Rebatching

Sometimes the soap just doesn't turn out the way you want it to.  I've never tried to rebatch before but I apparently didn't wait for the temperature to be just at 100 degrees with my latest batch of goat milk soap so it didn't go through the gel phase properly.  For the first time in 11 years, I tried to rebatch to save the project.

I used the crock-pot method.  I simply put a slow-cooker liner in my crock pot and then cut up the soap into  chunks.  I set it on medium heat and let it sit for an hour.  When I came back, it was melted nicely.  After a gentle stir, I poured in back into the molds.  After popping them out of the molds the next day, I could barely see a difference between that rebatched set of bars vs. a regular set of bars.  Awesome!

While I hope I don't have to rebatch too often, it's good to know that I can do it and it works.

Purchasing Soap Making Supplies

I should start carrying soaps in my car!  I shopped at three places in the Harrisburg area and could have made three sales!  I purchased some PVC piping at Home Depot to try a new mold shape.  I purchased more beer at Tröegs.  I purchased essential oils at Heaven & Nature store.  I need to drive to Honeybrook (or Leola) to purchase my 5 gallon buckets of oils and will do that next week.

Meanwhile, I did some comparison shopping online for the other supplies that I need. I placed an order with Soap Goods for some of the more exotic oils and butters.  They also have a great price for the sodium hydroxide.  Then I placed an order for essential oils at Essential Wholesale.  I'm ready to get stocked up for sales.  The tough part is that the soaps must sit for about 4 weeks or more to really harden and be best for use.

Patience.  Patience.   Back to the kitchen to make another batch.

Troegenator #1

This double bock beer is quite hearty and dark in color.  I searched for just the right combination of essential oils and am pleased with the combination.  But I decided to try a "crisco" recipe and am not pleased with the consistency of the soap at pouring.  Time will tell how it will turn out in the end.  Tom helped me with a new mold format and we used a 2" PVC pipe this time.

7.5 oz. Coconut Oil
7.5 oz. Olive Oil
15 oz. Crisco (hydrogenated soybean oil with palm oil)
11.4 oz Troegs Troegenator beer
4.2 oz. Sodium Hydroxide
1.8 oz. Essential Oils (mixture of Sandalwood, Sage, Petitgrain, Clove and Patchoili)

Love the smell and color of this combination.  Seems a bit lumpy in consistency at pouring.

Soapmaking Oils: What Do They Do?

There are several qualities that are desirable in a good bar of soap.  Having a good blend of oils will incorporate all of the properties into a great product.  I use at least one oil from each of the following four categories in every batch of soap that I make.

Here is a simple guide to the contributions that the various oils make to a bar of soap:

Hard, Stable, Long-lasting:
     Palm Oil  (nicknamed "veggie tallow")
     Beef Tallow (makes hard, white bars)
     Lard  (makes hard, white bars, adds moisture)

Lather:
     Coconut Oil  (keep under 40% to prevent drying skin)
     Castor Oil   (humectant.  5%-8% in soap, 10%-15% in shampoo bars)
     Palm Kernel Oil  (adds hardness, provides rich lather)

Moisturizing, Conditioning:
     Olive Oil  (100% Olive Oil is called Castille Soap)
     Canola Oil  (will slow trace rate therefore good for adding color swirls)
     Rice Bran Oil (alternative to Olive Oil, adds conditioning)
     Sunflower Oil  (works well with Palm and Olive oils for extra lather, too)
     Soybean Oil  (use Crisco!  It's a blend of Soybean and Cottonseed oils)

Luxury Oils/Additives:
     Cocoa Butter  (skin softener, keep under 10%)
     Shea Butter  (great for dry, aging or damaged skin)
     Sweet Almond Oil  (limit to 5%-10%, emollient, softens skin)
     Jojoba Oil (actually a liquid wax and will speed up trace rate, great moisturizer)
     Lanolin  (emulsifier)
     Avocado Oil  (soothing, emollient, adds vitamins)
     Grapeseed Oil  (creamy lather, rich in Vitamin E, astringent)
     Stearic Acid (hardens soap, counter balances Castor Oil in shampoo bars)

Goat's Milk Soap

This is my old standard and, actually, my specialty.  I first made this recipe in February of 2001 and have stuck by it ever since.  I usually double it and it fits perfectly in the pots that I use.  I set this one up in the fancy molds (rabbit, horse, cat, honeycomb, heart, etc) and it makes about 30 bars.  Love it.  This time, I really added the Ylang Ylang to give it a firm scent.  As usual, I squirted in a bit of Vitamin E oil for good measure.

12.5 oz olive oil
12.5 oz. palm oil
10 oz. coconut oil
5 oz. sweet almond oil
17.5 oz. goat's milk
5.5 oz sodium hydroxide
1.5 Tbsp essential oil (Ylang Ylang)

Troegs Pale Ale Soap #4

I finally took the time to learn how to use a soap calculator (online) and adjusted my recipe by percentages. I certainly won't go back to just using someone else's recipe from now on!  So this is the new formula:

9 oz. palm oil
9 oz. coconut oil
9 oz. olive oil
3 oz. castor oil

11.4 oz. Troegs Pale Ale
4.3 oz. sodium hydroxide

.4 oz. Eucalyptus EO
.4 oz. Peppermint EO
.2 oz. Rosemary EO

I love how this traced and set up.  I put the essential oils in with the other oils instead of adding them at trace.  That was much easier.  I was a little short on the castor oil so I made up for it with the olive oil.  I would have added more essential oil but that was all I had of those particular ones.  However, I'm not sure I like a heavily fragranced soap so I think I'll stick with this formula for now.

This soap has a beautiful pale amber color and it looks like it will set up very nicely overnight.  According to the soap calculator, this formula scores high in cleansing, conditioning, and creaminess in addition to being a hard soap.  It's only mid-scoring in bubbly.  There is a trick to getting a soap to have a lot of bubbles without getting slimy.  I'd rather have less bubbles than slime in my soaps!

I'm meeting with Irene tomorrow about getting some of my soaps at a stand at Root's Market.  That could be exciting.  Once I have several samples ready, I'm headed to Troegs to see if they like them for their store.

Troegs Pale Ale Soap #3

I'm getting caught up with recording what I've done before I start making anything new!

This was the last soap that I made with what materials I've had on hand for my general soapmaking adventures.  Although I just shaved the ash and cut the bars a few minutes ago, I already LOVE the fragrance.  This is a hard bar due to the balance of of palm oil to the other oils.  But I don't like a soap that "melts" too quickly when you start to use it.  However, it's my favorite combination, so far.

6.5 oz. palm oil
6.5 oz coconut oil
7.5 oz. olive oil
1.3 oz. castor oil
8 oz. Troegs Pale Ale
3.1 oz sodium hydroxide
2.5 tsp. Spruce EO
2.5 tsp. Red Cedar EO
.5 tsp. Lavender EO

The combination of the evergreen essential oils with the lavender give the bar a very masculine scent that is not too harsh.  I think this might be a good hit.  Of course, I'm out of those evergreen oils and will need to order more rather quickly!

Troegs Pale Ale Soap #2

Now that I'm a bit more comfortable with getting the beer ready for soapmaking, I've looked for a better recipe to bring out the qualities of the beer.  I decided to use a four-oil recipe this time and greatly increase the amount of essential oils.  This recipe is intended to enhance the citrus elements found in Troegs Pale Ale.

6.5 oz palm oil
6.5 oz. coconut oil
7.5 oz. olive oil
1.3 oz. castor oil
8 oz. Treogs Pale Ale
3.1 oz sodium hydroxide
1 tsp. Ylang Ylang III EO
1 tsp. Tea Tree EO
1 tsp. Lemongrass EO
2 tsp. Sweet Orange EO

I really like the blend of essential oils.  It gives a great fragrance to the soap.  This recipe creates a "harder" bar nearly right away.  I should have cut the large block into bars sooner than I did as some of them cracked due to how quickly it is curing.  This recipe also creates a little more ash than my others but I like how it sets up.

Troegs JavaHead Soap

My second attempt with a beer soap was with JavaHead Stout.  This beer has a strong blend of coffee and oatmeal with local coffee from St. Thomas Roasters in the brew.  I decided to add some actual coffee to the soap as a gentle exfoliant in the form of freshly ground whole beans.  I used the recipe that I have used before when making an oatmeal soap.

21 oz. olive oil
14 oz. coconut oil
9 oz. palm oil
6.4 oz sodium hydroxide
16.5 oz. JavaHead Stout
1/4 cup ground coffee beans
Patchouli E.O.

I divided the batch so that some of the bars were just plain beer soap with the Patchouli essential oil and the others had the coffee additive.  When I added the coffee, an additional layer of oil immediately surfaced and I guess it's because the coffee was fresh.  I assumed that was the natural oils from the coffee.  I will try this recipe again with spent coffee grounds.  In addition, I did not add nearly enough Patchouli to bring out the scent I wanted.  After more research, I realize that I have not been adding nearly enough essential oil to my recipes.  Time to purchase more!

Troegs Pale Ale Soap #1

For my first attempt at beer soap, I used my favorite milk soap recipe as follows:

17.5 oz olive oil
12.5 oz palm oil
10 oz coconut oil
17.5 oz Troegs Pale Ale
5.5 oz sodium hydroxide
E.O.  omitted to discover the natural scent of a beer soap

Results:  I didn't allow the beer to be quite "flat" enough and had it a bit too frozen when I added the sodium hydroxide so the temperature didn't rise as high as I expected.  Trace was nearly immediate and I worried about how it would set up.  However, one week later, the bars look, smell and behave like soap.  The color is a light tan.  Excellent lather.  Clean feeling.

Next time:  Allow the beer to be really flat.  Thaw to a thin slush.  Start adding essential oils.

The Summer Challenge

While I have been making homemade soap for eleven years, I really only use three tried-and-true recipes as a routine.  I love the goat's milk recipe that I use and it is quite popular with many people.  Folks also like the addition of honey and oatmeal as a gentle exfoliant in the winter.  The traditional white soap is also popular since it is also made with all vegetable oils.  I have made cucumber soap for oily skin and also chocolate soap and peanut butter soap just for fun.

However, I have decided to spend my summer days experimenting with new recipes, especially ones using beer.  After reading many websites for advice, I have started with some basic plans using Troegs Pale Ale. That's what Tom has on tap so it's easy for me to use!  The first thing I've learned is that the beer must be really FLAT so patience is the key.  I've had little containers of beer sitting around getting flat for several days.  It helps to use the stick blender and whip them up on occasion to speed up the process.  Once flat, they go in the freezer.

My blog posts will feature each recipe and lessons learned.