katshe Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Ok I have read so much on making liquid soap and I have a recipe to try that says the soap will have a ph of 10 without neutralizing.Well not sure if I can trust thatI have the info on neutralizing with borax6oz water, 2 oz borax , add 2 tbls per lb of soap Is this per lb of total diluted soap??Also Where do I get the test strips to test the soap??Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CareBear Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Katshe I wish I knew - I found all that information on the topic extremely confusing. BUT...A properly formulated liquid soap doesn't need to be neutralized. I suggest using the lye calculator at summerbeemeadow.com.The reason some recipes are "lye heavy" and thus need to be neutralized is that some recipes suggested extra lye due to the impurity of KOH and you then needed to neutralize some of the excess. But Summer Bee Meadow's calculator uses accurate numbers for the calculation so it's not an issue.BTW: even a properly balanced soap will have a high pH. Soap is very alkaline by nature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soycrazy Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 I used 3/4 oz per lb of paste I went by http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/liquidsoap/ss/basicliquidsoap_7.htm. Even before I added the borax though my soap wasn't harsh at all, but I still added it. We are already using it even though it hasn't gone through a good cure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katshe Posted June 29, 2008 Author Share Posted June 29, 2008 Thanks soycrazy! cant wait to get started Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 The reason some recipes are "lye heavy" and thus need to be neutralized is that some recipes suggested extra lye due to the impurity of KOH and you then needed to neutralize some of the excess. But Summer Bee Meadow's calculator uses accurate numbers for the calculation so it's not an issue.SBM is more realistic because it assumes a typical moisture level for fresh KOH from the supplier. You can also just use your favorite calculator and make the same percentage adjustment to the KOH amount (divide by .93) or the lye discount (decrease it by 7 points).However, no calculator knows enough about your materials to guarantee accurate numbers. As you learned from your recent experience with the old lye, the strength of the caustic can be just about anything -- from better than 90% down to zero if it's been sitting around a long time and perhaps not tightly sealed. The SAP value of the oils can vary quite a bit too. Unless you go to the trouble of testing those things, it's kind of a shot in the dark to try and hit a specific target.I don't make LS often, so I don't have it down to a science, but I've been going the lye-heavy route and nuetralizing. If you over-nuetralize, some of the oil will unsaponify and cloud up the soap. I've been adding the acid gradually rather than assuming I need a particular amount. It would probably be good to have a pH meter for that purpose, but so far I've been getting by with the test strips from AAA Chemical. Some don't work properly with soap but those do. They seem to read 9.5 when there's no more free caustic, which is about what you'd expect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CareBear Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 thanks Top - I should have said "MORE accurate" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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