Pre beer liquid in soap?

[CTAnton]

Sorry guys and gals, I'm hard pressed to know what to call it.
A friend of a friend makes home brewed beer. I mentioned to him in conversation that beer can be used in soap.
Yesterday I picked up 3 quarts of a slurry that he normally would have trashed. This is before the fermentation process. I filtered out the suspended particles and have a nice dark amber liquid.
Just wondering how comparable this liquid would be in soap compared to flat boiled beer? Based on a hunch, I'm envisioning volcanoes...none of the sugars have been converted yet into alcohol which could make this liquid more like a sugar syrup...I really don't know. But I do know a guy named BrewerGeorge and other soapers who might have gone down this path in the past..
So many thanks!
Anton

 

[BrewerGeorge]

That is called wort (wərt). I haven't used it myself, but it should act somewhat like non-fat milk in soap.

It's hard to be exact unless you happen to have a hydrometer or refractometer - or I guess you could ask your friend! Short of those, I'm going to guesstimate an average gravity of between 1.045 and 1.060, which is somewhere around 1/7th to 1/9th as sugary as honey. So you could use that ratio when adding and know what to expect, roughly.

However, there is also a decent amount of protein in there, so I would expect some ammonia stink when adding lye (like with milk) as the proteins get denatured.

Finally, if you use a significant amount of wort and it came from a highly hopped beer, the hop acidity may affect superfat/lye discount levels a bit. It's a bit murky because there are lots of different weak acids and iso acids in beer from hops, but a rough pKa of 5ish would be close to acetic acid. Levels can be as high as 100 ppm. On second thought, the hoppiest IPA wort would only have 1/500th the impact of household vinegar, so I think that aspect can be ignored.

BTW, you should protect that wort, or it will likely start fermenting into something as it's about the most perfect environment imaginable for little critters, even refrigerated. If you have the capability, pressure can it and you can store it on a shelf.

 

[Arimara]

I just learned something today. Yay!

 

[Susie]

BTW, you should protect that wort, or it will likely start fermenting into something as it's about the most perfect environment imaginable for little critters, even refrigerated. If you have the capability, pressure can it and you can store it on a shelf.

I was thinking weigh it out and freeze it to keep it "as-is" rather than letting something unknown grow in it.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I was thinking weigh it out and freeze it to keep it "as-is" rather than letting something unknown grow in it.

Better than nothing. That wouldn't be okay for beer because freezers aren't sterile. But it should be fine for using it on soap.

Depending on what kind of beer it was intended to be, if it's not very bitter you can boil it down into a syrup that's pretty yummy in shakes and ice cream.

 

[Arimara]

What a novel idea. Too bad my favorite commercials are Red Stripe and Sam Adams. I haven't been in the game lately to know what's nice or not these days and I don't really like keeping anything beyond a bottle of wine in the fridge.

 

[amd]

Me thinks I need to discuss this "wort" with the future hubsters. He makes his own beer (which is d*** fine) and I always feel a bit guilty when I boil a bottle or two down for soap. The idea that it's "not beer ... yet" eases some of the guilt. We will need to coordinate our "expensive hobby day" next go 'round!

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Me thinks I need to discuss this "wort" with the future hubsters. He makes his own beer (which is d*** fine) and I always feel a bit guilty when I boil a bottle or two down for soap. The idea that it's "not beer ... yet" eases some of the guilt. We will need to coordinate our "expensive hobby day" next go 'round!

If you're just looking for a cup or two to soap with, you can strain that from the leftover hop matter and hot/cold break that is not worth his trouble when transferring to the fermenter. It takes a while to strain through coffee filters, but you can just set it and forget it until it's done.

Even better would be to convince him to pull out a cup or two at the beginning. The earlier in the process, the better because earlier will have more proteins and be closer to milk/silk.

If he brews with only grain, I would pull it after sparge and before boil. However, if you're not going to use it immediately you need to bring it to a boil on the stove to kill the cornucopia of lactobacillus and wild yeasts before storage. They will sour wort in under 12 hours. If you're soaping that same day, though, the lye will eat them. If he brews with extract, just pull some before he adds the hops.

If he's hesitant to give you "the good stuff" tell him that 2 cups from 6.5 gallons (preboil) is only a 1% loss in total gravity.

 

[CTAnton]

thanks Brewer George...I strained it through cheesecloth and stuck it in the freezer.I'll be sure to boil it before it goes in any soap..in fact i might reduce the volume and try that...nothing ventured nothing gained. And I put in my wishes for the leftovers from the final product...

 

[Yooper]

I've never even considered soaping with wort! I guess the sugar content is what would be scary to me- as the most sugar I've used before is 1 tsp or so ppo.

There are residual sugars in beer, but they are relatively minimal and I don't consider them in the recipe (but don't add sugar or honey to those recipes either).

I've used dry wine in soap before, for nice color. I've used stout for darker colored soaps (coffee colored), and lighter colored beers for other tan soaps. Aside from not wasting beer, I don't see the advantage to using wort instead of beer with the unknowns (like sugar content), but if you do it make sure to report back!

 

[Susie]

Better than nothing. That wouldn't be okay for beer because freezers aren't sterile. But it should be fine for using it on soap.

Very true. Hazard of the profession to think about germs.