Using oil that was used to deep fry

[kmatcek]

Hi all I am a new member and have a question. I have a deep fryer at home and was wondering if I could use the oil for soap making to cook with then make soap with it when I change it out.
thanks
kenny

 

[danahuff]

Maybe, but I wouldn't. I imagine the heat when you cooked with it may have caused some changes in the oil, not to mention that food particles probably remain in the oil. Also, I know my frying oil is always discolored. I don't think you'd be very happy with the results of the soap, even if it did manage to work.

 

[Lindy]

Actually you can. You are going to need to render it by adding it to water and then cooking out the debris from deep frying. What kind of oil is it? This is a much easier project to take on with tallow, coconut oil, lard, crisco, etc.

 

[Hausfrau007]

Oh, rendering fried oils for soaping would be the ULTIMATE in reclaimed materials. I would love to try that. If you can pull that off, my hat is off to you.

 

[kmatcek]

I used canola oil in my deep fryer this time. I have a recipe calling for canola oil is why I asked.

 

[judymoody]

Canola oil is prone to oxidation/rancidity in its regular state. Add the degradation caused by exposure to high heat and you'd have an oil that is even more unstable and likely to turn rancid quickly. I wouldn't recommend it in this instance unless you're going to make utility soap, like laundry soap, that you will use relatively fast.

 

[green soap]

Yes you can. I have done it with bar soap, and I do it regularly for liquid soap. Up to 50% of my liquid utility soap oils are recycled from deep frying oils.

 

[danahuff]

Wow. Interesting. I learn something new here all the time.

 

[Ruthie]

When I was a child, I remember seeing my grandma (and I am a great gma, so this is a while back!) use reclaimed oils exclusively for her soapmaking. Of course, hers was a mix of oils and fats, and she went heavy on the lye since she was not sure of amounts of each. It was a long project, but I loved watching- from a distance, of course! She had a big pot and bulit a small fire in the back yard for the rendering, and it smelled, even outside. I wonder if that influenced me getting into soapmaking? Now I am the big kid, and I can play with the dangerous chemicals....

 

[Dorado]

I use my frying oil (sunflower) for detergent soap.
There has only been potatoes in my frying oil, so it is not very dirty.
I use the oil 6-8 times for deep frying potatoes, before I make soap of it.
I filter the oil in a cheesecloth then in a coffee filter, make a CP soap with 70% frying oil and 30% coconut oil, SF 0.5%, adding 0.5% ultramarine blue (make clothes whiter) and cheap FO from a Chinese store. It just works.
The oil smells a bit before I mix with NaOH, but the smell disappears, only soap scent when the soap has hardened.
I have not experienced either dos or other accidents.

 

[lizflowers42]

Just curious here-hubbs wanted fry bread this weekend. We have some pretty clean looking oil left over. About 4 cups of soybean oil. I would like to just use this to make some laundry soap. I know it will not produce pretty soap and that's just fine with me. My question though is do you need to SF a utility soap like this if you are going to be using it just for clothing?

 

[hoegarden]

I would think that this is more of a personal preference. I wouldn't use it because I do not like the thoughts of having fried chicken or other food in my soaps. I just feel that the oils are contaminated. In addition, I would feel that the beneficial properties of the oil would have been destroy during the high heat use in deep frying, which kind of defeat the purposes of making our own soaps.

well, but still its different school of thoughts. so the best is that you just trial and error and determine if using such oils is beneficial to yourself at all. I still think however if you are using such oils, don't make it as soaps for children. Their skins are much more sensitive.

 

[green soap]

I use our frying oil for liquid utility soaps. I make liquid soap using the Failor method, so I have an actual KOH excess (before I neutralize). This means there are no extra fats in the soap, all that cooking oil (plus the CO I also add) are completely saponified.

I really like recycling the used oils this way. My DH does not like to re-use any deep frying oil, so they are a one time use oils. I know exactly what went in there and it is all fine with me. Also, I filter all the recycled oils I use. The soaps work great and even the unscented ones smell OK. DH prefers unscented for laundry, I do scent the liquid soaps I use for dishes. I have used soy a lot, recently we switched to only peanut for deep frying, so I am also using that. Peanut oil (recycled) and coconut oil (new) make a very good liquid utility soap!

I have also used recycled soy oil for CP soaps. I still have one of the bars of soap I made this way about 20 months ago. No DOS, and I have gotten DOS from 'new' oils, mostly soy. I was probably just lucky, so I am not doing this for CP soap anymore, but in a pinch it will work. Just use it sooner than later...