It may not be the prettiest soap but...
Posted by Jonesey at 6/18/2008 11:13 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
Alright, so what to do with all that glycerin that you've been stockpiling in your garage... There are so many websites available on the net to make soap from biodiesel glycerin, but, as I discovered a weekend or so ago, quite a few of them are... well, unbelievably inaccurate.
Between the horrible directions I found, and an actual soap making book, I managed to produce some very ugly, odd smelling soap that works wonderfully as liquid hand soap. It isn't very harsh on the hands, but it definitely does a great job at removing dirt and grease. We'll be tweaking the recipe over the next few weeks, so I'll keep you guys updated and let you know if I find new techniques or better methods.
First off, just like producing biodiesel, soap making involves some harmful chemicals and you need to protect yourself by wearing gloves and goggles. Heat the glycerin in a well ventilated area and do NOT have open flames near the glycerin (because it has methanol in it).
Also, this recipe is to make liquid soap with glycerin derived from Canola/vegetable oil biodiesel.
You will need:
-A large stainless steel pot (anything else will be eaten away by the lye)
-A large, long wooden spoon
-Scale
-Lye
-Glycerin
-Water
-a container that can withstand large amounts of heat (we used heavy duty glass
jars- this is for the lye and water reaction that gets VERY hot)
-a strainer (restaurant grade is nice, but panty hose around a regular cone one
works just as well)
and of course- gloves and goggles.
We'll keep the measurements simple for now: if you have 1 gallon of glycerin, you will need one quart of water (4:1 ratio glycerin to water), and 5.5 ounces of lye.
First you'll want to strain the glycerin to remove any junk that may still be in it. You can strain it directly into the pot that you will be heating it in.
Turn up the heat. You'll want to get the glycerin to over 150 degrees to evaporate the methanol. Do this for about 30 to 40 minutes to ensure all the methanol has been removed.
A little into the heating process (ten or fifteen minutes) you can begin mixing the lye and water. When you react the water and lye, it will heat to nearly 200 degrees, so we need to allow time for it to cool. Pour the 5.5 grams of lye into the jar then SLOWLY pour in the quart of water (you always add water to lye, never lye to water). Stir a few times with the spoon to help encourage the reaction then leave it alone.
After the temperature for the lye has come down (anywhere between 100 and 120 degrees F works) slowly, while stirring, pour the lye mixture into the glycerin. Turn off the heat for the glycerin. Stir until you are satisfied that the glycerin and lye are completely mixed (be careful-you can still get a lye burn here). The more your stir, the thicker your soap will be.
Carefully pour the mixture out into a plastic storage container. You will want the soap to sit for at least 24 hours before use to ensure that it will not burn the skin.
Between the horrible directions I found, and an actual soap making book, I managed to produce some very ugly, odd smelling soap that works wonderfully as liquid hand soap. It isn't very harsh on the hands, but it definitely does a great job at removing dirt and grease. We'll be tweaking the recipe over the next few weeks, so I'll keep you guys updated and let you know if I find new techniques or better methods.
First off, just like producing biodiesel, soap making involves some harmful chemicals and you need to protect yourself by wearing gloves and goggles. Heat the glycerin in a well ventilated area and do NOT have open flames near the glycerin (because it has methanol in it).
Also, this recipe is to make liquid soap with glycerin derived from Canola/vegetable oil biodiesel.
You will need:
-A large stainless steel pot (anything else will be eaten away by the lye)
-A large, long wooden spoon
-Scale
-Lye
-Glycerin
-Water
-a container that can withstand large amounts of heat (we used heavy duty glass
jars- this is for the lye and water reaction that gets VERY hot)
-a strainer (restaurant grade is nice, but panty hose around a regular cone one
works just as well)
and of course- gloves and goggles.
We'll keep the measurements simple for now: if you have 1 gallon of glycerin, you will need one quart of water (4:1 ratio glycerin to water), and 5.5 ounces of lye.
First you'll want to strain the glycerin to remove any junk that may still be in it. You can strain it directly into the pot that you will be heating it in.
Turn up the heat. You'll want to get the glycerin to over 150 degrees to evaporate the methanol. Do this for about 30 to 40 minutes to ensure all the methanol has been removed.
A little into the heating process (ten or fifteen minutes) you can begin mixing the lye and water. When you react the water and lye, it will heat to nearly 200 degrees, so we need to allow time for it to cool. Pour the 5.5 grams of lye into the jar then SLOWLY pour in the quart of water (you always add water to lye, never lye to water). Stir a few times with the spoon to help encourage the reaction then leave it alone.
After the temperature for the lye has come down (anywhere between 100 and 120 degrees F works) slowly, while stirring, pour the lye mixture into the glycerin. Turn off the heat for the glycerin. Stir until you are satisfied that the glycerin and lye are completely mixed (be careful-you can still get a lye burn here). The more your stir, the thicker your soap will be.
Carefully pour the mixture out into a plastic storage container. You will want the soap to sit for at least 24 hours before use to ensure that it will not burn the skin.
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