donniej
Well-Known Member
I'm making minimum 5 gallon batches from my BioDiesel glycerin and hope to start selling some of my soap in the near future. However this scale presents some challenges due to it's size. For example, this past weekend I made 15 gallons which is now curing in slabs. Casting into bars, scenting and packaging are all a little more difficult when you have several hundred bars at a time.
It is my goal to make a high quality glycerin soap that I can sell at an extremely low price (to benefit the community). To do this requires both inexpensive materials and as little of my time as possible, but not at the sacrifice of quality.
So far I have the following ideas, some I'm already using, others I'll be using very soon.
To make the soap I fill up 5 gallon buckets that have graduations on the side. This allows quick and easy measurements. In a separate bucket I mix up the water and lye. The glycerin is heated in the bucket with a bucket heater which is made to heat water in plastic buckets (for animals to drink out of). When the glycerin is hot I mix in the lye/water with a paint stirrer power by an electric drill.
After it hits trace I dump it into 5 gallon "cubies" which I've cut in half, top to bottom. Cubies are disposable plastic jugs restaurants get there oil in. You can pull them out of the dumpster of any restaurant. After the soap has hardened you can simply flip the cubie-molds over and the soap slab falls right out.
From there it can be cut into square bars with either a butter knife or a wooden frame with thin steel wires forming a grid. Simply push the wires through the slab to instantly carve out your bars. The soap can also be re-melted and poured into 2" PVC tubing, allowed to harden and then pushed out from one side. Then cut it to any thickness you like, giving you 2" round bars.
For packaging I'd like to get the PVC heat shrink tubing. Use thick paper on the top and bottom to act as both a label and as a media to absorb any "sweat". Apply the paper to the top and bottom, slip over the shirnk tubing and quickly heat. Done.
My glycerin is free and lye is cheap from buying in bulk ($2.50 per pound). The packing materials are also relatively inexpensive... however scents are expensive and I'm not willing to compromise on there quality. This has me thinking about making my own. My first idea is to stop at the local florists and see if I can buy (for cheap) they're old flowers they're going to throw out. Hopefully I can make a tea out of them and use that instead of water. I do worry however that the lye will destroy the scents. Alternatively, I could cook down the tea until it's super concentrated and add it after trace.
Finally, I'd also like to make the bars a little more firm, to please the mass market. I plan on experimenting with adding a few percent crisco at trace. I'll probably also try stearic acid and beeswax, assuming none of them are cost prohibitive.
In the end, I hope to be able to sell for $.50 per bar.
It is my goal to make a high quality glycerin soap that I can sell at an extremely low price (to benefit the community). To do this requires both inexpensive materials and as little of my time as possible, but not at the sacrifice of quality.
So far I have the following ideas, some I'm already using, others I'll be using very soon.
To make the soap I fill up 5 gallon buckets that have graduations on the side. This allows quick and easy measurements. In a separate bucket I mix up the water and lye. The glycerin is heated in the bucket with a bucket heater which is made to heat water in plastic buckets (for animals to drink out of). When the glycerin is hot I mix in the lye/water with a paint stirrer power by an electric drill.
After it hits trace I dump it into 5 gallon "cubies" which I've cut in half, top to bottom. Cubies are disposable plastic jugs restaurants get there oil in. You can pull them out of the dumpster of any restaurant. After the soap has hardened you can simply flip the cubie-molds over and the soap slab falls right out.
From there it can be cut into square bars with either a butter knife or a wooden frame with thin steel wires forming a grid. Simply push the wires through the slab to instantly carve out your bars. The soap can also be re-melted and poured into 2" PVC tubing, allowed to harden and then pushed out from one side. Then cut it to any thickness you like, giving you 2" round bars.
For packaging I'd like to get the PVC heat shrink tubing. Use thick paper on the top and bottom to act as both a label and as a media to absorb any "sweat". Apply the paper to the top and bottom, slip over the shirnk tubing and quickly heat. Done.
My glycerin is free and lye is cheap from buying in bulk ($2.50 per pound). The packing materials are also relatively inexpensive... however scents are expensive and I'm not willing to compromise on there quality. This has me thinking about making my own. My first idea is to stop at the local florists and see if I can buy (for cheap) they're old flowers they're going to throw out. Hopefully I can make a tea out of them and use that instead of water. I do worry however that the lye will destroy the scents. Alternatively, I could cook down the tea until it's super concentrated and add it after trace.
Finally, I'd also like to make the bars a little more firm, to please the mass market. I plan on experimenting with adding a few percent crisco at trace. I'll probably also try stearic acid and beeswax, assuming none of them are cost prohibitive.
In the end, I hope to be able to sell for $.50 per bar.