Teach Soap

Hi there.
I am making my first batch of soap after spending a small fortune setting up and months on research.
Now to the recipe.

I have looked at two calcs Bramble Berry and the soapcalc.net calculator.
So on 1500g of oils
The bramble Berry calc is telling me to use 319.28 grams of KOH and 1481.78g of water.

the soapcalcom is telling me to use 344.88g of KOH and 570g of water.

the bottle of KOH I have is rated as 90-95% pure. 5% of the brambleberry weight is 16g.

So I am confused as to how much I need to use and what I do if I end up with a problem either end ie too much or too less lye ?
I have factored in 2% Superfat and I thought I could use some caster oil to finish with if the PH was too high but I do not want to get burn by my soap nor do I want it cloudy.

Suggestions anyone ?

PS Here is my recipe.

Avacado oil 225g
Caster oil 300g
Coconut oil (raw organic) 525g
Hemp oil 150g
Olive oil 300g

I saw some videos of this being done cold process but everywhere else states liquid soap needs to be hot process.
I have watched weeks of youtube vids and I see all sorts of methods but the most popular is the hot process.

I was also gong to add 3 tsp of sugar to the initial water to increase foam as I was thinking about adding salt to the finished batch later to thicken it. I have been experimenting with Dr. Brenners liquid soap so that is what I am aiming for.

I also have some citric acid (an entire bag) on hand to bring down the PH of the end product if that helps with excess lye but I thought it would better if the lye was used rather than neutralized. What are peoples thoughts on this and what proportions do you think I need. What I had in mind was eventually making a concentrated soap even if I could get it fairly solid - to sell in that format as I am an advocate for the non use of plastic. Also, a litre of water weighs a KG making ready to use liquid soap quite expensive to ship. It makes more sense to send concentrate and have people dilute it when they receive it. That way I can save money on bottles and shipping.

Alcohol: Obtaining non scented alcohol here is impossible without a registered business number and a licence. All other alcohol is either denatured and scented (it smells really bad). So alcohol in soap making is out for me at present.

Brett.

Hi Brett,

It sounds like you're all-in for this liquid soap thing. I've never done it myself - too much fun doing simple bars. However, I saw your post and recalled a recent one on this very subject that might help. Happy reading.

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Cheers,

Grant

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. [Jim Elliott]

I make liquid soap with a 3% superfat. My soaps still comes out clear and I don't have to worry about neutralizing. I use The Sage Lye Calc for my recipe. I have done it this way for years. With that much castor, I would think you would not need the sugar. If you dilute less, you might not need the salt either. The problem I see selling the undiluted paste to customers is that they could use regular tap water, dilute it too much and have a liquid soap which could possibly grow mold or bacteria.

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

Thanks for the help. I purchased the ebook mentioned above which is helping clarify a few things. Firstly I will ditch the avacado. I will change soap calcs and use the sage as you suggest. I will save the avacado for the hard soap.

Do any of you mix KOH with NaOH to form a cream soap ? I was thinking of using chems but if I can use variations of lye ? Anyway I am sure that is further in the book. I am resisting the temptation to jump ahead and waste 3 pounds of expensive oils lye and time to get a failure or a result I am not happy with. As with uni lab work, I like to research, plan and see my experiment attain the desired result. Experimenting is not needed as hundreds of you before me have done the experimenting for me - which is great. No need to reinvent the wheel.

My next projects will be harder - the pump soaps, bubble baths and the creams / butters etc. Staying natural with those is an impossibility albeit difficult. I made some hand butter with shea coconut and some other oils but the coconut made it uncomfortably greasy. I am tempted to put the lot into my next batch of bar soap and be done with it lol.