Soap

Processes

Making soap is about doing a chemical process called [Saponification|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saponification].

There are two processes as far as I can tell

• (naoh+water) + oil -> mold @ 100F - 110F
• (naoh+water) + oil, stir, then add salt -> hard stuf comes to the top (gycern in the bottom bit with the water). The hard stuff is the bar of soap.

I need to flesh this out a bit more. It looks like you get bars in the first process, but where does the gycerin go?

And to make gycerin soap you need to make soap to make the gycerin so huh?

Instructions

Basic Soap Making Instructions

• While wearing safety goggles and neoprene gloves, combine solid lye and water, stir well. Set aside and allow to cool (100° F to 125° F). This is best done outside while you are standing upwind.

• Combine oils and heat gently. Once the fats and oils are melted allow the temperature to drop to 100° F to 125° F.

• Combine lye solution and melted oils. Be careful not to splash while combining the mixtures. Stir until the mixture traces. If tracing takes more than 15 minutes, which it often does, stir for the first 15 minutes, then stir for 5 minutes at 15 minute intervals. Tracing looks like a slightly thickened custard, not instant pudding but a cooked custard. It will support a drop, or your stir marks for several seconds. Once tracing occurs...

• Pour raw soap into your prepared molds. After a few days the soap can be turned out of the mold. If the soap is very soft, allow it to cure for a few days to firm the outside.

• Cut soap into bars and set the bars out to cure and dry. This will allow the bar to firm and finish saponification. Place the bars on something that will allow them to breathe.

Equipment

• 2 Old pots - 2$
• Digital Thermometer - 12$
• Digital Scale - 28$
• plastic containers - free - used containers from other stuff , yogurt, wood putty
• Goggles , Safety Glasses, Apron
• hand mixer, eg braun hand mixer (10$ at value village). I tried to do this by hand and the mix was unreliable. The hand mixer is a must have. It just changes the quality of your work. Everything comes out smoother ( if frothy ).

Gallery of moulds

• 

  pavoflex home edition, picked up in NYC for 10$ USD on sale

• 

  putty box

• 

  silicone muffin

• 

  packages for: tofu brie applesauce

Consumed

• olive oil - 3 litre - 11$ - grocery store
• lye ( sodium hydroxide - NaOH ) - 3kg - 22$ - hardware store

Lye Crystals, easier to find than I thoght, thank you Home Hardware

Oils

hard soft butter all types, why do I want one over another?

• Olive oil - lower environmental impact, no habitat destruction, sustainable operations. Softer soaps.
• Coconut oil - less habitat destruction , labour concerns, danger pay , child labour. imparts hardness + lather
• Palm oil - lots of habitat destruction. imparts hardness and lather.

Tough decisions.

Scents

• patchouli
• ginger root
• vetiver essential oil - no clue what this is , yet.
• citrus
  • lemon lime orange grapefruit madarine tangerine - extraction? zest? rind? oils?
• dried fruit?
  • apricot cranberry raisins figs
• honey
• oats
• bacon
• Herbs
  • lavender, sage, thyme, rosemary, basil , mint ,
• avacado
• chillies
• vanilla
• trees
  • juniper and fir pine
• cinnamon
• anise - like licorice
• sandal wood - expensive

Resources

• http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/bulkmisc/bulkmisc.html

Abrasives

• salt
• sugar
• walnut shells
• corn meal
• ground luffa

Unit notes

• 1 ounce = 28.3495231 grams
• convert KOH Sap value to NaOH Spa values by dividing by 1.403 ( it's the ratio of the molecular weights , see note below )

My Recipes

Not stuff I created ,but stuff I have done or will do.

Used http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp for calculations

Roughly

fat + base ( NaOh or KOH ) = Fatty Acids + Glycerol i.e. soap

100% olive oil take 1

ingredients:

Ingredient	Grams
Water	190
Lye - NaOH	66.381
Olive Oil	500

Total oil weight	500
Water as percent of oil weight	38 %
Super Fat/Discount	2 %
Lye Concentration	25.892 %
Water : Lye Ratio	2.862:1

Sat : Unsat Ratio	17 : 83
Iodine	85
INS	105
Fragrance Ratio	0
Fragrance Weight	0 Gm

Ingredient	Pounds	Ounces	Grams
Water	0.419	6.702	190
Lye - NaOH	0.146	2.342	66.381

#	√	Oil/Fat	%	Pounds	Ounces	Grams
1		Olive Oil	100	1.102	17.637	500
		Totals	100	1.102	17.637	500

Soap Bar Quality	Suggested Range	Your Recipe
Hardness	29 - 54	17
Cleansing	12 - 22	0
Conditioning	44 - 69	82
Bubbly	14 - 46	0
Creamy	16 - 48	17
Iodine	41 - 70	85
INS	136 - 165	105

Lauric	0
Myristic	0
Palmitic	14
Stearic	3
Ricinoleic	0
Oleic	69
Linoleic	12
Linolenic	1

So I was unable to disolve al lthe lye , so added more water until I could get all the lye dissolved. Now I have a spongy caustic soap. Next step: create troubleshooting section , see below.

I've tried this recipe a couple of times and it's starting to work. I believe that the reason why it didn't work the first time was due to poor mixing. The first couple of times I tried this recipe I mixes by hand with a spoon. In later attempts I used an electric hand mixer and got much better results.

100% Coconut oil take 1

calculated at https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html

• water: 125 to 188 milliliters of liquid.
• coconut oil: 500 grams ( 1/2 KG )

naoh:

Lye Table (NaOH)

% excess fat	Lye Amount (grams)
0	91.96
1	91.04
2	90.12
3	89.21
4	88.29
5	87.37
6	86.45
7	85.53
8	84.61
9	83.69
10	82.77

I will be going with a 5% superfat ( 87.37 grams of NaOH )

Results so far

• worked out really smooth. Stiffened up quickly.
• I did the saponification test easy peasey. But I felt that the soap was too hot for fragrance, so I let it sit over night. Then I used the microwave to remelt. I used several 30 second burts wathcing closely. In fact at about 15 second it was bubbling over. I would stop the microwave , give it a stir , wait a couple of seconds and hit it again for 15 seconds. After 6 rounds or so, the soap was melted, it was about 125 degrees celcius, still pretty hot for fragrance as far as I was concerned, but I had to give it a try.
• To one bar I added no fragrance.
• To three bars I added orange extract.
• To 4 bars I added a mixed of ground dried juniper berries ( about 2 tables spoons ) and some clove ( about 8 flowers ).
• I used silicone muffin trays.

66% coconut + 33% olive oil

• this was my first attempt using essential oils ( 15 ml ) of bergamont.
• Officially the calculator called for 23 grams , roughly 23 ml. but "wut evs"

'	Grams
Water	285
Lye - NaOH	118.99
Coconut Oil	495
Olive Oils	255
Total Oils	750
Fragrance	23.25
Soap weight before CP cure or HP cook	1177.24

some stats:

Total oil weight	750 g	Sat : Unsat Ratio	62:38:00
Water as percent of oil weight	38.00%	Iodine	36
Super Fat/Discount	5%	INS	206
Lye Concentration	29.45%	Fragrance Ratio	31
Water : Lye Ratio	2.3952:1	Fragrance Weight	23.25 g

75% coconut + 25% olive oil

'	Grams
Water	250
Lye - NaOH	108
Coconut Oil	500
Olive Oils	166.5
Total Oils	666.5
Fragrance	~15gm
Soap weight before CP cure or HP cook	1046.75

some stats:

Total oil weight	666.5 g	Sat : Unsat Ratio	?
Water as percent of oil weight	37.00%	Iodine	36
Super Fat/Discount	5%	INS	?

75% coconut + 25% olive oil TAKE II

June 2018

ref: https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html

Basics

• 860 coconut oil
• 286 olive oil
• NaOh - see grams in chart below.
• Water - 286 to 430 milliliters of liquid. †

† Amanda Gail - Indicates that with oils that yield software soap ( like olive oil ) she errs on the side of a water discount to ensure a harder cure sooner. I think I'mma go with 430 which is 150% of lye weight. Wish me luck :P

update David (talk) 14:14, 26 June 2018 (UTC) So far so good, it's cured overnight.

Lye Table (NaOH)

% excess fat	Lye Amount
(grams)
0	196.92
1	194.95
2	192.98
3	191.01
4	189.04
5	187.07
6	185.10
7	183.13
8	181.16
9	179.19
10	177.23

2018 Dec 7th Work

plan:

• 4 batches
• Adding some sunflower oil to the basic olive oil I've been doing so far.
• flavours
  • orange extract
  • Lemon extract
  • cinnamon - 2 x tablespoon
  • cloves
  • Cranberry Hibiscus tea
  • Anise extract
  • Lemongrass tea
  • juniper Berries

I used the internet to figure out how much flavours to add. They are estimates based on what I read on various web pages. Based on my 500 g of oil recipe.

This page http://www.humblebeeandme.com/cinnamon-oatmeal-soap/ indicates 30g of EO ( Essential Oil ) per 500g of oil. so that sounds about right.

'	'	olive oil	'	Sunflower	'	Coconut oil	'	'
Batch	total grams	percent	grams	percent	grams	percent	grams	Total percent	Aroma/Flavour/Scent	Grams of Lye (@ 5% superfat)
1	500.00	0.80	400.00	0.20	100.00	0.00	0.00	1.00	Christmas Blend	64.44
2	500.00	0.50	250.00	0.50	250.00	0.00	0.00	1.00	Christmas Blend	64.59
3	500.00	0.90	450.00	0.00	0.00	0.10	50.00	1.00	nothing	66.64
4	500.00	0.80	400.00	0.00	0.00	0.20	100.00	1.00	nothing	68.94

Grams of lye calculated here: https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html

Mls of water: 125 - 188

Christmas Blend is 1 Tablespoon of Ground cloves, 2 tablespoons of Orange Extract.

---

I ended up making 2 of these batches and ran out of time. Additionally none of the fragrances worked. They all "cooked off". The resulting soap has no fragrance. Again added the fragrance when it was too hot.

2019 April 6th - 1kg Olive Oil, 500ml Coconut

• Largest Batch to date, 216 g of lye.
• Added lots of ends from previous batches ( 500 mil / 2 cups worth )

          Pounds Ounces   Grams
Water      1.257  20.11   570.00
Lye - NaOH 0.477   7.63   216.19
Oils       3.307  52.91 1,500.00
Fragrance  0.103   1.64    46.50
Total      5.143  82.28 2,332.69

Oil/Fat         % Pounds Ounces    Grams
Coconut Oil 34.00 1.124   17.99   510.00
Olive Oil   66.00 2.183   34.92   990.00
Totals     100.00 3.307   52.91 1,500.00

Soap Bar Quality  Normal Range  This Recipe
Hardness          29 - 54       38
Cleansing         12 - 22       23
Conditioning      44 - 69       58
Bubbly            14 - 46       23
Creamy            16 - 48       15
Iodine            41 - 70       60
INS              136 - 165     157

Fragrance

A little bit of Lemongrass, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, and a fair portion of orange extract.

Notes

The Lye would not dissolve on it's own so I heated it up a bit on the stove. I also heated up the oil to get the coconut oil to melt. Other than that, pretty straight-forward pour.

2020 Jan 6th - 1.5kg Canola, 500 ml Coconut

             Grams
Water        760.00
Lye - NaOH   276.02
Oils       2,000.00

Soap Bar Quality    Range     Your Recipe
Hardness            29 - 54   24
Cleansing           12 - 22   17
Conditioning        44 - 69   71
Bubbly              14 - 46   17
Creamy              16 - 48   8
Iodine              41 - 70   85
INS                 136 - 165 107

Jan 3rd 2022

Finally ran out of soap and need to make more.

Plan: Hot process , spare coconut , spare vegetable shortening.

calcumator: https://www.the-sage.com/lyecalc/

275 to 412 milliliters of water.

Fat	Amount (grams)	% in recipe
Coconut Oil, Virgin	370	33.64
Olive Oil	500	45.45
Soybean Oil	230	20.91
Total Weight	1100

Lye Table:

% excess fat	Lye Amount (grams)
0	166.93
1	165.26
2	163.59
3	161.92
4	160.26
5	158.59
6	156.92
7	155.25
8	153.58
9	151.91
10	150.24

Lessons Learned / Gotchas

• Do NOT use aluminium pots for the work. Lye reacts with aluminium.

• "Braun like" hand mixers make mixing less work and more effective.
  • Batches made with the mixer are smoother in consistency, and took shorter time to get to the end of the reaction. ( google "braun hand mixer" )
  • Value village / Facebook / Kajiji - it's possible to get a cheap second hand unit.

On Scents

I've made a couple of batches of soap now and I'm getting a feel for the chemical reaction, so I'm spending more time thinking about scents.

In a couple of test batches I've put citrus rind in, both Lemon and Orange. Both of which did not work quite as expected. I put the rinds in after making the soap, before I poured it in a mould. I think this is a problem. Two factors I think destroyed the scents. One , the reaction is still going on. This means that there is unreacted NaOH reacting with the scent, rather than with the oil. Two, the temperature is high and that can destroy the scents. The results is that I get a bit of "grit" in the soap, which is not totally undesirable, but more importantly the scent is not there.

So, what to do? I've a different approach. I make the soap sans parfum, let it set, cut it, let it cure. Then I take it to a cheese grater and mix it with the scent and melt it in a double boiler. This addresses the two issues: Once the soap has cured it should not be reacting any more, and the double boiler keeps the heat to a minimum. The soap takes a while to melt using the double boiler method, but it seems to have worked. I tried this with thyme and I have a bar of soap that smells like thyme.

Interesting to note that the colour of the soap changes with the addition of rind , slightly yellowing.

Left to right:Bare soap,Lemon Rind,Thyme

Here are three recent samples. The Bare soap is completely without scent and very white. The soap with the rind has yellow streaks and has a very mild aroma, not clearly citrus. And the Thyme which turned out well, and smelling as expected.

Next up:

• Lemon
• lime
• rosemary
• rosemay + lavender ( http://www.sironasprings.com/product/provence )

Lemon

Tried lemon rind, poor results. Regardless if I added right after mixing ( while hot , bad ! ) , or if I added it after cooling.

The effect was very minimal.

Lavender

Just adding bud was nice and mild effect but left problematic "bits" in the soap.

I soak buds in vodka for a couple of days in a jar, which got me a brown vodka and lots of good smells coming from the liquid, but still the effect was minimal. My mom who HATES lavender could not place the smell it was so weak.

Essential Oils

Finally took the plunge and spent money on essential oils. First up Bergamot, and next GrapeFruit . I've just poured my first batch with bergamot. Will be a couple of weeks before I can tell if it's good. So far it _does_ smell, we'll see if it lasts. David (talk) 04:41, 15 August 2016 (UTC)

---

Late Sunday night I cracked open my soap making box and whipped up a new recipe: 66% coconut oil 33% olive oil and 15 ml of bergamot. I have been doing soap for a couple of years and mostly dabbled in types of oils and how they affect soap qualities. I struggle with the fragrance part. I have tried several "home grown" experiments with lemon rind, lavender buds, sage oil, mint leaves. All of which failed miserably. Last month I finally sprung for some proper essential oils as the Internet indicated one would use. I picked up 15ml of grapefruit ( 27.33$ )and 15ml of bergamot ( 46.67$ ) from dōTERRA . I decided to go with bergamot for this run. I did the math and the recipe came out to 23 ml of fragrance. I only had a 15ml bottle, but that was close enough for me. Things went really well. I have a smooth creamy soap that actually smells good. I dumped the whole bottle of bergamot in. It set OK after 24 hours. Not super hard like all my 100% coconut runs would, But I'm not too worried. To spite the hot weather I decided to run the batch at a low temperature, forcibly cooling the naoh solution down in an ice bath. Now we wait for the soap to properly cure. Which I don't expect to happen quickly in this heat / humidity. David (talk) 16:09, 1 September 2016 (UTC) - see [#66.25_coconut_.2B_33.25_olive_oil]] above.

Advanced topics

Glycerin

At the time of writing this section , all of the soaps mentioned here do note remove the produced glycerin from the resulting soap.

There are two side effects of this. One, the soap will tend to try and draw moisture from the air and be softer when it does. Glycerin is a "humectant" also called "hygroscopic". Additionally

Salt, Sugar, and Sodium Lactate in Soap

https://countrysidenetwork.com/daily/lifestyle/soap-making/salt-sugar-and-sodium-lactate-in-soap/

Removing glycerin from CP

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/removing-glycerin-from-cp.16952/

Tips on Making Clear Glycerin Soap

http://www.millersoap.com/glycerinsoap.html

How to Make A Clear and Natural Glycerin Soap Base

https://www.diynatural.com/how-to-make-glycerin-soap-base-recipe/

Making Transparent Soap

http://www.bearchele.com/soap/Tutorial.html

All That Glycerol - Author

Kevin Dunn - Monday, September 18, 2017

https://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/handmade101/learn-to-make-articles/all-that-glycerol.aspx

Resources

• http://www.susanparks.com/soapworks/soapworks.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycerol
• NaCl - Salt
• NaOH
• KOH
• The Soap Making Forums
  • Lye Calculators
• Grams of lye for Grams of fat X http://www.thesage.com/catalog/FixedOil.html#Beeswax
• Lye Calculator™ https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html
• Thread about making NaOH http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=5673
• A great Piece on "Sap Values" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saponification_values

Handmade soap makers who aim for bar soap use NaOH (sodium hydroxide). Because saponification values are listed in KOH (potassium hydroxide) the value must be converted from potassium to sodium to make bar soap; potassium soaps make a paste, gel or liquid soap. To convert KOH values to NaOH values, divide the KOH values by the ratio of the molecular weights of KOH and NaOH (1.403).

• http://www.teachsoap.com/ - lots of recipes
• http://thesoapbar.blogspot.com/2008/07/salt-soap-tutorial-by-ladybug-soapworks.html salt soap bar
• http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/soap-recipe-salt-soap.html
• Processes http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/how-to-make-soap.html
• http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/how-to-make-soap.html - all the different process side by side for easy reading.
• All sorts of supporting articles and recipes: http://www.humblebeeandme.com/

Troubleshooting

• http://www.soap-body-and-spa.com/Cold-Process-Soap-Troubleshooting.html

See Also

• Soap - Lunch and Learn Presentation