Teach Soap

Hello everyone

I am very new to soap making, but determined to get the thing in the bottle : D

I tried a recepe I found from few sites in the Internet, which is putting 200 g of coconut oil, 470 g of olive oil and 150 g KOH (dissolved in 470 g of water) together and then after the blendering and heating for 3 hours I added 1135 g of hot water. I then neutralized it with 10 tablespoons of citric acid solution (1/4 of citrid acid to water). What did I do wrong?
When I added the water some of the paste did not dissolve and when I poured the liquid soap into two bottles the firm layer formed on the top : (
I used destilled water of course and did blender the paste until it was really thick (it took me about 30 min). Maybe I blendered it for too long? Or can it be that the oils I bought do not have enough quality? Or I did not add enough water to the paste?

I added a picture of the soap I ended up with and you can see the firm layer that formed on top of it.

I am very thankful if someone could help.

Recipes like this haven't worked for me either. For my liquid soap, I do a 3% superfat and don't add any citric acid to neutralize.

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

Irena or any one at this forum makes liquid soap? I tried to make it using Ann-Marie's recipes and these are the problems that I experienced:

1. Used double boiler- had a hard time controlling temperature (160 degrees)
2. My infrared thermometer indicated a different temperature every time.
3. As soon as I turned on a stick blender the oils started to foam up a lot

As far as a thermometer, I am not sure if it was not functioning properly but I did some tests and it looked like the temperature was off a bit few times but the other times temperature was correct. I compared this one to a regular Digital thermometer.

Taking all these issues into consideration I decided not to continue the process.
Any suggestions at all?

A high % of coconut oil tends to make the liquid soap thinner, but it usually makes the final soap more clear.
If there is any skin on top, you can either skim it off or add just a bit more water.
I spray the bubbles with alcohol and they go away.

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

Recipe had only olive oil and castor oil. Would you suggest using a double boiler or slow cooker in order to have a better control of the temperature? What about the thermometer? Can you recommend one? I bought mine on Amazon for $15 and it had great reviews but I experienced a constant temperature change when I was pointing at different spots of the pot and most of the time my temperature was below 160°.Did you have any similar problems with your thermometer ?

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

Other forum user was using coconut. I am a different person. I read a lot of reviews for the recipe that I'm using and a lot of people said that they had problems even with the crockpot keeping the temperature at 160° do you find this temperature is important to maintain or it could be lower or higher at any given time? Anne-Marie pointed out that the soap has to cook at 160 not lower or higher.
Is it normal for the oils to foam up right away when you start stick blending and is that's what you call Skin? How often do you get skin on top of your soap because when I was stick blending, foam was forming all the time.

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

So I'm not sure why I got the bubbles immediately after I started blending oil with lye water.
From previous conversations with you I see that you are an experienced soapmaker. I would like to ask you for huge favor. Would it be possible for you to list the exact steps that you are following when you are making your liquid soap,at least up to the stage when it becomes a paste.
Two days ago when my efforts to make liquid soap failed I got very discouraged, therefore I'm seeking help from someone who is making liquid soap all the time and can give me proper directions. It doesn't have to be right this minute, maybe later on today or tomorrow is fine. I would greatly appreciate this.
Also would you recommend an oval crockpot or round because these days all the stores carry oval and I don't know how convenient it will be to mix soap in it.

Here is what I do:
Weigh all the oils and butters that I use including the 3% superfat.
Add to the crock pot on high to melt.
Weigh the water in an HDPE pitcher. In a separate container (not glass) I weigh the lye.
Combine the water and lye and stir, stir stir, till the solution becomes clear.***
Put the lye water aside in a safe place.
Wait till almost all the oils in the crockpot has melted.
Turn the crock pot to low and stir til everything is melted.
Take the temps of the oils and lye water.
If both are around 110 degrees (US) I take out my stick blender.
Slowly add the lye to the melted oils.
Stick blend til trace. If the mixture get too thick to stick blend, I keep stirring with a silicone spatula.
Keeping the crock pot on low, I cook it for about 2 hours til the Phenol tests clear.

*** If the lye solution is still too hot when the oils are ready, you can put the lye pitcher in the sink with cold water on the bottom of the sink or ice inside the sink.

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

So you do not keep a certain temperature through this process?
In the previous post you mentioned to add hot water to the paste while the crockpot is on low to dilute and then switch it off and leave it overnight. How this step helps to make liquid soap or this is a final step in the whole process?
With what shape of crockpot (oval or round) you find it easier to work with and should it be 5 or 8 Qt?
At the last post you mentioned That you start cooking for two hours after it traces. Do you mix the oils at all within those two hours or just let it sit in the crockpot?

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

Do you have any idea why I got bubbles as soon as I mixed lye water with oils? My temperature for oil was 160° and lye water 145. The reason for these temperatures were 3 resources that I used to learn on how to make liquid soap and one of them was Anne-Marie. All of them suggested to pour lye water as soon as it is made into the oil that has a temp of 160 and keep this temperature throughout cooking process.
Would you say that temperature caused this and your suggested temps will give me same results?

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

After you cooked your paste and it became translucent. You mentioned that you add hot water to it and let it sit overnight. Next day how long it takes for you to dilute the paste 100%?