When I Make Homemade Soap It Went Liquid Again. What Went Wrong?

Many, perhaps most, who make homemade soap have no idea of the chemistry of what they are doing. We want to turn the ingredients into soap, to saponify in technical terms. I can see some friends roll their eyes and think, well, doh! Perhaps I could have put it better. The point I was trying to make is that making soap is a chemical process that continues for days and sometimes weeks before it is completed. Fortunately most of that time occurs in the mold and only a short period requires the soap makers attention.

If, when you make homemade soap the temperature of the soap mix drops too low as you are stirring it is possible for the soap to look as though it has gone to trace when it is only the solid fat/oils setting again. This is a false trace. If you then pour this into the molds and the temperature rises again then it is possible for the ingredients to separate out and go all liquidy. The soap, lye and fat mix needs to be returned to the soap pot. Reheat carefully while stirring all the time until it comes to trace again. Use your thermometer to check that you now have the right temperature for your fat and oil mix.

It is also possible for your soaps to go liquidy if left to dry in a high heat area. One soapmaker left her soap to cure next to the furnace, thinking they would dry out nicely in the heat. They went liquidy instead. She reported she had to gather all the semiliquidy bars, put them back in the soap pot, added just a little water and took it back to trace and remolded again.

If you find a layer of liquid at the base of the mold when you remove your soap this is probably excess lye. It is probable that you have too much lye. It is possible that you made a mistake measuring your lye, or in your calculations or you may have forgotten to add one of your oils. It is usually recommended that you throw out this type of mistake.

When you make homemade soap it is important to remember that the process of soapmaking is just that – a process. The chemical reaction means that the ingredients are changed to a totally different compound that is now soap. A soap calculator should be used both when making up your own recipe or when using someone else’s recipe so that you can be sure that you have the right proportions and quantities of ingredients. Soapmaking requires accurate proportions and once you have those then the saponification, the chemical reaction, happens with just a little help from you.