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Liquid Soap-first try in process


cbv1

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I am in the process of making my first batch of liquid soap. I have read a lot of books, researched on the web, and read some threads here. So far so good but I almost had a catastophie! One minute I am stirring the soap, it was slowly getting just a little bit thicker than just the oil/lye consistency when all of a sudden it started bubbling and slowly rising up in the pot. I quickly pulled the pot off the heat, thinking it would settle everything down. But oh no, that sucker kept rising so I rushed over to the sink just as it was cresting the top of the pot. Whew! That would have been awful if it went all over my stove! I swear, it went from liquid to paste in 15 seconds! Only a little dribbled down the side of the pot. I should have just punched it down with my spoon now that I think about it, but I guess I just freaked. I wasn't expecting that at all, but I will be more prepared the next time. So, I have about another 2 1/2 hours of cooking in the double boiler to go. I will keep everyone posted as to my progress. I hope I don't mess this up!!

Coleen

www.sudsations.com

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I've made quite a few gallons of LS and never had a pot come close to boiling over. I didn't use the double boiler I used a crock pot so maybe that's the difference or the recipe:undecided mind sharing your recipe or method?

Oh no, I hope I am not the only one this has happened to! Well, I am using the program 'Soapmaker' and decided to use 50% Coconut Oil, 30% Olive Oil and 20% Castor Oil. I read castor oil makes a nice creamy soap that doesn't dry the skin so I figured what the heck. So I mixed the potasium hydroxide with the distilled water, amounts per Soapmaker. At 160 degrees for oils, 140 degrees for lye solution and mixed them together and used a stick blender on and off with a whisk intermittently. Things were going swimmingly until about 15 minutes later. That is when I got the huge puff of soap in the pot. Once I stirred it down it was instantly paste. So, then I put the soap pot with the paste in it in a bigger pot filled with slowly boiling water. I am supposed to mix every 20-30 minutes for the next 3 hours and the paste is supposed to become translucent. Right now I guess I am an hour into cooking in the double boiler and the paste is looking more and more transparent each time I stir it. It is VERY hard to stir as it is as thick as tar! I hope this is right!! I will find out in another few hours after I dilute it.

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probably not the only one to have a pot boil over. I read that it could do that but it's just never happened to me. I think it might just be something that happens with the double boiler.

Based on your description of the paste it sounds like you made soap..lol can't wait to see it diluted..good luck:D

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aw man so it's not soap yet?*faint* what are the dilution problems?

I did the crock pot thing too. I can't figure out the water/paste ratio yet. The first 8 oz of paste I can't tell you how much water I finally ended up with. This time I've got 8 oz paste to 14 oz water and we'll see.

I tried the dilution on the stove top, boiling the water and ended up with the same paste :D Now it's in the pot with the water, no heat, to dissolve on it's own

Sorry to hijack your post. Hopefully you'll have better luck with your dilution

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Well, it is 8:20pm by me and I have just finished cleaning up after making my first batch of liquid soap. I had a little over 5 1/2 lbs of paste and I diluted it in 5 1/2 lbs of distilled water. It took several hours for the paste to dilute fully, I just let it simmer on a back burner on my stove. The soap looks pretty good to me. It is clear right now so I am not sure how much clearer it will get. From what I have read I need to sequester the soap for 2 weeks and then it should be ready to use. I am planning on using cosmetic grade Borax at the end of the 2 weeks to emulsify and thicken the soap. This took most of my day today, though I think I started at about 12:30. Most of the time the soap was cooking I could do other things in the house, clean, laundry etc. I have a new admiration for all of you liquid soap makers out there! This is a lot of work!! But hopefully the end product is worth it. I didn't color it, I just put Lavender EO in it as it is my favorite. Once the soap is ready friends and family have to tell me what they think, then I can tweak if necessary.

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I am trying to attach a file so you all can see my first attempt at liquid soapmaking. It is sequestered right now so I have to wait 2 weeks to test, then package. I am not sure if I am attaching the photo properly though!

How do you all get your pictures small enough to upload here? I had to crop the heck out of my picture so I don't know if the picture is going to be very good.

post-5383-139458423327_thumb.jpg

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I've got mine in the crock today. It's got about another hour or so, before I'm ready to dilute and let it sit to disolve. So far the process hasn't been bad, just time consuming. If mine turns out, I'm gonna use it as shampoo and hope my hair doesn't fall out of my head!! LOL

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I am not familiar with the crock method. Is it basically the same as the double boiler? I would have to have a pretty big crock pot though. Good luck! I am sure your hair won't fall out Jcandleattic!! I keep going in my soap room, checking out the liquid soap. It is crystal clear so I must have done something right, by accident I am sure! I am the same way with my CP soap, I hate waiting. This 2 week sequestering period is going to drive me nuts!:waiting:

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It's the method talked about in another thread on here, by Hibiscus and the instructions for it are on About.com..

She mentioned it, I looked it up, looked easier than the double boiler or the alcohol method in the Failor book so I thought I'd give it a try. It seemed pretty easy, and it went through all the stages with the exception of the "translucent vaseline" stage (last stage before dilution).

I've had the Failor book and the KOH for about 2-3 years now, and I could never really grasp the concept of how to do it from the book. When I saw the instructions on About, it became a lot clearer and less confusing, so I gave it whirl.

It only needs to be a 6qt crock. That's what I used and it was the perfect size.

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I read the Failor book and it was a bit confusing, so I had to re-read it multiple times. Each time I read it things became more clear to me. I followed the paste method steps and it worked perfectly for me. I didn't want to add alcohol to my soap as I felt it would defeat the purpose of creating my own liquid soap. I want it to be moisturizing so hopefully it will be!

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WOW!:highfive: that sure is nice looking soap! it takes color very well too. I also use the commercial grade borax in my LS. I have used my soap right after dilution and it was fine. I have also washed my hair with it and I didn't like the birds nest feel I got from it but I made a nice detangling conditioner and that took care of the tangled birds nest it gave me. Very happy for you and hope you had fun. Also, I used a 6 quart crock pot as well and when I doubled that about recipe it gave me a little over a gallon of soap once diluted. I think that was something like 4 lbs of soap paste. I don't have my notes with me so not sure about that.

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I didn't even color this soap. It is a natural golden color but clear. I was afraid to color it since I normally only color with herbs in my CP soap. I have tried a few Ultramarines in my CP soap too but I was afraid I would make the soap a horrible color by mistake so I decided to just scent this first batch iwth Lavender EO and have my family test it. I got purple pump bottles so at least the bottles are pretty! I read I can use food coloring but I wasn't sure what color this would turn out if the soap is naturally golden, then add red and blue to make it purple. I am a chicken I guess!:grin2:

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WOW!:highfive: that sure is nice looking soap! it takes color very well too. I also use the commercial grade borax in my LS. I have used my soap right after dilution and it was fine. I have also washed my hair with it and I didn't like the birds nest feel I got from it but I made a nice detangling conditioner and that took care of the tangled birds nest it gave me. Very happy for you and hope you had fun. Also, I used a 6 quart crock pot as well and when I doubled that about recipe it gave me a little over a gallon of soap once diluted. I think that was something like 4 lbs of soap paste. I don't have my notes with me so not sure about that.

Mine was the recipe on about, and once it hit paste, (or what I considered paste) right before adding the water for dilution, mine weighed 4.3 lbs.

I'm not sure what to sequester it in, so I'm just going to use an old plastic coffee can. lol Should work just fine. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, my soap has been sequestered for 2 weeks so I added 33 percent solution of borax, 3 TBSP per pound of soap and I had a little over 8 lbs of dilute liquid soap to thicken and emulsify but it isn't getting thick enough. I must have diluted it too much because it isn't thick at all. I added 1lb of water for each 1lb of paste when I diluted it. I guess that was too much water. I am so disappointed... after all that work! It does lather very well but it look like water when it comes out of the pump. :cry2:

So, I have put the soap pot back in the double boiler and I am going to try and boil it down to a thickness I like. It is worth a try anyway!

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Man I sure hated when I added to much water to one of my batches! but I added it to the next batch and also used it for foamer bottles. Nothing is wasted around these parts!..LOL but look at it this way...you definitely made soap! hope you're keeping notes so as not to over do it next time:highfive: I tried to boil some of the water out of my over diluted batch but I used direct heat with the lid off and it helped a little. I don't use the double boiler method, ever. Good Luck with saving this batch!

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I started out trying to boil this over diluted batch down in a double boiler, nothing was happening so I put the soap pot directly on the burner and let it cook for over 2 hours. A thick white foam appeared on the top so I skimmed that off and tried to zap it in the microwave but it doesn't ever melt down, not sure what the heck this is. Anyway, it seems a lot thicker now but I have half of what I initially had. I poured this thicker liquid soap back in pint mason jars, I have 5 filled now, and I will let it sit. Now watch, this will now be too thick!! I had 11 pint mason jars initially. Live and learn! Next time I will add a lot less water initially, I can always add more if needed.

I will need to get some foamer bottles like Hibiscus!

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Letting the reduced liquid soap sit overnight didn't make it more clear. It has a lot of air bubbles in it from what I can see, probably from boiling it down. I can't figure out how to get the jpg files small enough but include enough detail to post here. The first one shows the air bubbles. The 2nd one you can see it isn't clear anymore.

post-5383-139458423945_thumb.jpg

post-5383-139458423951_thumb.jpg

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