Soap Making Guide

[pipedreams]

Here's a very good guide to making soap that my soon to be X posted over at the campfire a while ago.........she did the narrative and I did the photography.........

Here is a little visual tour of my soapmaking process :eek:



Rendering fat on the MOAB. I get beef trimmings from the butcher chop them into smaller pieces and cook them for a few hours until the fat breaks down. This is not really something you want to do in the house.....to much stinky stuff and grease in the air.



Removing the solids from the rendered fat......



Straining the rendered fat through layers of cheesecloth to remove all debris......into a bowl that can be place in the refrigerator



Straining through cheesecloth. The bowl of rendered fat still has some water in it.....so it has to be chilled. I put it in the freezer for a couple of hours before turning it out to seperate the fat from the "jelly"......the rendered fat should be white at that time.



The "jellied" part is just scraped into the trash can and then I wash off the tallow.....and cut it up in chunks to put in the freezer for later use if I am not going to make soap right away.



All ingredients have to be weighed on scales. This is lye being weighed.



Mixing lye with water......always add water to lye.....NOT lye to water.....it gets very hot......up to 200+ degrees so be careful. Always use a wooden spoon.....never a metal spoon when working with lye.



I have my rendered fat and lye/water mixture both at 110 degrees....both have to be the same temperature before you can mix them. Here I am adding my water/lye mix to my measured fat.........stirring constantly.....



This little tool is a soapmaking miracle.....takes a lot less time than stirring with a wooden spoon. You must stir your batch until it reaches "trace".......which is sort of what fudge looks like when you are making it....it is shinny and has trailing in it when you stir it.



Seeing the trailing in the mixture.......now it is time to add color and essential oils for scent......



Pouring into wooden mold..........almost home free!!



After putting the soap into the mold it must be kept warm for 48 hours....I do check on it occasionally. I wrap it in blankets or as with this batch an old piece of styrofoam....it goes thru a heat before setting up....after I turn it out of the mold, I cut it into bars. Then stack them to cure for 4 weeks. It takes that long for the fat to absorb all of the lye in the product.



Walla!!!!! Bars of homemade lye soap. Lime scented and colored. The ones that are not pretty get subjected to the grater and I make French Milled soapballs out of those. They are pretty as gifts and are very hard and longlasting.

[Jenny]

Thank you so much for posting that here. I remember reading it on your campfire forum. Thought it was wonderful, especially with the pictures. I started making soap about 12 years ago, but I always learn something new when I see how other folks make it. I recently got a stick blender "sthingy", but haven't tried it out yet. I've heard that a recipe that takes a couple of hours of stirring to trace can be done in less than 5 minutes sometimes with one of those things.

Thanks again. That's an excellent guide ! ! !

Jenny

[Washkeeton]

I love the visuals. Thanks Pipedreams. I do so much better with pictures. Thank you. You made some things i didnt understand clearer. Have one question what is "sthingy"?

[wolfwoman]

If I'm right it's like a whatchamacallit or a thazit or something like that!!! ;D

[pipedreams]

My pleasure!

The reason I wanted to photograph the whole process was that while I had read several of her books on the subject....there was much I still didn't understand and it seemed a lot more complex than it proved to be when I saw it done the first time. Sometimes a picture really IS worth a thousand words!

[cinders]

Thanks for the informative guide... But I was wondering if you might know the recipe for the wood ash process. as for the bottle of lye may be 50 miles away! LoL

[Jenny]

It is getting harder and harder to find pure lye from the stores. Here are two sites with instructions on making your own lye from ashes:

ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/paul_norman_3/soapmake.htm

www.alcasoft.com/soapfact/history.html


Off topic a little here, but when you render your fat, don't throw away that jelly that forms under the fat as it cools and solidifies. It's one of the most nutritious things you can eat. Loaded with minerals, protein, etc.. I strain off some of the water when my beans are finished cooking and add some jelly or aspic to them. I also use it as a soup base. It's called a protein extender, meaning that if you only have a little meat, but you have some of this jelly from meat, your body utilizes it wonderfully. It'll do the same job as if you were eating lots of meat, as far as the protein metabolism goes. It contains the same stuff as those pills you can buy in the store ----- Glucosamine and Chondroitin ----- only it's natural so it can be digested and metabolized much better. Great for bone and joint problems. I sprain one of my ankles about once a year or so. Never seems to heal completely, and every time it just gets worse. Since I've been putting meat jelly in our beans, gravies, etc, my ankle feels better than it's felt in years. You can obtain it from making stock from bones and parts you'd throw away, too. I'll get my stuff together on that and make a post about making stock and such as soon as I can.


Back to the soap making: About combining the lye and water ----- I've always added the water to the lye, as you said, Pipe. Some of my books say the same thing. But, two other books I have, "Encyclopedia of Country Living" by Carla Emery, and "The Art of Soap Making" by Merilyn Mohr both say to add the lye to the water. In making goat milk soap, which I have not tried yet, I've been told by lots of folks to always add the lye to the milk. I think the reason there is that the milk should be frozen or at least slushy at the time it's combined with the lye. Since it's either frozen and not pourable, or slushy, which would splatter when you add it, the only way is to add the lye to the milk. I suppose, if you weren't very careful, just pouring the water into the lye could splash and cause serious injuries.

[Jenny]

Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery also has instructions for making lye water. It's in the section on making soap. I have the ninth edition, so it starts on page 594.

[pipedreams]

Ya..........it's not that you CAN'T do it the other way around...........but it adds an unnecessary element of danger to the project when you do.

I've never found lye to be that hard to find in Alaskan stores, although it may be elsewhere in the country....I know you can't buy strike anywhere matches in a lot of places these days too, so if that's true lye COULD be hard to find I suppose.......

The only problem I've heard when it comes to making lye from ashes in AK is the fact that spruce ash is far from ideal for this............although I can't recall why that is right now....I believe birch ash works however.

Remember too.................this type of soap lasts a long time when compared to store bought soaps!! That combined with the fact that you're not taking a lot of long, hot showers in the bush (generally speaking) means that one good batch of soap will last an average family about a year in the bush.

[Washkeeton]

Part of the reason you all will not be able to find strike any where matches and lye easily in Ak any more is cause it is part of the process to make meth for the druggies that are cooking it. They shave the heads off the matches and use that as part of the mixture I think. They are limited or not avail. Second lye is used in the process also. I found out about the matches about a week or so ago when I went looking for wooden matches.

[wolfwoman]

Wash, that is the reason absolutely. It's amazing what people will go thru to get a high or make money from selling.

I believe you can still get them at Fred Meyer in Palmer, I'll check tomorrow when I go to work if I remember I know I've bought them there before.

Wolfie

[Washkeeton]

I use the strike any where matches when we go camping and for the wood stove. I went to buy some and wasnt able to get any. When I asked at the check out I was informed of the reasons that they are not available any more. Grrrrr

[pipedreams]

You can still get them at Freds in Fbks

[Washkeeton]

That is going to be a long drive to get them Pipedreams. Thanks for the info though.

I found some down this way. Got the last three boxes. Hope no cops show up at my house telling me I bought to many for one person and they have to search my house. lol

[wolfwoman]

They still have them at the Freddies in Palmer, I just looked today. Over where the charcaol and firelogs are, aisle 6. Remember I work there

Wolfie