i have been using this homemade laundry soap for a while and it's working great. i'm about to make another batch but i would like to omit the last step of adding the 22cups of water at the end and just keep it concentrated. if i do that how much of the finished product would i add to each load? it calls for 1/2cup of the original recipe.

thanks! i know this is lame but i just can't wrap my head around most math.


2 ounces of vegan bar soap--grated through the coarse holes of a flat or box grater
6 cups of warm water from the tap

1/2 cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda powder
1/2 cup of 20 Mule Team Borax powder

4 cups of very hot water

22 cups of cool water ( 1 gallon plus 6 cups)

Hi coco,

Your concentrated batch will be about 1/3 the size of the non-concentrated batch so you the amount to add to each laundry load would be about 1/3 of what you were adding (about 1/6 cup).

I bet you're great with math when it comes to stuff like measuring fabric!

Measure your final product in ounces then divide by 64. (64 loads) If your final product is 82 ounces then you would use 1.3 ounces. I hope that is right??



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2009 06:36PM by RocketShip.

yay, thanks! i suck at math all the time. i don't really measure fabric, i just kind of see it the way it's supposed to me and mostly it turns out right. if not oh well, fabric is flexible!

"fabric is flexible" lol Maybe I should have used different mediums...

Many times over the years, I've wanted to stretch a piece of wood because I cut the darn thing a little too short! At least photography is more forgiving...calculate the exposure precisely, then do what ever the heck you want!

here's the formula:

1/ original total amount of laundry detergent in ounces divided by original amount per laundry load in ounces.

That will give you original amount of loads.

(for instance, if your original total amount of laundry detergent when you were finished making it was 20oz, and your original amount per load was 2oz, then 20/2 gives you 10 loads.)

2/ original total amount of laundry detergent in ounces(from step 1) subtract 22 cups(in ounces).

3/ take answer from step 2 and divide it by original amount of loads(from step 1)

this will give you new amount per load in ounces.


here are some conversion help:
1/2cup=4ounces
1 cup=1/2pint=8 ounces
1pint=2 cups=16ounces
1 gallon=8pints=16cups=128ounces
22cups=11pints=1.375gal=176ounces

Since you are taking away water alone and not the entire mixed detergent, this answer will be near to what you want, but will not be exactly, scientifically correct. Try using it and see if you get the results you want. If not, add or subtract a little detergent per load till you get it right. Hope this helps.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2009 10:30AM by brian1cs.

thanks guys, i made 2.5 x's the amount and i just measured my final amount and divided by the number of loads each batch is supposed to wash. i only have to use a tablespoon per load. it's amazing!

nope, its not working right. it won't homogenize and the soap chunks up into hard little bits instead of an egg drop soup like texture. i tried reheating it to melt it all up again but it didn't help. i have to shake it up in a jar of hot water to make it melt enough to use it, it's a pain.
it has to made at the original concentration i guess. oh well, live and learn!

if u did it swimmer's way, you would need : 1.343383459 oz per load to be exact if you were leaving out the 22 oz of cold water

cuz i felt nerdy and had nothing better to do:

4 cups +6 cups + 2 times 1/2 cups +2 oz = 90 oz
and like brian says : 11 cups = 176 oz
add the two and u have : 266 oz
90/266 = 0.338345865 thus like swimmer says, the addition of 22 oz makes it 3 times more which means the concentrated version is a third less

1/2 cup =4 oz
multiply that by 0.338345865 and u get 1.343383458 oz
but i don't know the conversion factor for that going into tbsps etc. ( google it or something

brian's way makes a load ( 'scuse the pun) of sense as well and it is true that it won't be scientifically correct due to the fact that you are just taking away water instead of taking away a portion of the homogeneous mixture itself

talking about homogeneity

i think it was smart of you to try and use heat in order to melt it

however, i think that the reason that the soap "chunks up into hard little bits" is not so much the fact that it lacked heat ( sure u figured that out already) but that u actually need that much VOLUME of water within which to mix up everything in order for it to become homogeneous

those water molecules have the propensity for a lot of hydrogen and polar bonds
and it probably can't WAIT !! to get its gritty little electrons ( lone pair from the oxygen) and have the H bond to other stuff ( Nitrogen Oxygen and Flourine mostly) onto yummy vegan soap and whatnot in order to bond, and thus not make it just a bunch of chunky flakes

just my two cents

could be wrong but its fun trying to make stabs in the dark

and disperse soapy goo

i like the recipe

i might use it myself

so far i have been using that SEVENTH GENERATION thing ( lavender to be exact)
and quite frankly, it feels kinda disempowering to be relying on that even though i like it and i have to admit that it DOES to a pretty good job making my clothes feel and smell ( though i cannot discern the fragrance too much afterwards) kinda nice

it definetely is light years better than the hard core detergents that smell GOSH AWFUL!! ( i can smell that junk a MILE away) and used to make my skin feel itchy ( haven't used those abomination in years)

i think its cool that u are trying to make stuff on your own
i'm inspired

i might try it out soon

will let u know how the experiment goes

sounds fun!

hey coco

lemme know if your batch ( using the 22 oz) actually works

i might do it if i see that it worked for you

also, i'm thinnking that after u grate the vegan soap , instead of just adding warm water, maybe you could try and heat up the water in a pay and stirr until it melts more nicely

heck... stick it in the VITAMIX or something...maybe

that ornery soap scum !!

i think that certain recipes are just templates

and some are just BEGGING to be tweaked

oh i meant stir it up in a pan not "pay" ( crazy )

hee hee.

i'm sticking with the original recipe next time for just the right viscosity. it works great, much better than this super concentrated version i made this time round. oh well, still gets it all pretty clean, even in cold water.

Total recipe has 22 cups of cold water and 11.25 cups of "other."

22/11.25 = 1.9556 which is approximately 2.

so add 2 parts cold water to 1 part "other" for the final use,

=

1/3 of "other" and 2/3 of cold water for the final use.

If you are using 1/2 cup per loaf, that would be

(1/2)(1/3) or 1/6 cup other (this is equal to 2 2/3 tbsp)
(1/2)(2/3) or 1/3 cup cold water