[euge]

Looks good...

Be careful with the coconut oil since it can be irritating to the skin. Think I keep it around 5-10% of the total recipe. Makes beautiful suds.

[tschmidlin]

I picked up some lye and I'm ready to try soap making.  Any recommendations for a first batch?

[euge]

I picked up some lye and I'm ready to try soap making.  Any recommendations for a first batch?

I would go with a "Castille"-type soap. A good place to start is 90% vegetable oil and 10% olive oil. Plug that into the MMS calculator and see how much lye and water you'll need. Thinking that 3% fat is not a bad number to aim for.

Initially, I used the cardboard flats that soda cans come in to produce a block of soap. This mould is lined with cling-wrap or parchment paper then the mixture poured in and allowed to saponify. You can place all of this into a warm oven if you like to help things along, though it might produce some tiny bubbles that are barely noticeable in the finished product.

Then once saponified and rested you can slice the block of soap up into bars and dry on a rack for a week or so.

Once you become more aquainted with this you can vary it up and add scents and other ingredients. Lard in particular- 10% or so will certainly create a harder bar. I use the "manteca" lard from the supermarket and the bars come out very white.

[micsager]

I picked up some lye and I'm ready to try soap making.  Any recommendations for a first batch?

We've been making soap for a wile.  I also dry some spent grain, throw that in the food processor to pulverize real good, and add that.  It's a bit gimmicky, but we have fun with it. 

[tschmidlin]

I picked up some lye and I'm ready to try soap making.  Any recommendations for a first batch?

I would go with a "Castille"-type soap. A good place to start is 90% vegetable oil and 10% olive oil. Plug that into the MMS calculator and see how much lye and water you'll need. Thinking that 3% fat is not a bad number to aim for.

Initially, I used the cardboard flats that soda cans come in to produce a block of soap. This mould is lined with cling-wrap or parchment paper then the mixture poured in and allowed to saponify. You can place all of this into a warm oven if you like to help things along, though it might produce some tiny bubbles that are barely noticeable in the finished product.

Then once saponified and rested you can slice the block of soap up into bars and dry on a rack for a week or so.

Once you become more aquainted with this you can vary it up and add scents and other ingredients. Lard in particular- 10% or so will certainly create a harder bar. I use the "manteca" lard from the supermarket and the bars come out very white.

Sounds good, thanks euge.

i have an old desk organizer I was going to use, it's plastic but I assume it will be fine.

I like the idea of grains mic, I want to start with something simple though just to have a baseline.

[BrewArk]

Would bacon fat make a good soap?

[tubercle]

Would bacon fat make a good soap?

AKA: lard.

 Yes

[euge]

Would bacon fat make a good soap?

AKA: lard.

 Yes

Do you really want dogs and cats and strange people following you around after taking a shower?

Actually, I have thought about using bacon fat. I think the saponification process might drive off a lot of the "bacon" aromatics.  Might be worth a try to see how it turns out.

[tubercle]

Would bacon fat make a good soap?

AKA: lard.

 Yes

Do you really want dogs and cats and strange people following you around after taking a shower?

Actually, I have thought about using bacon fat. I think the saponification process might drive off a lot of the "bacon" aromatics.  Might be worth a try to see how it turns out.

 From what I gather about this art, animal fat, particuarlly hog fat, was the main soap ingreident for many, many years.

[euge]

I think the Manteca that I get is primarily pork fat. Wanted all-beef so I could cook fries with it but that's what is available. Has a green and white pound box or by two gallon bucket. Anyway beef tallow is supposed to be the best for soap AFAIK.

What people do with the gallon bucket just plain scares the hell out of me.

[theoman]

Back on page 6 I mentioned my first batch made with canola and olive oil. It seemed to take forever to trace, I fried my mixer, etc. Well, I still have a few bars of that soap and I love it! We just switched bars to some fancy fair trade stuff from Sweden and it's not nearly as nice as my homemade soap. It is a bit soft and oily (slimy, one could say, when it gets wet), but it lathers up nice and quick if you rub it in a loofah and feels great on the skin.

The second batch I did was much smaller and traced quickly. I think I did 100% olive oil and I added oats and honey. That one is sooo nice, but I wish I would've ground up the oats a bit finer.

I plan to do another batch this weekend. I'm thinking simple oils and ground hops pellets.

About oils - I stick to vegetable oils, since I don't eat meat and all. The problem is, it's hard to find hydrogenated vegetable oil in these parts that doesn't have anti-foaming agents. So, my soap is a little soft. Oh well. 

[punatic]

About oils - I stick to vegetable oils, since I don't eat meat and all. The problem is, it's hard to find hydrogenated vegetable oil in these parts that doesn't have anti-foaming agents. So, my soap is a little soft. Oh well.

Crisco doesn"t have anti-foaming agents in it.

Crisco all vegetable oil shortening ingredients:
SOYBEAN OIL, FULLY HYDROGENATED PALM OIL, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED PALM AND SOYBEAN OILS, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, TBHQ AND CITRIC ACID (ANTIOXIDANTS).

[punatic]

Be careful with the coconut oil since it can be irritating to the skin. Think I keep it around 5-10% of the total recipe. Makes beautiful suds.

I make a salt water soap that is 80% coconut oil, 10% olive oil and 10% Crisco.  It lathers in ocean water.  I have not had any skin irritation.  This is the first I've heard of that.

Next time I use it I'll probably break out in hives...   

[euge]

Salt water soap? That is awesome.

If the coconut oil doesn't bother you don't eschew using it!

[punatic]

Cashews don't bother my skin either, but I like macadamias better.