I really love liquid castile soap. I use it to make pretreat stains, and it makes a great all purpose cleaner. It's gentle and non-toxic, so I feel safe using it with my kids and pets.
What I don't love is the price. I was making my own liquid castile soap, but it always separates. Sure, you can give it a good shake before you use it, but even if you set it aside for a few minutes, it separates again.
Cabinet space is at a premium in my kitchen, and two bottles of soap takes up a lot of room. Yes, I could store one in the basement, but what are the odds that I will remember to grab it before I need it? Slim to none.
That's why I make this castile soap concentrate to clean my house and mop the floors. It works just like expensive store bought liquid castile soap, yet it hardly takes up any room. Even better, it just takes a few moments to make and the jar will last for months.
How to Make Liquid Castile Soap Concentrate
I like to use Kirk's Castile soap
, but any brand of castile bar soap should do. I thought fels naptha would be good, but it doesn't dissolve when I add it to the mop bucket as well as the castile soap does. You can try it for yourself, but I didn't have great success.
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a kettle or in a saucepan. You don't need to be exact with the measurements since the jar will be your measurement. While it's heating up, chop up a bar of castile soap. I just make small slices, which makes it flake off. If you get large chunks, just chop them up at the end. Big chunks, an inch or so long, don't dissolve as quickly.
Pour the soap pieces in to a quart mason jar
. I use a flexible cutting board
so I just pick up and fold the cutting board and use it as a funnel. 
By now your water should be boiling or close to it. As long as there are a few bubbles, it's hot enough. Place your jar with soap on the top of the stove, on a cutting board, or on another heat proof surface where it can sit untouched for several hours. Carefully pour the hot water over the soap until an inch from the top.
The jar will be hot, so do not try to move it. Let it sit for several hours before you put a lid on it. The soap should melt completely in about an hour, then it will be a liquid. The next day, it should turn in to a semi-solid gel. If your house is really warm, it might not turn in to a gel until the temperature drops. That is normal.
I use a tablespoon per gallon of water to wash my wood floors and fake wood in my kitchen. If my kitchen floor is especially dirty after canning, I will add some Borax to the soap. Just do not use vinegar with castile soap because they cancel each other out.
I also use my homemade liquid castile soap concentrate to pretreat laundry and to wipe the surfaces in my home when I'm deep cleaning.
Have you used liquid castile soap to clean?
