Palm-based soft soap paste wouldn't reach translucent jelly phase!

[Sebastian]

Hi all, I've started making a palm-based soft soap paste recently. Below are my formula (which I've checked using soap calculator):

60 g RBD palm olein cooking oil (Assuming sap value of 0.198 using soapcalc)
21.78 g KOH flakes (100% purity)
65.34 g water

Overall the formula should be 10% excess in lye if my calculation is done correct (Please also comment on the necessity of excess lye!)

First I've stirred my oil and KOH (without heat!) until they have reached as shown below

After that i cooked my soap in water bath (90 degree C), I've checked my soap content is around (60 - 70 degree C), I've cooked it for 2.5 hours but it just wouldn't reach the translucent jelly phase, instead it look something like below (kind of puffy and light in color, soft texture)

Then I've decided to stop cooking it and let it cure for 1 day and see what happens, it ended up become even lighter in color (almost white, and it hardened almost like a soap bar)

What could be the issue or mistakes I've made here? (cooking temp or anything?) that made me unable to get my soft soap paste to the translucent jelly phase? Kindly share your opinion and comment on my mistakes if there's any, thanks!!

 

[DeeAnna]

It looks fine. It was probably done well within an hour of cooking. Some paste doesn't get translucent as it saponifies. The tiny batch you made is likely to not behave and look like a more usual sized batch does. Just because it doesn't look "right" according to the tutorial you're using doesn't mean it's not good soap.

If you want to make a lye heavy soap and then neutralize, you can. But you can also make soap with a small superfat and no neutralization. Many of the soap makers here use a no-neutralization method.

According to my recipe calculator, the soap has a whopping lye excess of -80% assuming 100% purity and 0.198 KOH sap value, not -10%. Just estimate the answer and you'll see this --

A Sap Value of about 0.2 times 60 grams of fat is equal to roughly 12 grams of KOH at zero superfat.​

Add another 10% of KOH weight to get the -10% lye excess you wanted.​

The answer is closer to 13-14 grams, not 22 grams.​

Did you enter your numbers correctly into Soapcalc?

Do NOT use this paste on your skin!

 

[Sebastian]

Hi, sorry I made a typo, it's supposed to be 100 g (I've used 100 g) of oil not 60 g!

I wanted my soap paste to be jelly like (as I have seen in all the hot process soft soap videos) but why it always ended up being a hard white solid mass (if my understandings are correct soap made with KOH are soft soap and are not supposed to become white solid mass as per the picture I've attached)? Can you share your opinion on this? Could it be the amount of fats or lye that I've used?

 

[Sebastian]

Up!

 

[moodymama]

I think Deeanna answered you already in post 2 "Some paste doesn't get translucent as it saponifies."

Maybe use oils known to be clear in LS. I've made a few batches of LS and I've never had it that translucent jelly appearance but it was good soap and clear when diluted.