Liquid SoapMaking Tutorial - Crockpot Style
By Melanie Hayes 1/3/03

Here is what I did, what I noticed, and how everything turned out. I also took photos of what I did, and they are posted for each step. It worked easily!

Recipe Used:

4 oz coconut oil 4 oz lard 8 oz sunflower oil
3.5 oz lye 6.4 oz water 32-48 oz dilution water

You will need:

  • Stick blender (I don't advise going at this one with a whisk or a wooden spoon, unless you want it to take FOREVER)
  • Scale and bowls for measuring ingredients. (NO ALUMINUM!)
  • Heat-safe bowl for mixing lye solution
  • crockpot
  • Protective gear - rubber gloves, goggles, long sleeves, pants, shoes, etc.

The Process:

    		 Turn your crockpot on High, and start measuring your oils.
    		Put the oils in the crockpot to melt down, then measure your water and lye in separate containers.
    		While stirring the water, add the Potassium Hydroxide (instead of Sodium Hydroxide that is used in regular soap making). Stir the solution until it is dissolved.
    NOTE: I noticed the lye solution for liquid soapmaking is not nearly as hot as sodium hydroxide solution is, and I had no problems with lye particles getting stuck to the bottom of the pyrex bowl I used - that's great in my book!
    		Slowly stir the lye solution into the crockpot of melted oils (make sure they are all the way melted first).
    NOTE:     People have said they hear a crackling sound - I'm not that observant, really - but I think it sounded a bit like rice crispies do in milk - it was pretty quiet really. Had I not been asked about it, I wouldn't have commented otherwise.

    Stir like you would normal crockpot or hot process soap. I would stir for a little and do something else nearby for a while. The soap traced, but I kept stirring on occasion.
    (This is not trace, but gives you an idea of how it will look at first when mixed.)
    		The soap in a thick applesauce-like trace (see the spoon traces left in it?) - I think I could have added the water here, but I kept letting it sit until it got thicker.
    		I started boiling some water for the dilution phase - which I heard was supposed to be 2 - 3 times the total oils in your recipe. I added this calculation to RJ's lye calculator for my own convenience.
    		The soap was pretty thick and I finally decided to add some water. (about 2 hours after I started) I did a tongue test to make sure I really had soap - and there was no tingle, so we're good there!
    		I started pouring some of the water into the crockpot (32 ounces total), and the soap seemed to harden up some more - to my surprise. I was not pleased with this at first, however I was thrilled to see the bubbles show up when the two mixed!
    		I decided to try and speed up dilution, using the stick blender in short spurts over the soap chunks while blending. A few minutes after doing this, ALL the soap was diluted, and I had a very frothy, bubbly crockpot of creamy soap!!!
    		I put the lid back on, and let it sit to get rid of some of the bubbles. After about 15 minutes, I have a nice creamy liquid soap that is turning out to be a nice thick gel!!!!

My observation: This is not hard to make, and should be able to be made rather quickly. I took my precious time, but it turned out great. Seems to me this is JUST like making hot process soap - just cook it past the gel stage a bit (so you know you have soap and it won't separate for sure). Then add boiling water and use a stick blender to speed up dilution. This could easily be done in 1 1/2 - 2 hours I think, especially if you use oils that are known to speed up trace!

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