Beer soap recipe Advise

[rohitanandani]

Hi,
Im a homebrewer and want to try making soap out of my beer. This is the recipe ive made if youll could help with any changes needed would be nice. Using my IPA instead of water since ive made it at home its uncarbonated but has alcohol.

 

[ngian]

In my opinion there are too many soft oils in the recipe. I would avoid the coconut fractionated version oil as some say that it doesn't produce nice soap. I would also omit the two first low percentages of oils that you have as you won't feel any difference, except castor. I would insert some palm/lard in place of the almond,aprikot, rice bran, to add more hardness/long-lasting properties.

It is also very weird that although the lauric and myristic acids are a total of 1, the Cleansing number is high! Something is wrong with soapcalc here... Also the INS number is high. If we replace CO fractionated with regular CO then the INS number is lower and the cleansing number is logical. Something is wrong with the fractionated CO that alters the total numbers.

 

[rohitanandani]

Thank you ngian ! Im trying make the soap without palm oil and the coconut oil i have is virgin didn't have that option so chose fractioned. So if im using virgin coconut oil I'm good to go ?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Aye, virgin is good.

If you aren't vegan, you could use lard instead of Palm for a lovely bar of soap

 

[Stacyspy]

That seems to be a very small batch... Your measurements will be critical, I would suggest making it an even 1 lb. or better, 2 lb. batch, if possible. That way you have a little wiggle room.
I also agree that when you first try something new, fewer ingredients is better, as you can pinpoint likes or dislikes more easily, or diagnose and issues.
The CO I use is just a plain old 76 degree one. A good basic recipe to start with is lard, CO, OO and castor oil. All of the oils are readily available in most places.
There are much more knowledgeable folks on here than myself, so I'm sure someone will chime in with more info

 

[lionprincess00]

Virgin is the same as "coconut oil" on soap calc.
I'd recommend dropping co to 20% (the beer's sugars will boost bubbles, and many find more than 20% drying), Keeping the ako for lotions or leave on products and adding 40-50% depending in lard or tallow (since not using Palm). The rest can be either the sweet almond or olive. You need more hard oils or fats imo 6% castor is good, I'd definitely keep it!

 

[ngian]

If you have CO virgin then choose Coconut Oil, 76 deg in soapcalc.

If you don't have or don't want to add palm/lard oil at all, I would then try to up the Palmitic & Stearic acids so as to give as much hardness as possible only from soft oils.

I would use something like that:

Castor 5%
CO 76deg 30%
Olive 40%
Rice Bran 25%
remove that -->Almond, Sweet 10% (and add that 10% to Rice Bran)

so as to have a decent number of palmitic & Stearic acids.

I would also use less water and calculate water based on Lye and never on oils.

See the reasons why:

DWCP: Water Calculations in CP Soapmaking

The importance of lye concentration

 

[rohitanandani]

Thank you so much ngian ! You just cleared the last doubt i had about making the soap. Ill make it tonight !

 

[ngian]

Good luck

I would use a 30% lye concetration (28% water based on oils) and give it at least 2-3 months of cure.

Hope you know the basics about how to make soap and to wear protective clothes/mask/gloves.

Also a camera is a must if you come to tell us what went wrong or right, so as to show us some evidence.

ps. you should also add some palm/lard in your future recipes as they are a must.

Edit to add:
Don't use at all Almond Oil, give that percentage to Rice Bran (25%), for even more palmitic acid...http://www.soapmakingforum.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[kchaystack]

One other thing about using beer. Even if it is not carbonated, you should heat it to drive off the alcohol. Alcohol will cause soap to accelerate and become solid much faster.

 

[rohitanandani]

Alright will do that. Thank you so much . Ill send the first picture in a few hours it would be better to have feedback all the way. Thanks a ton for helping !

 

[aprice522]

My first two recipes looked similar to yours because I wanted to use what I had on hand and didn't have any of the lard or palm.

Those are not things I could find locally and didn't have, (well, honestly, the lard can be local but I always forgot to look and we don't have much in way of selection since it is considered "bad" for you) It is worth it to grab some lard at the grocery store though to be a great AND cheap solid oil for a bulk portion of your recipe and spread out your use of your fancier oils.

They seem to be very "soap" kinds of oils....especially Palm...only have that if you are making soap or donuts/doritos.

I also did small batches because I was starting and now for testing.

I found my first bars that I used oils I had "on hand" are just now becoming decent after 6-8 weeks.

I do 400 g batches, but since I have started filling my small loaf pan (to do pretty designs and layers and what not), I moved up to 700g.

I find those larger batches have better outcomes. Of course getting a better scale was the BIGGEST difference maker in my journey! I threw away my old one.

 

[spenny92]

Good luck

I would use a 30% lye concetration (28% water based on oils) and give it at least 2-3 months of cure.

Hope you know the basics about how to make soap and to wear protective clothes/mask/gloves.

Also a camera is a must if you come to tell us what went wrong or right, so as to show us some evidence.

ps. you should also add some palm/lard in your future recipes as they are a must.

Edit to add:
Don't use at all Almond Oil, give that percentage to Rice Bran (25%), for even more palmitic acid...

I wouldn't agree that palm/lard is a "must" in a recipe. You can make great soap without either. I do like my personal lard soaps, though!

 

[rohitanandani]

Ok everyone so heres what happened. I mixed lye and beer that went fine. Heat the oils up a little bit. And when lye was at 65 C i mixed them. Forget medium trace it was very heavy to mix even with the hand blender within almost 30 sec so i added the EO's immediately and blended it once. I had to put it in the mold with a spoon it was that hard. Where could i have gone wrong. Following is the picture of how it looked after blending for 30 sec

 

[kchaystack]

Ok everyone so heres what happened. I mixed lye and beer that went fine. Heat the oils up a little bit. And when lye was at 65 C i mixed them. Forget medium trace it was very heavy to mix even with the hand blender within almost 30 sec so i added the EO's immediately and blended it once. I had to put it in the mold with a spoon it was that hard. Where could i have gone wrong. Following is the picture of how it looked after blending for 30 sec

That is really hot to add the lye. Most people soap at 37 - 40 C.

What was the EO you used? Some are known to accelerate.

 

[rohitanandani]

I used 12.4 grams of EOs Orange 7.7 gms, Lemongrass 2.3 gms, peppermint 2.4 gms ... I didnt boil the beer just cooled it !

 

[rohitanandani]

I thought if i boil ill lose the good part of the beer !

 

[kchaystack]

So you didn't do anything to remove the alcohol? That was probably the problem. Like I said, alcohol will cause your soap to seize.

You do not need to boil it, but you need to heat it up to a low simmer for a while.

 

[rohitanandani]

Alright kchaystack ! Will try again tomorrow with lower temperature and alcohol free beer !

 

[rohitanandani]

Is there any specific temperature i should keep the mould in . Ive kept it in my fermenting fridge as of now which is at 20C. The temperature outside is around 33C.