13 in 13 Skill 1: Soap Making

[Sweethearts Mom]

This is skill number one (starting early cause I have 2 weeks of vacation coming up this month).

I am teaching myself how to make homemade soap.

I know tallow is very good for making a hard long lasting bar of soap. I can't get free beef fat here that I have found, so I found a meat market that sells it fairly cheap.

Tonight I am rendering the first 20 lbs.



I chopped it up in my food processor. Then put it in two large pans of water and boiled it for an hour.





Two by products that I really wan't counting on is cat food:



Or dog food if it makes the cat puke.

And tons of dog food grade broth. The fat smells very fresh and not at all spoiled however I am reluctant to eat it myself not really knowing how clean it is. But it will be canned in a pressure canner and marked for dog food and I will use it to make my home made dog food and treats.

I have strained out the first batch through a colander and then a smaller screen and dumped it back into the pot for more boiliing. When this is cool I will put it in the freezer to solidify the tallow and that will be pulled off and it will be put back into the pot to re-boil. That process will be repeated until the tallow is clean and white.

[ttubravesrock]

Are you going to make up your own recipe, or are you following one that you could provide a link to?
I want to start making soap and what I like is hard, long lasting, and rough (or at least no extra moisturizer added to it).
Based on that, I think a lye+tallow based soap is the best bet. Either that or a glycerine based soap.
Also, I really like a strong minty smell, so I want to include mint in my soap if that would work.

[rikkrack]

is one of my skills too. Am interested

We had someone use coffee grounds and mint. Interesting combo.

Like the pics. Didn't think of using the byproducts for other things. We may use to feed to chickens and mix with seeds for winter.

[Morning Sunshine]

Are you going to make up your own recipe, or are you following one that you could provide a link to?
I want to start making soap and what I like is hard, long lasting, and rough (or at least no extra moisturizer added to it).
Based on that, I think a lye+tallow based soap is the best bet. Either that or a glycerine based soap.
Also, I really like a strong minty smell, so I want to include mint in my soap if that would work.

I cannot remember where I found this recipe - I looked at my favorite soaping sites but cannot find it.  but here is a pure tallow recipe.  I have made it, and it is a nice HARD bar.  stinks a bit, but it is what it is.  I made it for making laundry soap.

Pure Tallow Soap: This would bring a pure white tallow soap with rich and creamy lather. Your will need the following for this soap:
64 oz tallow
24 fluid oz distilled water
8.5 oz lye
Making a tallow soap is the easiest. You need to follow the basic soap making procedures and prepare your lye solution. Once that is done, heat your tallow and pour lye water into it slowly. When the soap starts to saponify, you can find trace formation. The end result: you will get a pure tallow soap with good cleansing properties.


also for more soaping information, see this thread here: http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=4536.msg43334#msg43334

[rogersorders]

That's cool how you rendered your own tallow. I've rendered lard for cooking but beef fat is so hard to get ahold of where I'm at. I usually use a combination of coconut, olive and canola oils.

I always run my recipes through a soap/lye calculator http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp It helps me ensure everything is in the proper proportions. The soapcalc was a little hard to figure out at first but after a while it made sense.

I've made a few batches of cold process soap with varying success, my goal for this year is to try hot process.

[rikkrack]

great link for the calculator. +1 never knew anything like this existed.

[CTyler7]

Unfortunately, right now my only experience with soap making is watching Fight Club, but those are cool pictures and the calculator link looks helpful!

I think this is a worthwhile skill that most people probably don't think about. I'd be interested in hearing how the byproducts end up working for you too.

[Sweethearts Mom]

I am so sorry I have taken so long to repy. 14 hour days for the last 3 days getting ready for my vacation. In answer to your question about recipes, I have started to pick up books at half price books on soap making and they have lots of recipes. I also will make my own recipes by looking at the different oils and their characteristics and using the lye calculators to help me adjust the lye amounts It will be fun. Along these lines I am also making infused oils and ointments and lotions.

I also am going to try making a base soap and then using that to make milled soaps. I figure a good pure soap block or two is a good thing to keep around and use in lots of projects

Ever since the cocoa/mint soap I am going to stay away from anything that produces an off color lather. I really like white lather. Cocoa make lather look like poo.

I don't see anyone else online using their tallow making by products. Since this is the same fat that the butcher uses to make sausage, I don't have a bit of problem feeding it to my animals.

I love the hot process soap making which I will keep doing now since it is ready to use with just a few days cure time. I will keep you posted.

[Ronnie53]

http://chickensintheroad.com/house/crafts/how-to-make-soap/  Found this in Pinit.  Lots of good stuff in Pinit!  TOO much...I spend WAY too much time there.

[Sweethearts Mom]

Ronnie that is a wonderful site thank you. I got my 12 inch lengths of pvc pipe and they are ready for soap making this week. I have finished the last rendering stage of the first 20 lb of tallow. Tomorrow I am making Orange Blossum soap. Wish me luck.

[Sweethearts Mom]

Ok I spent several days making soap. Holy cow my kitchen is a mess. Here is what I learned:

1. as much as you may want to try a ton of different recipes, find one good recipe and get really good at it before you move on. I made 5 different recipes in two days and none of them turned out great and one of them was an epic failure

2. invest in one good mold. I cut a 3" pvc pipe into 12" lengths. I think this may work if they are 6" inches instead. But I could not get all the air bubbles out.

3. Also on the mold...these pvc molds don't work for cold process soaps. It leaks out the bottom. I used a plastic lined copy paper box lid. That worked very well but I will be buying one silicone mold

4. When you have a total failure and your lye and oil seperate and won't go back together and start smelling like ammonia...don't pick up the crock pot and walk down the back stairs in the dark, fall in a hole and spill hot oil and lye all over yourself! When I looked out back the next day I found that it finally did make soap....all over the side walk....but it looks like vomit

5. You may want a dedicated soap room...after a few days the smell of orange blossoms and peppermint really start to get to you.

6. As soon as you put the soap into the mold and set it on the shelf to cool til unmolding....LABEL IT! YES YOU WILL FORGET WHICH ONE THAT IS

7. Tallow is great for soap and suet is pretty cheap to buy at your butcher if not free. If you are going this route plan on rendering the tallow outside in equipment that you do not need to wash...such as caste iron. Got some iron pots that need seasoning...kill two birds with one stone. Also invest in muslin so that you can filter the scalding hot liquid tallow one time before you put in into molds. Have lots of paper towels on hand to wipe out the pots. Dip your non-cast iron tools into boiling water outside before bringing them inside to wash...then dump that water on a pile of weeds that you want to kill

8. After 5 failures (kind of) I emailed kim from essential-soaps...one of the youtube channels I watched to learn about soap making...to find out what I was doing wrong. She was very helpful and gave me her base recipe. I will share it below. She said that the key to making good utilitarian soap is to put your money in the superfats...not the base oils. That makes complete sense.

9. Hit the thrift stores for utensils, measuring cups, whisks, bowls and stuff you will use in your process. You will not want to use these for anything but soap making after this. Not even your immursion blender.

10. Don't be offended when your family and friends look at you in horror when you offer to let them try your newly made soap. Forgive them because they really do believe it will burn their face off.

Ok there you have it. Here is a lard recipe and a tallow recipe. The lard recipe is Kims main one and stays very smooth even while it is cooling off and doesn't go into the mold lumpy like mine did.

Lard Soap
soy bean oil 8oz
coconut oil 13
lard 13 oz
water 13 oz
lye 5.3

melt the oils in the crock
after donning all of your safety gear (gloves and goggles) mix the lye to the water (never water to lye) outside or in a well ventilated area and set aside to cool down to about 110 (this part is not clear..some say when hot processing they can be put together hot)

stir well with a stainless steel, plastic or wood spoon.
Then use your immursion blender and blend until it comes to trace. (watch lots of videos until you get this idea)
put the lid on, turn on the crock pot to low and cook for one hour (don't leave it alone)
At 1 hour stir well...put the lid back on and let it cook for 1 more hour

then when the soap has cooked 2 hours add the superfats and then let it cook for 30 more minutes;

Superfats:
1 oz shea butter
.5 oz coco nut oil
1 oz extra virgin or good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon vit E
1 tablespoon glycerin
Kim says this recipe is so easy and stays so nice in the crock pot. it is very simple but so very nice.
soy bean oil is sold in stores as vegetable oil but you have to check the label to see it is 100% soy bean oil

Tallow soap
Beef Tallow 11 oz
Palm Oil 11 oz
Coconut Oil 11 oz
Water 12.6 oz
lye 5.1 oz

Superfats for Normal Bar 2 1/2 oz

She used Essential Depot's Coconut Oil, Shea Butter and Cocoa Butter for the Supperfats, Plus 1 Tablespoon of Glycerin.

Same instructions as above with heating and mixing.

You can change this up with the superfats, essential oils and additives. I am going to stick with these two recipes until I love the final product.

Hope this helps.

[Sweethearts Mom]

http://chickensintheroad.com/house/crafts/how-to-make-soap/  Found this in Pinit.  Lots of good stuff in Pinit!  TOO much...I spend WAY too much time there.

This is a great sounding recipe. Let me know if this works well.

[rogersorders]

Sweethearts, sorry that you had so much trouble your first time. I tried making a face soap last time. It's great as a soap but too drying on the face, not sure what to do with it.

I just ordered some silicone molds from Amazon, everyone says they're great and "everybody" can't be wrong 

My sis-in-law has been making soap that my brother takes to work and sells. I'll get the recipe and put it on here.

[rikkrack]

I keep an eye out at our local goodwill's for silicone molds. Almost always one in some shape or size.

[Morning Sunshine]

the BEST molds I have used are pringles cans.  they are one time use though.  but they are the perfect size for 8 beautiful bars; they come pre-greased and you can usually get them for free, if you don't have problems begging for "garbage" from friends, family and co-workers.  Sometimes I gift that person with a bar of soap.

after 5 years of using pringles cans, i did get some PVC pipes for molds.  I am still learning these, but grease VERY well.  I also got some caps to put on mine, so mine do not leak out the bottom.

I do like silicone baking ware for molds; but they are expensive, so I only have a few - from garage sales and the like.

I second the idea of making ONE recipe a few times to find out how soap is supposed to work.  the same recipe can turn out so differently.  I can tell when I made a batch based on what it looks like.  or I could.  I must be getting better cuz my last few batches look the same

[shano]

This is one of the skills my wife wants to do,  pretty cool.  I remembered an episode with soap making that I enjoyed, so I looked it up.   Ep. 792, done in Nov. 2011.

Thought this might help someone.

[Sweethearts Mom]

I keep an eye out at our local goodwill's for silicone molds. Almost always one in some shape or size.

Great idea. I want to go looking for crock pots too. I am going to two flea markets close to me this coming weekend

[Sweethearts Mom]

This is one of the skills my wife wants to do,  pretty cool.  I remembered an episode with soap making that I enjoyed, so I looked it up.   Ep. 792, done in Nov. 2011.

Thought this might help someone.

I forgot that Jack did a soap making episode. Thanks for the reminder. I will go back and listen

[rogersorders]

I wanted to try a batch of hot process soap in our crock pot, but my wife said no 

I guess I'll be at the thrift store too

[Sweethearts Mom]

yep you need a used crock pot. if you use your home crock pot for soap, you won't be able to use it for food any more

[Sweethearts Mom]

I made my new recipe of soap yesterday and incuded two of my grand kids. My oldest grand son who was only marginally interested, and my 5 year old grand daughter who was in safety gear sitting on the counter w/in camera range.



Video clip:



I am totally loving this recipe. It stays soft right through adding the scents. It hardens very fast. I cut it w/in 6 hours. I just wish I had molds.

Tomorrow after the kids all go home, I am making a batch of unscented honey/oatmeal, a batch of Turmeric + honey+oatmeal+clove oil, and Comfrey + eucalyptus+lavender+tea tree oil. However I have to change the recipe just because I am out of palm oil. Here is how I changed the recipe:

beef tallow 22 oz
coconut oil 11 oz
5.06 lye
10.89 water
Super fat still 2.5 oz

I call this Poor Tracy's recipe

I will also be rendering tallow outside if the wind decides to die down.

[Sweethearts Mom]

Ok I used the new recipe with beef tallow and coconut oil as the base oils, and for super fats, I used glycerine, honey, shea butter, vitamin E and olive oil with 1 cup of ground oat meal.

I have to tell you I didn't expect this color. And since I didn't use any scent at all, I didn't expect it to smell so yummmmy. I will cut it in the morning but here is a pic of the finished product in the crock pot ready to mold.

[Sweethearts Mom]

This soap smells amazing although I added no scent

[Louisiana Suvivor]

about how long do the bars last?

[hd45hunt]

This is also a skill I am getting ready to try.  I found this link http://www.lovinsoap.com/2011/11/soaping-with-deer-tallow/ and managed to save the fat from 5 deer this year.  After the holidays, I plan to run it through the grinder and then render it.  The rest of the ingredients should have arrived by then.  I love learning new skills.

[Sweethearts Mom]

about how long do the bars last?

I am using my first one. Others I have made that were about 1 inch square lasted about a month of 1 person taking a shower once a day. These bars are larger though

[Sweethearts Mom]

This is also a skill I am getting ready to try.  I found this link http://www.lovinsoap.com/2011/11/soaping-with-deer-tallow/ and managed to save the fat from 5 deer this year.  After the holidays, I plan to run it through the grinder and then render it.  The rest of the ingredients should have arrived by then.  I love learning new skills.

Amen. Me too. I always plan on a winter project anyway. I like the idea of learning 13 skills in one year.

Way to go on the deer tallow. That is cool. post pics during your process.

[Sweethearts Mom]

Along this same line will be a batch of homemade aluminum free deodorant. Here is the recipe:

Homemade deodorant Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons Shea Butter:
3 Tablespoons Baking Soda
2 Tablespoons Corn Starch
2 Tablespoons Cocoa Butter:
2 vitamin E Oil Gel Caps (puncture and squeeze out the oil):
Lemon Essential Oil (or any "flavor" you prefer):
4 Ounce Canning Jar:

Directions:
Place all ingredients, except the vitamin E oil and essential oil, in a jar and melt in the microwave (about 30 seconds) or on the stove top. Add the essential oil and stir in. To use make a pea sized ball with your fingers and apply.


I will be making this Christmas evening.

[Sweethearts Mom]

While the kitty got warm by the fire...



I gathered my ingredients:



I warmed the cocoa butter and shea butter over a double boiler:







Added the Vit E, Soda and essential oil drops (decided on Lavendar)



Then added it to a jar:



It should be cool in the morning.

[Rosie]

Hello!  Wondered if anyone had thoughts on using food grade lye versus regular lye.  I know that the lady who talked about soapmaking on Jack's show uses food grade lye, but it seems to be harder to get and a lot more expensive.

Thanks for any input!