Let's see how some commercial soap bars are made.

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ngian

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Let's take an educational brake from our handmade procedures of soapmaking...

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1baLzbathvI[/ame]

What I like is the milling procedure (is this taking place for water evaporation?) and the big pressure to the final shape that both maybe give to the final bar hardness and longevity (although glycerin is not present maybe just before the first milling).
 
I get the feeling that we are missing some steps - like some (most?) bar soaps extract the glycerin, they didn't show that. Still, fascinating to watch.
 
I hope you find one. And be careful my ex wife lives in Heraklion Greece.:neutral:

Thank you for the advice but I live far from Heraklion (Crete?) . What should I be careful of exactly? :)

I get the feeling that we are missing some steps - like some (most?) bar soaps extract the glycerin, they didn't show that. Still, fascinating to watch.
I guess this is happening (salted out) just before the first milling where it shows the white soap.
 
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This video made me so proud of knowing how to make good soaps myself, without having to buy a bar of soap ever again.

It sort of feels like choosing between a spongy, non-tasty factory cake with a ton of icky additives added so it can sit on the shelf for 5 years without going bad, made in some huge factory somewhere, or - having a lovely home made from scratch blueberry pie, with icecream and a steaming hot cup of coffee on the side.

That said, I liked the maschine that pushed out the soap and made pellets. That would make rebatching a breeze...:mrgreen:
 
Generally, no, commercial soaps are not cured. The steps where the soap is milled and is extruded into noodles take the place of curing.

I agree there are some steps not covered in the video about the actual saponification process -- remember the comment early in the video about recycling some of the soap back into the next batch? That's hinting at the omitted processing steps.

Eta ... At least in the American market, commercial soap has very little or no superfat.
 
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Thanks for the video. It was very cool to watch.

That's the system I use.
Hahaha! Yeah? Me too. My third noodler is on the fritz. So I'm going to make my next few batches by hand.

I get the feeling that we are missing some steps - like some (most?) bar soaps extract the glycerin, they didn't show that. Still, fascinating to watch.

I thought the same thing. I wondered if they were using the boiling process where excess water and lye is used, and the extra liquid is discarded. I don't really know what I am saying exactly. But I wondered if it was similar to the black soap making process, or the salting out process. Isn't the glycerine extracted when soap is boiled in water? Maybe the steam removed it? Or maybe you're right and there is a full step missing because it would not see as cool to include the step where they remove a very nice byproduct of the process for the purpose of selling it as a separate product that is needed after using soap with no glycerine. :)

Generally, no, commercial soaps are not cured. The steps where the soap is milled and is extruded into noodles take the place of curing.
I wonder if the soap would improve if the soap was noodles and cured.
 

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