Beer Soap

[Cuckoo Bananas]

OK - advice and instructions needed please

I did a little read up about it online and it says to just sub beer for your usual water in your usual recipe and to make sure the beer is flat.

Can anyone give me the a-z of what to else to do, what makes a great beer soap (I'm liking the sound of guiness but keen to try anything). What oils go well with it, how long to leave in mould, how long to cure, any other hints and tips etc...

 

[tlm884]

From what I understand, if you let the beer go flat and/or boil it and make sure its cold before you add the lye. Another version I have come across is simmering a beer until it forms a syrup. This syrup can be used at trace and that amount be discounted from the water in the lye solution.

I haven't personally tried a beer soap yet but if you are selling the soaps maybe consider using a locally brewed beer for greater label appeal instead of using a large brand like Molson or Budweiser.

One soap I want to try is a beer and honey soap. I personally believe that leaving a beer soap unscented would be the best. But I think thats a matter of opinion.

I don't see why beer would't work with your gold standard soap recipe. I use OO, Crisco, and CO and plan on making my beer soap with this.

 

[fiddletree]

Some things along the same line I have been wondering- does the beer soap smell like the beer you use? And what does it do to the coloration? Are there any benefits to using beer in soap, other than it being something fun? I assume it will be a bit more sudsy due to the sugars in the beer.

 

[falldowngobump]

I always simmer the flat beer a little bit. (it concentrates the beer a little ?) I freeze it in either ice cube trays or a ziplock bag and then add my lye to the frozen beer and stir like mad. It really heats up, melts it quick and smells terrible. The smell does go away when the soap cures.

 

[Jezzy]

I use homemade beer from a friend. The beer soap is darker than my normal soaps, it does not smell like beer, it does have a smell but not beer. Kinda hard to describe.

I use two bottles of beer for a 700g batch. I boil it good. Once I just let it boil for a second and it started to volcano as soon as I put the lye into it and it also sped up trace... So be sure to boil it good.

You leave it in the mold as long as the others... it is in place of the water and doesn't make it softer... You can use any recipe but I love using a hemp oil recipe.. ;-)

 

[Moonblossom]

I used Stout and opened it up and left it out for two days then used it just like water, my soap came out a light brown with a slight stoutish smell but it's great to use.

 

[Bubbly Buddha]

I pour the beer into a measuring cup and let it sit in the fridge for a few days to a week, stirring occasionally. Too lazy to boil it first! :wink:

Anyway, friends seem to love the beer soap. It has crazy lather. I do add some FO to it as I don't find it has much scent after curing on its own. I don't add colour tho as the different types of beer adds its own colour.

As for labeling, do you think you would be able to use the brand on the label? I don't sell my soaps at this point, but if you did would it be a copyright infringement?

 

[Bukawww]

I luuuuuuuurve beer soap!!!

It does leave a very slight aroma but is easily covered by EO/FO. I make a Corona with lime (either coconut lime verbena or margarita lime FO and Corona for the liquid)...I'm sure you cannot use it in your labeling but as ingredients as long as you used the proper trademark symbol and also noted that you were no way affiliated or supported by the company.

but its absolutely lavish!!! YUM! I need a bumper sticker maybe (I sparkly pink heart beer soap? lol).

 

[Bubbly Buddha]

I need a bumper sticker maybe (I sparkly pink heart beer soap? lol

Get one for me, too!!

 

[Soaplady22]

I have used beer and stated on the label that it was imported whatever (stout or whatever) beer. I think you just say beer on the label - not specify which one unless you're making it for a specific company, which some people here have done.

That's my 2 cents and I want a bumper sticker also!!!

 

[herbaliser]

I opened the booze and put it in a big container, stirred it a bunch, put it in the fridge (semi-uncovered), stirred it some more, then back in the fridge. I did this for a week and got to it. Added the lye real slow cuz apparently it can turn into a lye volcano. Everything else from then on is pretty much the same as normal cp procedures.

For Guinness, I tried to do some white marbling but instead it just turned out dark-caramel (so basically, the same color as the soap). I used kaolin clay though, so TD might work better. Mine didn't overheat, but according to the almighty David Fisher, any sugary alcoholicy things should be watched for overheating.

It doesn't taste very good though.

 

[IrishLass]

I've only ever made one batch of beer soap so far (but more is on the way!). The way I did it was to boil my freshly opened beer long enough so that it reduced down by half in volume. That took about 20 minutes. Then I used the reduced beer as 50% of my total liquid amount and added it to my oils. The other 50% liquid for my batch came from my masterbatched 50% lye/water solution.

I scented it with my own special OMH blend and it smells deliciously sweet and oaty. The color is a medium tan color (I used a light colored beer).

IrishLass

 

[Soaplady22]

IrishLass - your own OMH blend?? How did you do it??

Never thought of using that for beer soap but don't see why not. I used an outdoorsy FO for mine. And some I left unscented.

Sorry for the slight hijack!!

 

[busymakinsoap!]

I simmer mine for a while, until it reduces down (you can top it up with water anyway).

I thought boiling it was to get rid of the bubbles and the alcohol

I then chill it and use it as the liquid in my lye solution, it doesnt heat up, or accelerate.

Guiness would be an awesome beer to use - thats next on my list.

I add honey and oats, and it is delish. My all time fav, I also scent with sandalwood.
Mine is fairly light - prop lighter than milk and honey, but I think it depends on the beer you use.

 

[khermsen]

I made my first beer soap two weeks ago. Left the beer go flat (24 hours), then boiled 5 minutes. Cooled the beer before adding it to the lye. I was very surprised at how hot the mix got, definitely will try freezing the beer my next batch.

 

[Crafty Rose]

I can't wait to try a beer soap. Due to hubby's hobby of home brew we have three kegs of beer, more than enough to make some soap.

 

[Lindy]

I looked into using the brand name as part of the name of my soap and was told that I can't put it anywhere on my label without their permission. :cry:

 

[IrishLass]

IrishLass - your own OMH blend?? How did you do it??

Yes- but mind you- it's not an EO blend (I'm not that EO savvy), but an FO blend made with Oregon Trail's OMH and Daystar's Milk Sugar Kisses. It makes the perfect (to me) OMH scent- sweet, oaty, and milky- instead of cherry/almond-ish which is what most of the OMH FOs out there smell like to me.

Oregon Trail's OMH is the only OMH scent I've ever bought that doesn't have those annoying cherry/almond overtones in it (it smells so yummy and true to it's name OOB), but it morphs into a spicy gingerbread scent in my soap, which is fine if you like gingerbread, but I was looking for oaty, milky and sweet. I felt it needed something extra sweet and milky to smooth it out a bit and tone some of those spicy notes down when soaped, and so I grabbed my bottle of Milk Sugar Kisses and played around until I finally got what I was looking for.

The resulting blend soaps like a dream and my finished soap smells just what I think oatmeal, milk and honey should smell like- no cherry/almond and no spicy gingerbread- and all without the scent morphing (Yay!). It does discolor to a light-med tan, but it goes perfect with the scent.

IrishLass

 

[Camdonnell]

I am making corona lime soap tomorrow. Has anybody used lime zest in soap? I dehydrated some tonight thinking that might work better than fresh.