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TyTanium · 02-24-2013, 02:27 AM

Made another batch today. I had a few jars of rendered lamb tallow and bacon grease....boiled w/water, chilled, drained water and made soap with it. Used a homebrewed pale ale as the base. I am still amazed how easy this is. Thanks for the inspiration, Yoop!

***Yooper*** · 02-24-2013, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TyTanium

Made another batch today. I had a few jars of rendered lamb tallow and bacon grease....boiled w/water, chilled, drained water and made soap with it. Used a homebrewed pale ale as the base. I am still amazed how easy this is. Thanks for the inspiration, Yoop!

I never thought about using rendered lamb tallow for soap! We get a lamb every year, and I never once considered it. Duh, on me!

let me know how it works out!

TyTanium · 02-24-2013, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yooper

I never thought about using rendered lamb tallow for soap! We get a lamb every year, and I never once considered it. Duh, on me!

let me know how it works out!

Will do. So far so good...going in it smelled like dinner. Now it just smells like soap, so that's good.

How long do you typically cure your soaps? Anything I can do to speed it up? I've read 4 months, but, just like homebrew, 2-3 weeks sounds much better.

**Kittyfeet** · 02-24-2013, 06:59 PM

Mine cure 4 weeks before I use them.

***Yooper*** · 02-24-2013, 07:05 PM

It depends on the soap.

If you do a "zap test", and you don't get zapped, then it's safe to use. But it'll be better with some curing.

The curing process pretty much just allows excess moisture to evaporate out, leaving a harder more long-lived bar of soap.

Some soaps, like with tallow and shea butter, are pretty darn hard right out of the mold while olive oil soaps can stay soft a lot longer. Even so, with a long cure time, they eventually do get rock hard. Most soaps also get milder with a bit of cure time.

I have a 100% olive oil baby soap that I made in October and I wouldn't use it quite yet, but I have a shea butter/cocoa butter/tallow soap that I made in October that's nearly gone!

**Cromwell** · 02-25-2013, 03:31 PM

A "zap test" is when you touch it to your tongue?

Also, where do you get tallow? From a butcher? How much do you pay?

cockybitz · 02-25-2013, 03:40 PM

I got some fat from the butcher. People regularly mix it with deer meat for sausage, since deer tends to be more lean. I put it through my meat grinder and threw it in the crock pot. I then pulled the hamburger off of the bottom.

The result? About 2 lbs of burger and 4 lbs of tallow for 8 dollars.

TyTanium · 02-25-2013, 04:02 PM

I just get mine from cooking - I collect and save bacon grease in mason jars. Or if I have a big lamb or beef roast it'll render quite a bit of fat that I'll save (if I don't eat it first...mmmm)

**msabin** · 03-05-2013, 03:16 AM

I decided to make nice round bars instead of the oddly shaped ones in the first batch - thanks to the old bread-pan. I decided a nice piece of 2 1/2" PVC would get the right size, and set out...

...it's nearly impossible to find in Boise!

At the Habitat For Humanity second-hand store I found 60" and a pair of end-caps for $3

Cut to 15" and capped it holds a batch as sized in Yooper's starter recipe.

Turns out to be surprisingly hard to get it out -- should have planned a plunger of some sort I suppose.

15 1" bars look amazing!

**Gitmoe** · 03-05-2013, 03:27 AM

I've been meaning to try soapmaking since this thread first popped up a while ago. Haven't had the time since. Anybody have a recipe for a really agressive drying soap? I like to use soap that really dries out for my beard. It makes my beard thicker and fuller. Maybe that sounds a bit crazy but it's true. I'm in need of some beard builder soap!