Soap Makers Help!

[Morgaine]

I just got an e-mail from Essential Depot that their prices on Sodium Hydroxide and Potassium Hydroxide are going to increase 20-40% on Febuary 4th. So now is the time to stock up before the prices go up! I have been very happy with the service I have recived from them, I still have about 60 pounds of lye left so I'm good for now, but just thought I would just give every one a heads up.

Happy Soaping!

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

hmmm, I order from Boyer (which is a chemical company that makes their own lye). I wonder if their prices are going up too. I'm down to just 20 # of NaOH.

 

[Morgaine]

Prices at the store are outrageous! Lowes is charging $12 for 2 pounds!! I know that AAA chemical raised their prices last year too. I'm not sure how much the KOH is going to go up, but looks like prices are going up everywhere on things.

How are you doing Cyndi? Things good on the farm?

 

[Morgaine]

Ok, I finally got around to making liquid soap! And I took pictures. Here they are!

First weigh up your oils

Then melt them until they are about 160 degrees. I used my crock pot

Then you measure you Potassium Hydroxide and water

Add you KOH to the water, these are in bigger flakes than sodium hydroxide so make sure they all dissolve. Make sure you go slowly and don't just dump it all in.

Wait until your lye is about 150 degrees. THen add it to your melted oils

Stick Blend. I used short burst and then alternated with hand stirring. It will take a white for it to reach trace. THat is normal for liquid soaps.

Here is the soap just starting to come to trace. Keep mixing, you are not done yet!

Now it is getting really thick and is just starting to get like taffy. Keep on mixing!

Now it is in the taffy stage.

Check and make sure that it is fully mixed. If you notice any seperation at all. Keep mixing. Potassium based soap want to seperate much more than sodium based soaps. If it is fully mixed put you lid on the crock and start cooking it. I turned it from High while mixing to low with the lid on.

Stir every the mass every 20-30minutes over the next 3 hours. As it gets closer to being done, you will notice that the soap paste will start to get translucent in places. Keep going.

Once it is fully translucent, melt 1 oz of paste in 2 oz warm water. If it is clear, that means you are done! I have a picture of my finished paste but not the liquid soap. I'll try to get some of that tomorrow when I dilute and thicken the batch and let it sit for two weeks.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Wow, that's impressive! I was reading the directions (in a book) and it seemed intensive (= intimidating to me).
Thanks for the step by step pics.

Lisa

 

[cheeptrick]

Bravo Morgaine!! I wonder if you could put some of those colored jojoba spheres in like B&BW's does?? Cannot wait for the dilution photos! (-;

 

[savingdogs]

Wow! I want to be able to find this part of this thread when I go to make liquid soap some time in the future so I can review those photos. Does anyone know how I would do that without having to reread the whole thread? How would I reference Morgaine's great liquid soap photo log?

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Quote:
The colored jojoba spheres are wonderful in liquid soaps.

Morgaine, when you add the water to the paste, are you taking pH tests?? I pulled away from making liquid soaps when I had to add ... mmmm, what was it??? borax??? to get the pH to a more neutral ... the liquid soap just seem so harsh to me.

Of course this was like 7-8 years ago, so maybe someone has come up with something new??? I'm constantly being asked by Farmer's Market customers if I had liquid soaps, but after a few months of experimenting with the stuff years ago and not coming up with something I liked, I quit persuing it.

If it passes your standards, I'd love to test a bit of it and perhaps, if I like it, we can work something out ...

What say you??

Cyndi

 

[Morgaine]

Cyndi, This was my first batch, so I am no where near thinking of selling liquid soap yet. Mainly I did it to do it. See how I liked the process and what I think of the end product. I followed Catherine Failor recipe, which is lye heavy and will have to add borax as well to neutralize any left over lye. I agree that right now (with out borax and the 2 week sequester) that this soap is harsh. I'll let you know what I think of in a couple of weeks. I have enough KOH left that I am going to try to do an Olive oil liquid soap and see how it compares. I figure worst comes to worst, I have a ton of dish washing soap! Oh, when I do the olive, I'm going to do a 3% superfat instead of having it lye heavy for comparisons sake. If I get close to anything I think I want to sell, I will definatly be sending it out to people to try and would LOVE you opinion

Did you every try to use your milk in your liquid soap?

 

[Morgaine]

Quote:
I just did a little experiment. Go to the seach. I typed in "liquid and soap and potassium" put my name in the author. I also had the resulted showing as posts and not threads. Came right up as the first post. HTH