Kinda plain classic-method transparent soap

[topofmurrayhill]

I plan to do a prettier batch soon. For one thing, this one has no color apart from whatever it picked up from the grapefruit EO I used.


This soap was made with alcohol as the main solvent, along with glycerin and sugar. In fact it's one of Failor's recipes. The oils are coconut, castor and tallow.

Thanks for looking!

 

[WalterG]

Looks great. I've been playing with some recipes from her book too. You've had much better results!

 

[Seawolfe]

Nice!! Did you go the whole 9 yards with the plastic sheeting and elastic cords?
Id be interested to see what differences you find in using the two types of transparent / M&P soap. Can you tell the difference between one made with all glycerin vs one with alcohol?

 

[cmzaha]

Those look really good TOMH.
All glycerin does not work. just makes a chunk of m&p that cries rivers until it is just a blob of liquid

 

[topofmurrayhill]

Nice!! Did you go the whole 9 yards with the plastic sheeting and elastic cords?
Id be interested to see what differences you find in using the two types of transparent / M&P soap. Can you tell the difference between one made with all glycerin vs one with alcohol?

I considered doing the whole tent thing with bungees, but I actually just used a sheet of plastic weighted with the lid of the double boiler (slow cooker is a bad choice for this). I probably lost more expensive alcohol that way, but I suppose I wouldn't make this stuff at all if I was especially concerned about cost.

You might think it would throw the recipe off, but I have to fly by the seat of my pants with it anyway. Those big Failor recipes don't scale down. The alcohol amount doesn't end up anywhere near correct, so I put on my chef hat and add the amount that's needed, judging by eye.

This soap lathers much more but is drying compared to the MP base I made. That could be recipe, lack of cure, or lye (no discount). This one is all soap and solvents, whereas the MP base is soap, solvents and some SLES. The solvents are ethanol, glycerol and sucrose versus propylene glycol, glycerol and sorbitol for the MP. The MP is harder.

 

[topofmurrayhill]

Just an update to say that the soap was fairly mild after cure, and this combination/proportion of solvents makes a soap that eventually gets very hard and does not sweat at all.

 

[queennikki]

That soap looks awesome, nicely done!

 

[Arimara]

Looks almost like a bar of Pear's soap.

 

[topofmurrayhill]

Looks almost like a bar of Pear's soap.

Basically that's what it is.

 

[TBandCW]

I'm impressed! I've been wanting to do a clear soap, but it looks like too much work for me!

 

[shaan]

Can you please share some tips on making a harder ,low sweat bars? I live in a humid place and soaps sweat and melt easily here.

 

[topofmurrayhill]

Can you please share some tips on making a harder ,low sweat bars? I live in a humid place and soaps sweat and melt easily here.

I sure would if I could. If you are asking about melt and pour soaps, I don't know of anything you can do. Transparent soaps in general can be more prone to sweat because of their glycerin content.

What I made here might be better than M&P in that respect, but it's a lot of work. Basically it's CP/HP soap dissolved to make a clear liquid that stays transparent when you pour it. If you are experienced with soapmaking from scratch, you can get the info in Catherine Failor's book "Making Transparent Soap". It requires flammable 95% alcohol such as Everclear and is not for beginners.

 

[CaraBou]

Nice clarity! I'm with TBandCW - but I'm glad it can be done!