Possibly a new hobby- soap?

So, I was thinking of more ways to use my goat's milk. (Since I don't drink milk, it tends to pile up). I'm making cheese, of course.

I saw that making soap is easy. I could use some oils and some lye and some goat's milk, add some essential oils for fragrance and make some soap/shampoo/body butter/body wash.

Do any of you make soap?

I really like the idea of making my own, with my own ingredients.

is anyone else having the same problems with the forums I have?

all I see in the above post is YooperBrew & body butter

Ive made soap but but not from scratch using lye. I dont think its difficult but you do have to be careful with lye. If you try this you have to make at least one batch of hops scented soap.

You haven't been talking to a guy named Tyler Durden, have you?

If so, then don't forget the first rule....

If you can make a good goats milk shave soap, I'd buy it. Maybe you can get some ideas at Badger and Blade. There are a few soap vendors on there.

Most of the soap I've made has been glycerin based. I made the lye soap once but it didn't turn out good and I never got around to trying it again. I haven't done it in a while but I still have all the stuff. All in all it's a lot of fun and surprising easy to make the body care products.

Natural Beauty at Home by Janice Cox is a good book for making soaps, lotions, and potions. She also has a website Natural Beauty at Home with Janice Cox

Pumbaa said:

is anyone else having the same problems with the forums I have?

all I see in the above post is YooperBrew & body butter

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No. I just see her in the show latherng her unmentionables (that have been mentioned pleny oin this site) with home soap...

Oh, I'd be the first in line if you made a hop-scented goat milk soap! What a fantastic idea!

And, as we all know, Yoop, you certainly DO need more hobbies.

Edcculus said:

If you can make a good goats milk shave soap, I'd buy it. Maybe you can get some ideas at Badger and Blade. There are a few soap vendors on there.

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I'm a member over there. I want some hop shave cream or after shave.

Bedlam said:

Oh, I'd be the first in line if you made a hop-scented goat milk soap! What a fantastic idea!

And, as we all know, Yoop, you certainly DO need more hobbies.

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Yeah, that's what Bob said. Actually, it was more like, "ANOTHER friggin' hobby? Are you nuts? But, homemade soap does sound good.........."

How about cascades goat milk soap? I don't know what hops would do for your skin, but that would be awesome!

MMM hop scented shaving soap and aftershave. Sounds better than bay rum!

Sodium hydroxide makes a solid soap, potassium hydroxide makes a liquid soap. Of course, you'll have to buy them online, as our benevolent government believes chemicals have one use and one use only (being a chemist this, and the chemophobia of the public in general pisses me off to no end).

You should be able to get everything you need from a soapmaking hobby site, I've also seen biodiesel websites that will have what you need. It's not illegal to buy chemicals, just you probably won't find Red Devil Lye around the hardware store anymore, which was very convenient.

Good luck with the soap making, honestly I didn't know you could make soap with milk, but it makes sense. You can also use olive oil, etc.

Hop scented soap ... I would buy that.
I think that is a great way of making some extra money.

I love homemade soap. You should absolutely give it a try. There are many recipes on the net. You just need to oils. Do be careful with the lye.

I think that I'll put this on my fall "hobbies" list. Once I'm not so busy with the cottage and fishing, I'll be looking for more fun things to do.

I've been reading up on soap making, and it looks like it can be fun. I'd really like to do an "oatmeal/goat's milk/olive oil" combo with some hops for aroma, instead of essential oils. That might be just the thing for hopheads like me!

You could make a shampoo called Hop Head.

Get it?

We made soap last Christmas to give out as gifts. I wrote about it in a thread on here about homemade Christmas gifts last year. It's not difficult, per se, but one shouldn't treat the process too casually either. Getting the timing right with saponification can be tricky the first time you do it. And I would recommend using something to stir automatically instead of by-hand. It can take a long time to reach saponification.

You can probably find lye at Lowes or a hardware store in the drain cleaner section. Failing that, you can get food-grade lye (some to make pretzels too!) at aaa-chemicals.com.

if you decide that you want to see what other soap makers are doing, i'd check out green mountain soaps. The owner started making soap for his wife because she was literally allergic to everything. It is a quality product, but almost all of it is scentless, so if you want something that smells you might have to check out the kind they make for whole foods.

Why has no one mentioned Fight Club yet?

I'll stick to making beer, it consumes enough of my time, as I consume enough of it! Let us know how it goes though, Yooper

I have a book on soapmaking that I picked up a year ago. I tried a homemade soap at a pioneer festival a couple of years ago and really liked it. Then got some mroe from a friend of my stepmoms. The process looks easy enough. Probably on par with beermaking.

I'm quietly gathering the stuff I need while continuing to contemplate whether or not I really need another hobby.

I think you can actually make lye, can't you? Seems like I read that when I was looking into tanning hides...

khuygie88 said:

Why has no one mentioned Fight Club yet?

I'll stick to making beer, it consumes enough of my time, as I consume enough of it! Let us know how it goes though, Yooper

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Because the first rule of Fight Club is...

Ohhhh I see what you did there!