Soapmaking

[TyTanium]

So, fun story. I gave a bar of soap from my first batch to a friend of mine. She loved it. So much in fact that she wants to do homemade soap for her wedding favors.

I.e., It's a very real possibility I will be making 25 pounds of soap for a wedding. For my fourth batch ever. Look what you've started, Yoop.


Edit: Any idea what the ratio is of oil weight to finished soap weight? If I use 1 lb of oils, what should I expect the finished soap weight to be?

 

[Proboscidea]

Lucky you!

Lucky you ... ?

Recently, I'm focusing on bare-minimum soap: no coloring, no scent, no additions. For my hippie granola friends with kids, or who themselves are trying to cut out unnecessary froufrou smell-um from their lives.

Hot process is perfect for this, because none of the drawbacks apply here. To me, the drawbacks of hot process include lack of ability to do intricate color patterns, lack of ability to put it in a precise mold (you can get a general shape -- cylinder, square, etc. -- but molds with detailed designs come out moofitty).

And the benefits include the ability to get a complete batch, ready to go, in a day or two, and it's much more "forgiving" in terms of getting it out of molds (I've just been plopping it into a cardboard cereal box; when it cools, the cardboard peels away cleanly).

So anyway, here's the tutorials that taught me hot process soap. It's really easy ... to me, easier than cold process because what you see is pretty much what you get:

• Crock pot method My preferred method -- I have a 7qt slow cooker, which I fill with water in which floats a smaller ceramic bowl containing the soap -- good for 1-2lb batches, easy clean up, no fears about ruining the crock pot insert, although experience has taught me I don't really need to be worried about that since the soap, when soaked, just makes soapy water, but I totally understand the desire not to potentially ruin a small appliance with a first-time soapmaking adventure.
• Improvised double boiler method Great pics of the various stages of saponification in this one. Gotta watch that it doesn't foam over. Depending on the ingredients, some batches want to jump for joy, and then you have a huge mess.
  

My one piece of advice would be: depending on the recipe, you soap may never get to the total-gel phase depicted in the photos, or it may pass through the phase very quickly. So you can't always go by that. Generally, when it becomes a held-together solid-ish gel-like mass, it's ready. I know that description is not very helpful, and all I can say is, try a couple batches and you'll develop a sense for the sweet spot.

The good news is, at least in my experience, you can't really over-cook a batch of hot process soap. I mean, sure, you could leave it over heat for more than an hour, and it might start to break down (?? I don't know, it's never happened to me, and I am one sloppy negligent soapmaker). But it's not like cooking souffle or a pancake; hot process soap is pretty durable and willing to put up with a wide range of abuse.

 

[Yooper]

So, fun story. I gave a bar of soap from my first batch to a friend of mine. She loved it. So much in fact that she wants to do homemade soap for her wedding favors.

I.e., It's a very real possibility I will be making 25 pounds of soap for a wedding. For my fourth batch ever. Look what you've started, Yoop.


Edit: Any idea what the ratio is of oil weight to finished soap weight? If I use 1 lb of oils, what should I expect the finished soap weight to be?

I have no idea- as I've never thought about weighing the soap after it's done.

I normally do a 25 ounce batch (oil weight) for a silicone loaf pan. But I also add water. Some evaporates out, of course, but I don't know if 100% of the water evaporates or not.

 

[cockybitz]

Get it to boiling and I assure you almost all the water will leave. BTW, you can burn soap. I had that with my first batch that I did not stir and the center turned a brown color. I do mine in a pyrex measuring cup and microwave, stirring occasionally until it froths heartily on the top. Then I put it in molds and I'm good to go. I use frozen dinner dishes as my molds.

 

[Yooper]

I wanted to update this thread, as I'm not making much soap right now. It seems that once you get addicted to soapmaking, soap fills every available nook and cranny in your home. Unlike beer, demand doesn't keep up with supply so we either need to shower more (like 30-40 times per day) or I need to not make soap for a while.

Some of my older soaps (3+ years) are aged beautifully, and I'm very pleased with the way they have turned out. Age seems to really do great things for soap.

I also make lotions, lip balms, deodorant, body butters, bath salts, and so on. But again, since I don't sell, I have a large supply.

But today, I was itching to soap again. And I have a new project to talk about! Liquid soap.

Liquid soap is trickier than cold process (or hot process) soap in that you still hot process, but then you dilute and sequester (age) it. It can cloud up, or not be thick enough, etc.

I found a couple of websites, and I think I'll try three different liquid soaps: 1, shampoo, 2. hand soap in a dispenser 3. body wash.

I need KOH for this, instead of the regular lye so I have to order some. I am most excited about the liquid shampoo even though I like my shampoo bars just fine.

I'll try to remember to keep this updated once I get started!

 

[mrmcdowe]

Yooper, I had the same problem with soap making. I made 4 successful batches and had soap for the whole family for a year. I gave very little of it away because I am nervous about the true fact you can hurt some people from poorly made soap. It is unlike beer that there is no real way to screw it up.

So I tried 3 batches this year in a new mold and had 3 batches go bad. Hops were used in one batch and it turned out to be gross green looking bar.

I will try your recipe and report back!!!!!

 

[Yooper]

Yooper, I had the same problem with soap making. I made 4 successful batches and had soap for the whole family for a year. I gave very little of it away because I am nervous about the true fact you can hurt some people from poorly made soap. It is unlike beer that there is no real way to screw it up.

So I tried 3 batches this year in a new mold and had 3 batches go bad. Hops were used in one batch and it turned out to be gross green looking bar.

I will try your recipe and report back!!!!!

I've been lucky, I guess, but I've never had a bad batch of soap. I'm very geeky, though, and enjoy the research and the measuring as much as the process itself so I'm fairly confident of my recipes when I do them.

I just looked through my notes today, and I've made a lot of batches of soap over the last few years, and even though I'm only making 25 ounces (a loaf pan full) at a time (about 6-8 bars), I've sure got a ton of it!

I've grown rosemary and lavender, and then infused them in olive oil and used that for soap and the scent fades but I like to think that some of the properties of those herbs stay in the soap anyway!

 

[mrmcdowe]

I am thinking it was the heat of Texas that played some role in my process. Also I was using my own recipes and possible not up too that yet. I have not given up but had to purchase soap for the first time and can tell how dry my hands feel. I have almost everything to make your recipe so will give it a go!

I made a soap mold out of wood and think the insulating properties of the wood with the heat of a garage in Texas caused 2 batches to over heat. The third was messing with hops and french clay and that did not go so well.....

 

[Kittyfeet]

Very interested to hear about the liquid shampoo! I'm in the same boat; there is so much soap in the hobby room that it's sitting on cookie sheets and stored in the wine racks.

 

[Yooper]

Very interested to hear about the liquid shampoo! I'm in the same boat; there is so much soap in the hobby room that it's sitting on cookie sheets and stored in the wine racks.

I've been making liquid soap now. It's come out very good so far.

I recommend Catherine Failor's book "Making Liquid and Transparent Soap" but for one batch I didn't want to use neutralizers so I went with a different method, using glycerine.

I used this method:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3VUGV_H7bZU

I made hand soap for the dispenser in the kitchen, shampoo, and body wash. I really like the mildness of castille soap.

 

[coinhall09]

Hello all , I just made a batch two days ago and after 24 hours it seems to be changing colors ? I did not color . I looked online and I found that it could be what it naturally does , the fragrance oil changing it , or a insulating problem. How important is it to insulate the molds after you pour it into them ? That is probably where I messed up .

 

[Yooper]

It's hard to tell, but it looks like a partial gel.

Normally, you either insulate the soap so that it gels all the way through (it heats up in the mold), or chill the soap to prevent gel. But if it's not insulated, and not chilled, it can partially gel and that can leave some weird design looking things in the soap.

It won't matter in the quality of the soap and the use- it's just an appearance thing.

 

[coinhall09]

Awesome thank you Yooper !

 

[WissaBrewGuy]

I just bought some oils and lye for my girlfriends birthday but I think I am into it more than she is! All thanks to this thread! Thanks Yooper!

 

[Yooper]

I just bought some oils and lye for my girlfriends birthday but I think I am into it more than she is! All thanks to this thread! Thanks Yooper!

Great to hear!

I'm still making soap, both hot process and cold process, and I rendered deer tallow all day on Thursday. Tallow makes awesome soap!

Anyway, one of things I read about was dental soap. Instead of toothpaste, you use a soap to clean your teeth. Of course, I had to try it!

Coconut oil apparently tastes really bad after it saponifies, so I used olive oil and a wee bit of cocoa butter.

Surprisingly, it's not soapy and doesn't taste bad. It doesn't taste good either, though. It's like nothing, I guess. I'm going to try to rebatch it and see if I can find a non-sweet "flavor" extract, maybe something like peppermint extract, so it tastes more like toothpaste.

At this point, we have a lifetime supply of soap (and then some). I can't help it, I just love soapmaking. I might have to set up a table at a farmer's market or something just to have less soap sitting around, so I can more more!

 

[WissaBrewGuy]

At this point, we have a lifetime supply of soap (and then some). I can't help it, I just love soapmaking. I might have to set up a table at a farmer's market or something just to have less soap sitting around, so I can more more!

I hear that! I think that any of these hobbies where you are producing consumable goods you end up with way more than you know what to do with! (i.e. piles of full cases of beer in my basement). At least you can sell soap without having some agency on your back! I have been looking into making my own toothpaste for some time now but haven't made the leap. I hadn't head of dental soap though, I was going down a more baking soda style path. I can't imagine many sopanified oils tasting good (didn't naughty kids in the 50's have to put a bar of soap in their mouths?) but where there's a will there's a way. Let us know what happens!

 

[Homercidal]

Finally busted out the oils and lye and made a batch with the kid. We picked up some fragrance at a settlers era event in Indiana. I hope it's the right kind of fragrance!

We also added some blue and red coloring, but it turned out kind of greyish, I think because of the yellow color the soap already had. I finally got enough coloring into it that I think it's going to turn out mostly pink. Was hoping for Lavender color because that was the fragrance we used.

Also cooked some crushed walnut hulls on the stove for several hours to make Walnut Ink. I've never used a dip pen before in my life, so I have not idea how that will turn out, but I plan to get one and try it. The walnut ink can also be used for staining wood or other items.

 

[oldstyle69]

A lot of people I know use coconut oil for dental stuff. It's called "pulling oil" I think. It's pretty important not to swallow any. I guess any toxins and micro bugs bond to the oils. Kinda cool I guess.

 

[TyTanium]

Finally got around to making another two batches this weekend; my stock was running low.

First was pretty similar to Yooper's recipe - Olive/Coconut/Shea/Palm
And second was leftover tallow/lard that I've been saving or the past few months. Added some stearic acid and bentonite; hoping it'll be a decent shaving soap.

All made with old homebrew, of course. Hobbies are great.

 

[Yooper]

I wanted to bump this thread, as I've now done a couple of soap making classes for friends and coworkers.

I pretty much use only homemade soap or shampoo, from liquid to gel to bars. I'm also making some cleaning products with the soap, and also mixing up dishwasher detergent and laundry soap.

Of course, I've been rendering my own tallow (deer and beef) and lard. But those items are available for sale generally. Well, not deer tallow I'd guess, but other tallow and lard.

 

[Temptd2]

Awright - just read all 14 pages - hmmmph. Now I must try this!

Yooper, what method do you use to render your fats?

 

[Taiin]

Yooper, I love how thoroughly you explained everything on your posts. I already know how to make soap, but for any newbie interested in the process, you covered a lot of great information!

There is so much incredibly fun chemistry that goes along with soap making. I love understanding all the science behind it all.

My favorite type of mold has become silicone molds. I always pop my soaps in the freezer to stop the gelling process rather than insulate and make them gel. Once they're cold, they pop right out of those silicone molds all nice and perfect!

 

[Yooper]

Yooper, I love how thoroughly you explained everything on your posts. I already know how to make soap, but for any newbie interested in the process, you covered a lot of great information!

There is so much incredibly fun chemistry that goes along with soap making. I love understanding all the science behind it all.

My favorite type of mold has become silicone molds. I always pop my soaps in the freezer to stop the gelling process rather than insulate and make them gel. Once they're cold, they pop right out of those silicone molds all nice and perfect!

My favorite molds are silicone loaf pans. I even use those for hot process, and then just glop the soap right in.

I keep thinking I"ll start a new thread on liquid soap making, but I just haven't had time to even think about it lately so that's on the back burner.

The nice thing about having all of the soapmaking items on hand is that I can make lotions and body scrubs too.

For Christmas, my grandson and I made "bath fizzies", avocado oil sugar scrub, lotion, and body butter for his mom. He loved making those things, but he wanted to use the bath bombs all for himself. He did make his mom happy, that's for sure!

 

[Homercidal]

My wife only uses liquid soaps. She and the kid have an aversion to bar soap. I have an aversion to the "antibacterial" soaps she gets from Bath and Body.

I admit the liquid pumps are handy when you are just wanting a small shot of soap.

So let us know when you get a liquid soap thread going. I'd be interested in doing that as well.

 

[Yooper]

My wife only uses liquid soaps. She and the kid have an aversion to bar soap. I have an aversion to the "antibacterial" soaps she gets from Bath and Body.

I admit the liquid pumps are handy when you are just wanting a small shot of soap.

So let us know when you get a liquid soap thread going. I'd be interested in doing that as well.

I haven't done that?!?!

I thought I did. I am really tied up for the next 10 days or so, but after that I should be able to put something together!

 

[Homercidal]

I haven't done that?!?!

I thought I did. I am really tied up for the next 10 days or so, but after that I should be able to put something together!

You may have. I know I was interested before, but wanted to try a few batches of bar soap and I never went back to look.

Actually, I think you may be right. I remember seeing some information about different soaps, including washing soap.

 

[Homercidal]

Just did a search and I found where you posted a link to a liquid soapmaking video tutorial....

A page or two back on THIS THREAD!

So now I have to find some Potassium Hydroxide.

And I just remembered I have a hog's worth of fat in the freezer. I should set up a burner outside and render that down now that it's warm out again.

 

[Saboral]

No fight club references?

 

[Yooper]

I wanted to mention that once you have some of these ingredients, making body butters and lotions (and the lip balm posted earlier) is super quick and easy.

I have liquid soap in all of my soap dispensers in my kitchen and bathrooms in both of my places, as well as liquid soap in the showers in addition to the bars.

I made two batches of bar soap on Sunday. One was a small batch of "salt bars", and one was a fairly large batch of deer tallow and olive oil bath bars.

The salt bars are incredibly white, without any additions except for the salt. I don't use titanium dioxide for the whiteness, or other coloring agents, so I was pleased to see the super white color instead of an off-white or a shade of beige.

 

[Yooper]

It's been a while since we've talked about soap much, and I wanted to bring up a new soap that is sort of the rage right now- salt bars. They are generally labeled as "spa" type of bars. They are really popular, and because they have salt in them and coconut oil (lots of both) they lather unlike anything else. I'd really suggest trying them, if you have someone in your life who would like a rich creamy conditioning soap that is softening.

It reminds me of my skin after swimming in the ocean- plump and soft.

I don't use fragrance oils (I'm the hippie all-natural type), but if I did I'd use an ocean/beach scent for a real special treat. And it's cheap to make- fine ground sea salt and coconut oil are cheap compared to other items, and it's superfatted at 20% or so.

Tomorrow, I'm going to make one with beer as the liquid, so instead of a beautiful white bar, it'll be beige/brown but I think it will work very well!