Transcript Making Transparent Soap

Making Transparent Soap
Source: Bearchele
Introduction
Transparent soap is basically partly soap and partly solvent. Sodium
Hydroxide causes crystals to form in soap and that is why the soap
becomes opaque, in order to make it transparent, you have to dissolve
the soap in enough solvent to make the crystals so small that the light
will freely pass through the soap, which makes it look transparent.
There is no magic number when it comes to the quantity of solvents
required for a particular recipe, transparency will exist in a narrow
window within a range. A good way to find the right quantity of solvents
is to start by calculating a 60% soap/40% solvent ratio and then a 50%
soap/50% solvent ratio, depending on your formula, transparency will
exist somewhere in that range.
It is a good basic recipe and it works, it yielded my first successful
batch of transparent soap, I modified it because I use 75.5% Alcohol
instead of the 70% Alcohol used in the original recipe. Formulas can be
adapted to use with the Alcohol you can find, although it would be
difficult to go below 70% (140 Proof).
Method
First, assemble your supplies and clear 5 to 6 hours off your schedule. Preheat
your oven to 80oC (if it will go that low, if not, you will use the slow cooker to
bring your soap to gel). Put a clear cup or glass in the freezer, you will need it
to test the transparency of your soap. You will also need a wisk, lots of spoons,
a spray bottle with Ethanol in it, colorants (food colorants work), FO or your
favorite perfume, a large pot with a spout, some seal plastic wrap and a small
plastic strainer.
Measure your oils and heat them up in the slow cooker, I use a 4 liter slow
cooker, anything smaller would not work for this recipe, if you use a larger crock
pot, you may have to tip it on its side somewhat so you can use your stick
blender to mix the oils and the lye solution. Mix the lye (NaOH) with 170 grams
of water and set aside to cool. When the oils and the lye are about 60oC, pour
the lye solution into the oils and stir with the stick blender, it should take only a
few minutes to get to a good medium trace.
Method
At that point, put the cover on the soap and put it in an 80oC oven for 1.5 hour.
(If your oven won't go that low, just leave the soap in the slow cooker on warm
and check it after an hour to see if it is going through the gel stage, I am not
sure how long it will take for the soap to become neutral that way, but it should
not take more than 2 hours. Try to minimize water loss because we already
took a big water discount).
After 1.5 hour, your soap should be neutral (PH of 9 - 10.5 is fine). The entire
soap mass should be in the gel stage and look like somewhat like this:
Stir it and test it either with phenolphthalein (if
you have any) or litmus paper, if you don't
mind the "tongue test", there should be no zap
:)
(To test using Litmus paper, dissolve some of
the soap into a little bit of water and apply the
paper to the soap, this should give you a good
reading).
Method
When you are certain that your soap is "neutral", it is time to mix in the Ethanol
and the Glycerin. Measure 383 grams of Ethanol and 85 grams of Glycerin. Mix
the Glycerin into the Ethanol and then, off heat, start pouring into the soap
mass while stirring with a whisk. Pour the Ethanol/Glycerin mixes in slowly,
taking time to break up lumps of soap. You must work quickly in order to
minimize the loss of Ethanol, but do not panic and go too fast, take the time to
break the big lumps. Finish with the stick blender or a potato masher, anything
that will break the bigger pieces.
Make sure you get all the soap that sticks to the sides and the bottom of
the bowl.
All the soap will not dissolve completely right way; you will have pieces of
soap floating in a soupy mixture of Ethanol/Glycerin and dissolved soap..
That's alright; the little lumps will dissolve during the cook. Keep your
head away from the bowl otherwise you will get an instantaneous hang
over ;).
Start the kitchen fan, Ethanol vapors are highly flammable and you don't
want them to accumulate in your kitchen
Method
Put the cover back on the crock pot insert and put the insert back in the slow
cooker. Cook on warm (depending on your slow cooker, you may have to start
it on high for a few min., then put it back on warm) for 30 - 45 min. Check it
once in a while, the temperature should be between 70 - 80oC. I have a very
cheap slow cooker wrap around the edge of the lid to prevent the loss of
Ethanol while the soap cooks.
After 30 - 40 minutes of cooking time, check to see
if the soap is well dissolved, there will be a layer of
foamy soap on top, spray that down with some
Ethanol in a spray bottle. Stir with a clean spoon.
Some of it won't want to go back into the solution
and will float on top, do not worry, this is normal;
we will address that a bit later. Prepare your sugar
syrup. Heat 113 grams of water to a boil, turn off
the heat, pour in 227 grams of sugar and stir until
all the sugar is dissolve. Turn the heat back on and
bring it back to a boil, then let simmer covered for
1 - 2 min to make sure all the sugar is well
dissolved.
Method
Pour the sugar solution into the soap and stir. Take a large soup ladle and skim
the foamy soap from the top, put that in a small dish, mash it and scent it, add a
little bit of glycerin to it and pour it in a mold. This time I had 82 grams of foamy
soap, it made a nice little hand soap.
Get the cup you put in the freezer before you
began the soap, and pour a little bit of the clear
soap stock on it to test the transparency.
At first the soap sample may look transparent,
but it may not be, put the cup in the freezer for 5
- 10 min and look at it again. If your soap looks
milky, it needs more solvents.
Method
That is when making transparent soap can test your patience. Do not panic at
this time and think the soap will go bad if you have to make more than one test,
the soap is perfectly fine on warm setting in the crock pot, as long as you keep
the mixture around 70oC, you can take all night to adjust it if you want, just
make sure to spray some Ethanol on it and then put the cover on to minimize
the loss of Ethanol in between tests. You may have lost some of the Ethanol
during cooking time so your soap is not transparent yet. (That is what
happened to me this time). We are working from an existing recipe that we
know works, so the solvent requirements should be pretty close to the numbers
provided. In my case, I added 14 grams of Ethanol. My soap was still not
transparent enough, so I added 57 grams of sugar dissolved in 28 grams of
water. Finally, I added 57 grams of glycerin, 28 grams at a time.
(For a total of 397 grams of Ethanol, 283 grams of
sugar in 142 grams of water and 142 grams of
glycerin). I didn't have to do that the last time I made
that soap that shows that you may have to adjust
recipes, even good ones, because there are a lot of
factors that can influence the final results.
Method
I finally had a clear sample, so it was time to pour the soap into a jar to let it
cool down a little. I poured through a strainer, to keep any soap flecks or foam
out of the final soap stock.
Cover the jar with
some stretch film
plastics and
insert a
thermometer; let
the soap cool to
about 60oC
before you add
the colors and
the fragrance.
Method
When your soap has cooled off to 60oC, scent and colors it, then pour it into
molds. (There will be a skin on top of the soap, spray it with a little Ethanol and
then mix it, it should dissolve). You may have some foam on top of the soap
after you pour it in the molds, a good spray of Ethanol should take care of it.
(Note: I pour my soap in my molds through a small strainer, just to make sure)
If you can, put the molds in the freezer, the
faster the cool off, the more transparent the
soap, if you do not have enough space in
the freezer, put the molds in the fridge.
Method
After a few hours, check the soap, if it is hard enough, you can take from the
mold it, take it out of the freezer and wait about 5 min. before you pop the soap
out of the mold. Be careful not to touch it too much, because at this point, you
will leave fingerprints on it. Let the soap dry and cure for about 2 weeks before
you use it, during those two weeks, it will become harder and even more
transparent. A skin will form on top of the soap, polish it with Ethanol and then
wrap in shrink wrap to keep the humidity out.
Note: Home made transparent soap is different from
M&P, if you try to melt it again, it will loose its
transparency, you will have to adjust the solvents and
you may end up with a soft sticky soap. If you
absolutely have to re-melt the soap, do it as soon as
possible after making it, but be prepared to add
Ethanol, glycerin and sugar solution again.
Basic Recipe
Ingredients
Quantity
Coconut Oil
397
grams
Palm Oil
153
grams
Corn Oil
235
grams
Water
268
grams
NaOH
129
grams
Ethanol 95%
274
grams
58
grams
107
grams
9
grams
23
grams
Glycerin
Sugar
Water for sugar
Fragrance
Unit