Teach Soap

Hi all,
I've made a few batches of liquid soap, and I notice that If I include as little as 10 or 15% coconut oil in the recipe, the soap goes from liquid to paste in about 40 minutes, and it happens almost in the blink of an eye. Other recipes without coconut oil just don't behave this way.

I made a batch yesterday with 15% coconut oil. The temp was steady at 160F, and then it traced, thickened, puffed up, and the temp shot to 200F as I stirred in down. It turned to an opaque, almost dry-seeming paste, then over the next half hour or so--off the heat--the paste became clearer and clearer. I'm diluting a sample now to check it, but the paste is so clear that I'm sure it's cooked.

None of the books I've read mention this behavior, and they all recommend majority coconut oil. Thy talk about long cooking times, not short!

Any thoughts? If the soap is fine, then it doesn't much matter, I suppose, but I'm curious why I don't read about this in books or see it on videos.

I'm using a double boiler over a temperature controlled induction heater to keep things at 160F. The recipes have varied, but are all majority olive, plus castor and coconut, and sometimes sunflower or another oil. Tis time, I used 6 ounces of glycerine in the lye water, but I've had the same reaction with no glycerine.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
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I noticed that as well. My mostly olive & castor oil soap took lots longer to cook than the ones with coconut oil in them (crockpot method). They also seemed easier to dilute than the olive one.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

That's pretty normal, My coconut liquid soap cooks a lot faster then my olive oil.

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