Pear Mead CP Soap

I made a 1 lb batch of CP Soap using Pear Mead rather than water. The Mead reacts with the lye pretty strangely, it boils almost instantly so I had to go reeeeaal slow with it and it took quite a while to trace with the stick blender.

Also, as far as using recycled fry oil goes, I'm in the "USE IT" camp, for sure. Half of this batch was recycled soy bean oil, 25% coconut oil, and 25% corn oil. I added "some" vegetable glycerine and about 8 drops of Japanese Lotus Blossom FO. The golden color of the soap is its natural state. I tried to swirl it - one with red, one with black - but I am no artist the way some of you folks are We'll work on that.

Cast most of this in the bottom of a milk jug and the rest in a mini pie tin. Which was actually plastic, but, honestly, who says 'pie plastic?' Lol It took about 8 hours before it was firm enough to cut, but I think it turned out pretty well. And it's really bubbly. In the graphic below, those suds are just from rinsing out the pot during clean up.

Not bad for soap caste in "pie plastic"! I love the term. Soap is totally rustic looking. Good job!

Looks like some nice soap!

I have some advice for your next batch.

If you are going to use recycled oils, make small batches of soap, as the oils will already be partially oxidized due to earlier heating and your soap is more likely to go rancid quickly. Also soy oil and corn oil are prone to rancidity even when used fresh. If you use your soap up relatively fast, probably not too much cause for concern.

Scent level per pound of oils used is typically .5 to 1 ounce. 8 drops is not likely to smell like much.

I'm assuming that pear mead is alcoholic? If so, lye and alcohol can be a potentially dangerous combination as your remarks suggest. You can get a "volcano." Or if alcohol is present in your lye solution it can cause your soap to seize. Bringing alcoholic liquids to a boil and then cooling before adding lye will make for a smoother, safer process.

Your pot looks like it has a Teflon lining but I'm not sure from the photo. Stainless steel or HDPE plastic (#5 or greater) is a safer bet for mixing soap. I'm not sure what effect active lye has on non-stick linings. Also if that pan is aluminum and the coating starts to degrade, aluminum and lye can combine to form an explosive reaction. If I'm mistaken about what your pot is made of, my apologies for getting concerned about it.

I'm offering this advice in good faith for your future soaping adventures. I hope you take it that way rather than me being overly critical. I just take safety seriously.

Enjoy your soap!

Yes, it's about 6% ABV. After I was through with this I did some research on Lye and Ethyl reaction and it turns out that the reaction actually puts out some water and uses up some of the lye so I guess it makes sense why it took so long to trace.
Colors are a weird thing in soaping, the mead lye looked almost like blood and when I mixed it with the oil it turned gold. Pretty cool, though. I plan on using this batch for laundry since it's recycled oil. It seems that's what most people who recycle oil use it for and my walmart has been out of Felsnaptha for about a month, now. Which, about that, if anyone knows how to replicate that smell and would be willing to tell me, that'd be great!
I did some more shopping today for soaping supplies. The blender tore the heck out of my pot. Well, the teflon, so I bought some plastic pitchers. I figured the pour spout would come in handy; I have no idea what number they are, though, because they're not stamped.
Anyway, I'm pretty open to feedback, and as an amateur, I appreciate your comments! It's better to read your advice than blow myself, right?
Thank you, too, Melissa! Maybe someday I'll figure out how to make layers like yours

I tried recycling oil a few months ago to make laundry soap, but my laundry took on a french fry smell. Not appealing at all. I added FO to it as well. Smelled great in bar form, but when I washed my clothes, all my synthetics came out smelling like a fast food kitchen! Eww!

Don't worry about making things pretty yet (ha, easy for me to say right?), work on getting the feel for things and take your time. And if you are like me, and you have a TON of soap that's pretty bad looking, check out Clean the World. I have a box of soap mishaps that I am sending them. They sanitize soaps and send them to people who need soap! It's really awesome! https://www.facebook.com/CleanTheWorld?fref=ts