Liquid Castile Soap OOPS

[Crazy8]

So i have watched all Soaping101 videos, and some I have watched multiple times. I decided to try an make the liquid castile soap. I followed the directions to a T since I have never made it and something went horrifically wrong. I started at about 10:00 pm last night and was up until 4:00 am and not sure what was going wrong. When I got to the part of doing the water test "if its cloudy then it needs to cook longer" and the water never did stay clear. Hence why I was up until 4:00 am. According to the water test I needed to keep cooking, and I did. I don't know what happened.

I went over the instruction and my notes, which were identical to the video, over and over, and I can not see where the issue was. Eventually I went to bed and knowing my wife would be up in about 3 hours, I thought I would let it sit and have her pick up where I left off. She did as the note said that I left her and it turns out that it seemed kind of burnt by then and it wasn't mixing well with the water, which naturally it wouldn't at first since its a ball of goo. Well when I got up I started to stir it and it currently has dissolved into the water as expected. I decided to press forward in case there is any hope.

I decided to make this because there are some recipes I want to make that call for castile soap. I thought it would be great to make my own castile and then to use that as needed in those types of recipes. Have any of you made your own "Liquid Glycerin Castile Soap" and have had better luck than mine? Any suggestions or tips that may help this be a success? Thank you all for the help.

 

[lsg]

Just because a recipe calls for liquid Castile doesn't mean you can't use other liquid soap. Here is the recipe that works for me:

3.59 oz Castor Oil
11.43 oz Coconut Oil
0.98 oz Palm Oil
11 oz. Glycerin
3.5 oz KOH

 

[Crazy8]

So do you follow the same method then?
1. heat Glycerin to about 200 degrees
2. add KOH
3. mix Glycerin/KOH mixture into preheated oils that are in crock pot
4. mix to trace and maybe even stir a little (if needed) after trace is reached
5. leave in crock pot on "low" for 1.5 hours
6. do water test to see if water is cloudy or clear. if clear than continue on step 8.
7. if water is cloudy, stir the crock pot and put lid back on to cook longer. then go back to step 6.
8. add water 3:1 and stir a little bit and place lid on crock pot and let sit for 24 hours.
9. bottle and enjoy.

On a side note, what would be something to use in place of castile soap?

 

[Obsidian]

I've only made liquid soap once, I also did the soaping101 castile. I had a hard time dissolving any paste for the clear test so I just cooked it until it was a thick, kinda dryish paste that didn't zap then I diluted it. My finished soap was slightly cloudy for a couple weeks then it cleared up pretty good.

I have read that if you SF a liquid soap, it will usually be a bit cloudy. I'd rather have a cloudy bottle then something clear that might be lye heavy. Especially since I don't have the equipment to test PH and neutralize if needed.

If you paste has dissolved, bottle it up and let it sit for a couple weeks then see how it performs. As long as its a safe soap, use it for your recipes.

 

[lsg]

Use glycerin instead of water. Melt the oils in a crock pot. Heat glycerin on direct heat as in the video. Use a medium pot to keep the glycerine and lye from boiling over. Add the lye to the hot glycerine. Stir constantly while continuing to heat on low heat. Stir until all the lye is dissolved. Pour lye mixture into melted oils while stick blending. Cook until the paste tests neutral with Phenolphthalein. I put a dab of cooked paste on a paper towel and put a drop or two of Phenolphthalein on the paste. If the Phenol P stays clear the paste is done. If it turns pink you can either cook the paste a little longer or turn off the heat and cover and let set for a day or so until it tests clear. I used about 19 ounces of distilled water to dilute the paste I added .3% liquid Germall Plus to the cooled and diluted soap. Just scent the soap you put in a container for use, that way, you can try out different scents. This soap turned out fairly clear.

 

[Crazy8]

Thank you guys so much for your help. Well I still have this batch cooking with the water in it and will take it off tomorrow morning and see how it looks. If I do attempt this again I will be sure to use the PP (ill need to get some) and start testing that way.

 

[djk17]

I'm trying this method as we speak. However, I'm not getting to trace, which I find odd. For now I left it in the crock pot and when my stick blender motor cools off I'll give it another go.

All of my CP soaps trace so within about a minute; I'm wondering why this has been 5+ minutes with no indication of even light trace.
I've never tried liquid soap before. Perhaps this is normal?

Ideas?

BTW, I'm using lsg's recipe and was careful with temperature and precise weighing...

 

[Crazy8]

Yeah it did take a little while for me to reach trace with the recipe I did. How did it go for you?

 

[djk17]

I got mad at it and walked away, poured myself a glass of wine and wrapped Christmas gifts instead.

It's sitting in the crockpot as liquid as ever, no change.

But I'm mad and walk past it grumbling every few minutes.

I'm going to ignore it for a while to see if it comes to its senses.

 

[Yooper]

I got mad at it and walked away, poured myself a glass of wine and wrapped Christmas gifts instead.

It's sitting in the crockpot as liquid as ever, no change.

But I'm mad and walk past it grumbling every few minutes.

I'm going to ignore it for a while to see if it comes to its senses.

I made a liquid soap today (with water, not glycerine). Even using mostly coconut oil, it took a LONG time to come to trace. I stick blended for a while, stirred for a while, stick blended for a while, etc, and had it at a very warm temperature. It took about 20 minutes of constant blending/stirring (to not burn up my blender) but it did turn from liquid into thick taffy in an instant at that time.

Make sure it's nice and hot (about 160 degrees or thereabouts) and blend it and stir it until it submits.

 

[lady-of-4]

I know this is a few months old, but... the recipes from Soaping101 are not Castile. Castile is olive oil only. Anything added to OO makes it a Bastille soap.

To make a liquid soap, it needs to be hot processed. In hot processing, high temps and mechanical agitation spead things along. When using a crock pot, it should be set on high until trace, then turned down. Thing is, with liquid soap, trace is more like a little string followed by applesauce or mashed potatos fairly quickly, and depending on the oils used. Glycerine speeds up the process, as it's a type of alcohol, and alcohol speeds up saponification. Even just a small amount added to the batch, with no water discount. But, even when using just water, high heat and stick blending should be enough to make things go faster. But again, it also depends on oils used. Sometimes trace can happen in 10 minutes, sometimes 30. Should be no more than that though. When you let the soap sit in the crock to cook overnight, which I do regularly to make sure it's fully cooked/saponified, set your crock on the warm setting. That will help keep it from burning. Or, preheat your oven for 160 degrees, turn it off, then take the crock out of it's base and place it in the oven, after you've done your time with the 3 hours in the crock pot itself. But the longer it stays in the crock, more water will cook out, thus getting that stiff paste in the end Thing is, with the glycerine method, since there's technically no water, nothing should cook out. Big ball of goo is ok in this case. The paste shouldn't be too stiff. As for the cloudiness, could it be that you superfatted? In any case, there are ways to clarify the soap, using either more glycerine, high percentage alcohol, borax or sugar. And sometimes, all it needs is a little sequester time, which is not the same as cure time. Sequestering is allowing the soap to clear up and settle. That usually only takes 2 or 3 days. It'd be best to pcik up Making Natural Liquid Soap, by Catherine Failor, for more info, as well as troubleshooting tips. She also has a book on transparent soap making that coincides with liquid soap making.

 

[cmzaha]

I use Sally Trews method in her book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Making Natural Soaps which comes in softcover or ebook. I had trouble before using her method. With hers you get your soap to a thick trace while on low heat in a stainless steelpot, cover it and let it sit off the stove until the paste forms then put in the oven 200-220 degrees. (that is the temp use). I use a big stainless steel canning pot that will make me 10 lbs of paste at a time. I never liked the glycerin method since it can affect lather. I started with Failors methods and was not happy until I got Sally's book

 

[engblom]

The "cloudiness test" for liquid soap is quite stupid actually:

1. It assumes you want excess lye and then later adjust the pH. If you heat the soap the whole clock around and the water is still not clear in the test, it is simply showing you have a slightly super-fatted the soap. A pH test will better show if you reached to the point were you are ready.

2. Some oils will always make the water a bit cloudy because they have fats not getting converted into soap (unsaponifiables).

I highly suspect your soap is ready.

 

[lady-of-4]

I use Sally Trews method in her book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Making Natural Soaps which comes in softcover or ebook. I had trouble before using her method. With hers you get your soap to a thick trace while on low heat in a stainless steelpot, cover it and let it sit off the stove until the paste forms then put in the oven 200-220 degrees. (that is the temp use). I use a big stainless steel canning pot that will make me 10 lbs of paste at a time. I never liked the glycerin method since it can affect lather. I started with Failors methods and was not happy until I got Sally's book

So the glycerin method does effect lather? I'd opened a thread asking for any updates to this, and love if you added your opinions.