paste, and i left it for a week and now its a glob. any ideas of how to save it? rebatching? my recipe was perfect, all calculatipons ans such measured to the T. just added distilled water to the bars and left them in a mason jar. its a goo, so i am stuck now on how to rebatch it into a loaf again, or can the goo have more water added and become liquid soap? if its a failure i will toss it, im just one of those who will do whatever i can to save it if possible. tried rebatching a soap i attempted to make glycerin from and since i used WAY to much salt and the directions missed a very important step as to lkeeping the mix hot, it was done cold, so i lost 40 oz on that and was hoping someone else here is a genuis and can help my problem. thanks in advance for this forum and i so look forward to any and all responses. as of now i have it cooking in a crockpot to hopefully evaporate the excess water out, well have it covered here at first as it heats and see where it goes.

 

[AliOop]

Hi @sliceoftxhillcountry, and welcome to SMF. Unfortunately, it is an old wives' tale that you can successfully mix bar soap with water to make liquid soap. You may temporarily get a nice liquid mix, but it will always turn back into goo and glop.

A true liquid soap is made with potassium hydroxide (KOH) instead of sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Using KOH as the lye allows the soap to remain diluted in water without becoming gloppy, gooey, or stringy.

You can certainly try to rebatch the soap by cooking more of the water out, and then remolding it into cavity molds or a loaf mold. It will probably take a long cure before it becomes firm enough to unmold, and to cut if needed. But it's worth a try instead of throwing it all out.

Another recommendation would be to make small tester batches to start. A 40oz batch makes way too much soap for someone who is just starting, and will cost you so much if you have a failed batch. Try 1-2 lb batches in small tester molds. That will give you opportunities to try different recipes and avoid all that waste.

 

[sliceoftxhillcountry]

Hi @sliceoftxhillcountry, and welcome to SMF. Unfortunately, it is an old wives' tale that you can successfully mix bar soap with water to make liquid soap. You may temporarily get a nice liquid mix, but it will always turn back into goo and glop.

A true liquid soap is made with potassium hydroxide (KOH) instead of sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Using KOH as the lye allows the soap to remain diluted in water without becoming gloppy, gooey, or stringy.

You can certainly try to rebatch the soap by cooking more of the water out, and then remolding it into cavity molds or a loaf mold. It will probably take a long cure before it becomes firm enough to unmold, and to cut if needed. But it's worth a try instead of throwing it all out.

Another recommendation would be to make small tester batches to start. A 40oz batch makes way too much soap for someone who is just starting, and will cost you so much if you have a failed batch. Try 1-2 lb batches in small tester molds. That will give you opportunities to try different recipes and avoid all that waste.

i appreciate the response. its been cooking and seeing to get most of the excess water out as it turns more like the last stage of HP soap. i knew it wasnt going to turn into anything after the goop mess, but was hoping to rebatch it or redo the hot pressing and cooking to turn it back into a bar soap. ill post pics if it finishes.
it was initially a loaf batch, and it was my first one so the timing and cooling didnt get done as fast and neatly as it should have been, so i did what i did and wound up in this perdicament. lol

 

[cmzaha]

When trying to salt out soap, which is what it sounds like you tried with a batch to remove the glycerin you really will not end up with glycerin you will want to use, and in my opinion, not even a nice soap in the end. some will disagree with me, but I hate soap that has been salted out. The glycerin that you end up with brown and ugly looking.