What to do with separated soap

[KE6WNH]

Something went wrong... I got curds, but the mixture didn't become opaque. I spooned some out, and it looked to be a few yellowish curds of soap along with the clearest tallow I ever saw.

Lao Tzu said "failure is an opportunity"... rather than just throw my failed batch out, I'm going to see what it does in the distillation cylinders of the still which I use to turn wood into charcoal and creosote. These cylinders will heat to about a thousand degrees F., so it will be interesting to see what kinds of soap can be made by pyrolysis.

 

[Guest]

that sounds very intriguing , please let us know how it turns out for you.

Kitn

 

[KE6WNH]

Ugh... turns out I didn't feel like firing that baby up late in the afternoon, so I just left it in the pot and let it stew in there, the idea being that some of the steam would condense on the lid, drip back down onto the botched batch, and soften the curds enough to saponify.

It turned into an amber-colored, gluey goop surrounded by melted tallow, then foamed a little for a few hours and eventually turned into something with the color and consistency of applesauce. I tested a dab of it on my fingertip---pretty feebleminded of me to taste it, but there was no lye taste in my sample---and it neither felt too slippery nor did it leave a greasy film when I washed it off, so I guess I did OK. I ended up spooning it into a 4-liter plastic tupp, and after it cools, I'll cover it with plastic wrap to let it age.

BTW my pot has a tiny hole in the bottom which dripped lye solution onto my stove's burner pan... I'm going to have to spot-weld that puppy!