Talk to me about beer soap...

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Luckyone80

Luckyone80

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So I have a growler of beer in my frig from a local brewery that will never get drank or will take a while to anyway. I think its perfect to use in soap.

I have read and watched so many videos that say to boil the beer to get rid of the carbonation and the alcohol. Well today I ran across Soaping 101's Youtube video regarding beer soap and she says not to boil the beer at all but to just leave it sitting open until all the carbonation is gone and then chill overnight before using. She says if you boil it then you might be boiling out the beneficial ingredients.

So which is correct?
 
Thanks for the info! I've got some sitting in my fridge that I'll never end up finishing... I buy a six pack, drink one and am done. Might as well use it for soap! Do you freeze your beer or do the 50/50 method?
 
I've made only beer soap once and let it sit out overnight until flat. It worked fine for me too.

Some people on this forum boil their beer down to a syrup and use this concentrate. It sounds lovely and I will definitely try this next time. I would be doubtful that much goodness will survive the lye process whether it's boiled or not. I'm sure they will be along to explain more.

My beer soap had the best creamy lather of any soap I have tried so far. It's definitely worth a try, whichever method you chose.
 
snappyllama said:
Thanks for the info! I've got some sitting in my fridge that I'll never end up finishing... I buy a six pack, drink one and am done. Might as well use it for soap! Do you freeze your beer or do the 50/50 method?
Click to expand...

I masterbatch my lye at a 50% solution, so I measure that out then all remaining liquid is the beer :)
 
I boiled mine down so that I could use the whole can of beer in one batch. I didn't freeze it, but I did chill it in the fridge since I had just boiled it -- don't need to be adding lye to boiling hot beer. I used it 100% in place of the water, not the 50/50 method. In the future, I'll just let it go flat since that requires less work.
 
I've done both boiling or just leaving it out until it's flat. Both work fine. I don't freeze it just use it cold out of the fridge. I usually use it as 100%. The only difference between stouts, ipa's etc that I've noticed is the color. It can vary from beige to dark brown.
 
I just did my first batch of beer soap this month. I let the beer get flat in the fridge overnight, but I didn't boil the alcohol out. I love the color and smell (I was delighted that it didn't end up smelling like the floor of a frat house), but haven't used it yet. I did a 50/50 water/lye solution, then used the flattened beer as the rest of my liquid. It traced REALLY fast, but I was still able to get it in the mold with no problems. Expect a full gel on this one, no matter what you do.
 
The hoppier beers will have a bit more of a bready-hoppy-beery tang at first. The other beer types I've tried don't have quite as much of an odor. The beery scent fades to a faint trace as the soap cures, so it's not objectionable at all.

Lighter colored beers don't add as much color as the darker beers, but they all seem to add some color to the soap, so I don't use beer in soap I want to stay light in color. Otherwise it's one of my favorite additives -- it really adds to the lather. My guy friends really like the idea of washing with beer, and it's a great way to use up those odd bottles of beer left after parties that I won't drink. :)

I boil my beer down to 1/2 the original volume and use that for the entire amount of water in my recipe.
 
Just be very aware that some will volcano no matter what you do if adding it to lye. I had a craft beer that I simmered, let sit open in the fridge for a week then froze it. The blasted stuff still volcanoed out of my 2 quart pitcher. I still simmer it a while, chill it and add it after I add my lye to my batter. I use 50/50 master batch of lye
 
Thank you for all the replies, I will open it tonight and let sit for a few days and then make soap, we'll see how it goes.
 
I usually boil a couple bottles down to syrup. Considering how much I detest beer, I'm surprised that it isn't gross when boiling it down and it actually smells interesting. I then add the syrup to the oils before adding my lye water or you could add some of it to a portion if you needed to keep some batter white. I've added the equivalent of two bottles to a 28 ounce oil batch but I either have to refrigerate or watch it closely (I don't cover those at all, except with wax paper) so it doesn't get too hot because it will certainly gel.
 
Maybe the lower alcohol content means that we can carefully add lye to flat beer with few problems. I would, however, still boil wine to reduce the amount of alcohol. Spirits I would go even further in reducing the alcohol - flambé!
 
I boil down both beer and wine, no matter what the type. Then use as 100% liquid. It's fun to enhance the flavor or type of the beer and wine with complimentary fragrance. Beers will always give you some degree of brown, red wine will give you a beautiful burgundy/brown and white wine a nice creamy color. It's one of my favorite additives too since it's gives such a great lather. As others have said, just watch for overheating & volcanos. With all the sugars in the spirits, it heats right up. Don't worry about the smell, it goes away with cure.
 
Can someone suggest a "hoppier" type beer? I don't drink the stuff, and it has been way too long since I made any to recall. I have a male friend who sneers at the suggestion to try hand made soap, but would probably try beer soap, not to mention my son and his friends.
 

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