Starting with Soap - Day 4

Finished Soap

Last week we made our first batch of soap. Making your first batch of soap is exciting, overwhelming, terrifying and addicting all at the same time. It is a very emotional process. Today, I wanted to make another batch of soap but I only wanted to change one ingredient. Are you ready?

Weighing Oils

I wanted to make soap using tallow instead of Hydrogenated Soybean Oil. Why? Each of us lives in different parts of the country or even parts of the globe. What is readily available to one is not to another. For some, tallow or even lard is easy to get and is inexpensive. It can also change your finished soap. Try it. The worst thing that can happen is that you like it.

Making Lye Solution

Again I will be using 6% excess fat. This way when we compare our finished soaps, they will have different oils but they will have similar percentages of excess fat.

Recipe:

Mixing Lye Solution and Oils

Weigh the oils into a microwave safe container. Place into the microwave and heat. While the oils are heating, weigh the lye. Slowly add the lye to your container of water. DO NOT add water to your container of lye. The two chemicals reacting can cause a dangerous volcano. It is best to create good safety habits now, before you make a batch of soap that is 20 lbs in size.

Ready to Mix

For most soaps, you will want to mix your oils and lye solution when both are somewhere between 110°F to 130°F. We recommend having your oils and lye solution within 10°F of each other. In the winter when your soaping area is cooler, you will want to soap at higher temperatures. In the summer when your soaping area is warmer, you will want to soap at cooler temperatures. With the current weather we are having in Utah, I am soaping closer to 110°F to 115°F.

Mixing Soap

When your lye solution and oils are within the ideal temperature range, slowly pour the lye solution into the oils. Using either an immersion blender or a soap spoon, mix until you reach trace. Trace is when the raw soap has been mixed enough that oil will no longer rise to the surface when mixing has stopped. If you aren’t sure if you have achieved trace then stop mixing, go get a glass, fill it with water, do not drink it. Come back to your soap. Is oil floating on the surface? This short distraction will allow unmixed oil to rise to the surface.

Soap Ready for Mold

Once trace is reached you can pour the soap into a mold. Allow the soap to sit undisturbed for 12-24 hours. After the soap has been allowed to sit for up to 24 hours, you can unmold the soap and cut it. Arrange the cut bars of soap in an area where there is good air flow but where they will not be in the way. I like to put them on a sheet of cardboard. You are now ready for the curing process. The curing process is just allowing the soap to dry out, giving you a nice hard bar. You can use your soap immediately after cutting but it will not last as long as a fully cured bar.

A great way to determine if your bar has cured all the way is to use our Cure Cards! Did you know you can get them free in qualifying orders? How cool is that?!