Homemade glycerine help

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CynCyn

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I'm trying to learn how to make edible lace for my parents 50th anniversary cake. I've decided to learn to make it rather then buy and one recipe I found uses glycerine. I then found out I can make my own glycerine and use the soap that it seperates from... win win! However, I tried using the wikihow instructions today and the glycerine never separated from the soap. At first i thought it was because the salt didn't fully desolve, i tried putting it back on the stove to heat it up and further desolve the salt... but that didn't seem to work either. Any suggestions or tips? Can I save what I've done thus far by reheating?
 
Sounds like you followed soap salting-out instructions? That means that the glycerol will end up in the lower (aqueous) layer, yes, but that will also contain all of the water, and (more importantly) all of the salt you've put in there. Expect the liquid to contain about 6% glycerol, but also 28% salt, and 66% water, among residues of fatty acids, dyes, fragrance, and whatever else floats around in the soap you're using. Nothing you could separate the glycerol from with any household means.

Crude glycerol is notoriously difficult to purify (it can't be distilled), and this is a serious multi-million-$$$ issue of the biofuel industry (that is conceptually close to soapmaking). Do yourself a favour and buy glycerol from a soapmaking/vaping/fog machine supplier, chemical wholesale, or (given you expect people to eat it) from a confectionery store or a pharmacy.
 
I agree with the advice given. The wiki tutorial is, um, interesting -- I've seen it -- but it's utterly misleading and the resulting "glycerin solution" is not remotely something you'd want to eat. Buy food-grade glycerin and be safe.
 
Thank you all for the advise! This leads me to a follow up question... the mix that I currently have (whatever you want to call it) is currently hardened in my mixing bowl... am I able to red-melt it and pour it into soap molds...essentially making usable soap out of it (the recipe I followed uses way to much water compared to my usual recipies), is it just a waste, or is there some other way to use it?
 
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