Teach Soap

I decided to make my own potassium cocoate, since I have all the ingredients at hand. I measured everything (and yes, I used KOH) and placed it into my Instant Pot and set it to Slow Cook. I slow cooked it for 8 hours before going to bed and setting it for another 4 hours. I used two measures to determine if it is ready ... does it turn cloudy or clear when desolved in water, and does it turn bring pink with phenolphthalein. After cooking this stuff for over 24 hours, my soap doesn't past either test. What did I do wrong, or maybe I didn't do anything wrong - I just don't know, this being my first time doing this. I used 32 oz. coconut oil, 17.77 oz. water, 8 oz. glycerin, 8.59 oz. KOH. Thank you.

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Cheryl H.

Why the glycerin? Soap makes its own.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I honestly didn't think about the glycerin. I was trying something new and Googled potassium cocoate, and this is what I got. I wanted to make the Brambleberry Orange Peel Scrub. In the end, the soap came out just fine ... in a larger jar, it melted into a clear soap. I made the mistake of checking for cloudiness in a smaller glass - that doesn't work. When I receive my test strip order, I'll test the ph to make sure it's within range. Now that I have so much soap base, I'll try my hand at a more moisturizing soap to mix with the coconut soap. Thanks for questioning the glycerin. The recipe could easily be adjusted using other oils for a better liquid soap.

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Cheryl H.

That's way too much glycerin for that size batch. I would recalculate the recipe and make it without it.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

She uses 8 oz. of glycerin in her castile liquid soap as well. Her recipe was the only one that popped up for "potassium cocoate," but there are plenty for varieties of liquid soap, and none that use additional glycerin.

Again, this was my first time with liquid soap, but I'm learning fast

Thanks!

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Cheryl H.

Potassium Cocoate would be any soap made with coconut oil and potassium hydroxide. Potassium hydroxide is used to make a liquid soap, not a solid soap.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

But it’s also used to make hot processed soap. That’s the only reason I had it at all. As I mentioned, this was my first attempt at liquid soap. Thank you for your help.

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Cheryl H.