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1 | decide the batch size and determine what oils are being used. the table of "oil properties"
lists the oils and their component fatty acids. unlike cp, your aim
here is not to use too much of the soft oils since this will cloud you
final product. this is not a consideration is you don't care about
transparency. |
| | as with cp, i've
decided to work in small 1-lb. batch sizes. when the "paste" is diuluted
in a 30% solution, this will produce approximately 1 quart (32 oz.) of
liquid soap. |
| | [i read somewhere
that] it's a good rule of thumb to use 1 part hard oils and 2 part soft
oils. this sounds like a good starting point so the oils being used are 1
part each of olive oil, castor oil, and coconut oil. i intend to
superfat with sulfonated "turkey red" castor oil, which is added to the
finished soap (at the rate of 2% of the diluted soap). |
| | another factor in selecting your oils will be the color and odor a particular oil imparts to the final product.
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2 | using your favorite "lye calculator", determine and measure out the amount of lye needed. cover container and set aside. |
| | i used a 10% lye increase, (the opposite of a discount), per suggestion from the book "making natural liquid soap".
this higher amount of potassium
hydroxide, (according to ms. failor), is to insure that all the fatty
acids are saponified and thus produce a totally clear transparent soap.
the resulting soap is then neutralized. this does seem to be a sure-fire
method to insure that all the oils' fatty acids have been saponified. |
there are those who feel that deliberately making the soap
alkaline and then neutralizing it reduces its efficacy. however, having
tried both approaches, i don't support this conclusion. |
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| | note: when
using an oil like jojoba, which contain substances that do not saponify,
there will always be some unsaponified material regardless of the lye
amount. this will "cloud" the final product in direct proportion to the
amount of the oil used.
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3 | determine and measure out the amount of water. this does not have to be chilled. |
| | the water amount is 3 times the total weight of potassium hydroxide. |
| | if
a goat's milk soap is desired and the milk is being added during the
process, deduct the amount of water used to reconstitute the powder or
[approximately] 85% of the amount of whole milk ...see the "goat's milk page".
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4 | mix in the lye, pouring slowly and stirring constantly until all the lye is dissolved. |
| | as with sodium
hydroxide, do this outdoors or with plenty of ventilation, being careful
not to inhale the fumes and dust from the lye. lye is caustic. never
use aluminum utensils since the lye reacts with it ...use high density
plastic or glass. wooden spoons are also not appropriate since the lye
eventually corrodes and splinters the wood. |
| | as with cp, add the
lye to the water (not the other way around) and stir to dissolve
completely. this solution will not get as hot as that used in cp; it
will reach a temp of around 150°f. let this cool slightly. you'll want
the lye/water to be approximately 140°f to be mixed with the hot oils (160°f).
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5 | fill
the bottom half of a double boiler with water, bring to a boil, lower
the heat and let simmer (just below boiling) so it'll be ready when
needed ...in a few steps. |
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all the instructions i've read use the term
"double boiler", but what is actually called for is a bain-marie. the
difference? with a double boiler (image to the right), the upper pot
sits within and atop the second, and the bottom [of the top pot] may not
even touch the boiling water.
with a bain-marie (image to the left), the top pot is immersed inside
the bottom pot so that, (in this instance), the water level is equal to
the level of the soap within. this is to assure that the soap is being
thoroughly heated. also, if the
bottom pot has a lid and is large enough to completely contain the soap
pot, this will conserve the heat and reduce the steam created by the
long cooking process. to confuse
matters even more, a double boiler is often referred to as a bain-marie
and a bain-marie as a double boiler. go figure.
an alternative to the "bain-marie" is the oven. if your [covered] soap pot will fit, you can cook the soap in a 250°f
oven for the alloted time. this doesn't lessen the cooking time, but
you won't have to deal with constantly replacing the evaporating water,
the room won't fill with heat and steam, and the temperature all around
the pot will be constant. you will have to periodically stir down the
soap since it wants to "soufflé" when it gets hot ...especially if
you've added goat's milk, (which increases the processing temperature). |
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6 | heat your oils to the desired temperature. |
| | you'll want to have your oils around 160°f as your lye/water cools to around 140°f. |
| | as with cp, there are
some recipes that quote different temperatures and also require the oils
and lye/water to be at the same temperature. i'm going with the
recommendations from "the book" (160/140).
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7 | in
a steady stream, add your lye/water to the oils ...stirring slowly (in a
figure-8 motion). once all the lye is incorporated, alternate between
stirring with a [plastic or stainless steel] spoon and using a stick
blender until mixture reaches light trace. |
| | "trace" is different
for liquid soap. the mixture will stay thin for a much longer time and
then suddenly turn thick. even then, you're not finished. continue to
stir until the mixture is stiff like a very thick custard or taffy. |
| | if making goat's milk
soap, add the milk half-way through this step, after the mixture starts
to show signs of thickening. by adding the goat's milk here, enough lye
has been consumed so as not to adversely affect the milk proteins but
it's still early enough in the process to "absorb" all the milk solids.
you will still produce a transparent soap ...although it will be
amber-colored ..see "using goat's milk in liquid soap". |
| | during this time, try to maintain a temperature around 160°f. too much over and your soap will bubble over; too much under and it'll take forever to trace ...even with the stick blender.
there are ways to facilitate trace.
one is to mix lye/water with oils, stir for 10 minutes, and then let sit
insulated overnight, during which small droplets of soap are formed.
the following morning heat the mixture to between 160°f and 170°f and stir until trace. this will tremendously decrease the stirring time. |
another way is to incorporate a small amount of undiluted
soap paste from a previous batch. dissolve this "starter" into the oil
and lye mixture and then stir to trace. |
adding a small amount of alcohol is yet another method used to shorten the stirring time. |
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8 | cook the soap. |
| | bring the water in the
bain-marie (bottom of the double boiler) to a gentle boil. put you soap
pot in the boiling water. if [the bain-marie] has a lid, use it. -- or
place the [covered] soap pot in the oven. |
| | cook the soap for 4 to
5 hours, stirring every 20 minutes at the beginning and less often as
the time expires. if using the bain-marie, replenish the [boiling] water
as needed so that it maintains a level equal to the level of the soap. |
| | during the beginning
of this phase, the soap may "puff up" and expand. the "book" says this
is trapped air and can be collapsed like you would a soufflé. i
disagree. from experience, i've found this puffing up is due to excess
heat. most often just stirring the soap down will collapse it. in
extreme cases, just remove the soap pot from the bain-marie (or oven)
and let the soap cool as you stirred it down ...and then return it to
the bain-marie. |
| | also during this time, the soap will change in appearance from milky off-white opaque to translucent.
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9 | check soap for excess fatty acids. |
| | after 4 hours, test to
see if the soap is thoroughly cooked and that there are no
un-neutralized fatty acids (unsaponified oils). take a small amount of
soap paste and dissolve it in double that amount of boiling distilled
water. this will be clear when hot. let it cool. if it turns cloudy,
then the soap needs more cooking. repeat the test as necessary every 30
minutes. when the soap is finished cooking, remove the soap pot from the
boiling water.
"the book" suggest a cooking time of
3 hours, but this quite often is not enough. by planning on a cooking
time of 4 to 5 hours, this insures the soap will be thoroughly cooked. |
note: if you've added goat's milk, the cooled dilution
test will still cloud, making it difficult to determine when cooking is
complete. as a result, i simply cook for the full 5 hours. |
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10 | package and store the soap paste -- if the objective is to convert all the soap paste to liquid form, skip this step. |
| | when the soap has
cooled, chop up the [hardened] paste and place it in a jar or plastic
bag. seal and place in the refrigerator where it can be stored
indefinitely. you can remove just the amount you want to dilute into
liquid form. a small amount (read one ounce) of this paste can also be
used as the "starter" for your next batch.
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11 | dilute the soap. |
| | take the soap paste to
be diluted and put it into a pot with boiling distilled water. the
amount of water will determine the concentration. the higher the [soap]
concentration, the more reluctant the paste will be to dissolve. |
| | a no-hassle way of
dissolving the paste is to bring the water to a boil; put in the paste,
breaking it up into small chunks; cover and let sit overnight. a 25%
concentration will dissolve in about 8 - 10 hours; 30%, about 16 - 18
hours; higher concentrations take proportionately longer.
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12 | determining the concentration. |
| | the concentration of
the soap is not just a matter of choice. it's also determined by the
oils you used. a concentration that's too low produces a soap that won't
lather effectively, too high and the soap will congeal back into a
paste. |
| | soap from softer oils
can only withstand so much concentration before it starts to congeal;
sometimes as little as 20%. soap from all hard oils (e.g. coconut) can
take a concentration of up to 40%. soap made from a mixture of hard and
soft oils takes a concentration from 25% to 35%. |
| | among other things,
borax is an emulsifier and adding it to your soap will allow the soap to
sustain a [higher] concentration where it would otherwise start to
congeal. i'm going for a concentration of 30%. |
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use the table to the left or
calculate for yourself; the formula for determining dilution is simple.
find out the percentage of actual soap in your paste (divide weight of
(lye and oils) by the weight of the paste. this will be around 64% -
66%. now multiply the weight of the paste by that percentage. this is
the weight of the actual soap in the paste. now, divide that amount by
the desired concentration, (say 30%). this is the projected weight of
your dilution. finally, subtract the weight of the paste from this
projected dilution weight. the result is the amount of water you need to
add to the paste to achieve the selected concentration. for
100 gm pf paste with a 65% of actual soap, diluted for a 30%
concentration, the numbers are as follows: (100 times .65 = 65; divided
by .30 = 216.6; minus 100 = 116.6 gm water needed). |
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| soap concentration | | water per lb. of paste |
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| 15 percent | | 48 ounces |
| 20 percent | | 32 ounces |
| 25 percent | | 22 ounces |
| 30 percent | | 16 ounces |
| 35 percent | | 12 ounces |
| 40 percent | | 9 ounces |
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| | if you're making
goat's milk soap, and are not concerned about transparency, you can add
[reconstituted] powdered or whole goat's milk by substituting it for
all or part of the diluting water. (this could be in addition to the
goat's milk added during the initial soapmaking process, but generally
you would go with one "or" the other.) see "using goat's milk in liquid soap". because of the addition of the milk, you may opt to add a preservative (e.g. suttocide).
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13 | sequestering, neutralizing, thickening, preserving, and superfatting. |
| | this is where "the
book" comes in handy, as a reference source. it covers many different
scenarios and suggests what and how much to add to address a particular
concern or to impart a certain quality to your soap. |
| | without recounting all the whys and wherefores, i'll just summarize. i don't "sequester", since i'm satisfied with the clarity of my soap upon dilution. |
| | i "neutralize"
with a 33% borax solution (2 - 3 tbs./lb. diluted soap). my neutralized
soap has a ph of 9.5 - 10. since my soap formula is high in soft oils,
the borax also doubles as a "thickening" agent. -- click to see notes on [thickening liquid soap] |
| | i usually don't "preserve", but if i were to use a preservative, i would incorporate 1% suttocide. (see "preservatives" regarding possible reaction of suttocide with your fragrance.) |
| | i "superfat"
with 2% sulfonated castor oil, which also doubles as an emulsifier and
aids in minimizing the clouding effect of certain essential / fragrance
oils.
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14 | add fragrance, [optional] color, and bottle. |
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add a little fragrance (1% to 2%), bottle (use a clear container to display the clarity of the soap), and voila! |
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if you desire color ...other than that derived from the oils used ...add a few drops of water-soluble food coloring. in the [left] example, no additional coloring was added. |
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15 | variation sans transparency. |
| | if transparency is not
an issue, you're not restricted to certain amounts of certain
oils/fats. you can use a higher percentage of butters and waxes, and you
can incorporate a low level of superfatting (2% - 4%) ...not too much
since this would negative impact the soap's lather. were you to
incorporate a superfat, you're not over alkalizing, so you won't need to
neutralize.
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16 | notes on borax. |
| | many people, as well
as some suppliers, (who should know better), use the term "borax" and
"boric acid" synonymously. this is grossly incorrect.
borax is "sodium borate", a crystalline mineral salt mined from the earth. (available at your grocers as "20 mule-team borax".)
"boric acid", (a highly diluted form of which is commonly
used as an antiseptic eyewash), is a compound, mainly [commercially]
produced from the steam and vapors of the volcanic region of tuscany. it
can also be produced by treating sodium borate with sulphuric acid.
they are not interchangeable so don't confuse one with the other. |
| | view the "thickening liquid soap" page to see how beneficial borax is in producing a clear transparent thick liquid soap. |