Well I'm bored (can you tell?) and haven't been spending enough time at the cabin! So, I made soap :)
First time ever and I messed it up but was able to remelt to fix it :) Worked out great in the end. Here is the final remelted Canolive II soap (recipe from millersoap.com). Love the stuff too!
(https://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/emcvay/IMG_1665.jpg)
I haven't made any for a couple of years but you hit a primal nerve with this post and I see some in the next weeks agenda ;D
Lye soap was a standard when I was a kid. I love the smell and as far as I'm concerned, it worked better than the store bought stuff.
I have plenty of fat and grease in he freezer. The Birds and the Bears can do without a little of it. I just need a can of Red Devil Lye now.
The formula I've always used is the one they put on the can.
Always wanted to. Ellen makes her own laundry detergent. Works fair to okay but is a lot easier on the septic tank and drain field than store bought from what I have read. And a lot cheaper. ;D
I made a batch way back in my "mother earth wanna be stage"
I purchased beef fat and a can of lye. Rendered the fat added the lye and got a bunch of soap that looked like yours Oljarhead.
I also learned not to use an aluminum pan.
My wife was afraid to use it. It finally found a home in the diaper pail years later, where it performed well.
Quote from: rick91351 on January 19, 2012, 03:28:14 AM
Always wanted to. Ellen makes her own laundry detergent. Works fair to okay but is a lot easier on the septic tank and drain field than store bought from what I have read. And a lot cheaper. ;D
Yup, a lot cheaper. The wife has made all our soaps from time to time, including the washer. Really makes a dent in the budget, and yes, a primal nerve is struck for sure.
OJ, that soap looks to be the same color of that cheese.....careful now.
We do, and you'll appreciate it when you're sawing. It cuts pine sap better than store bought. Has anyone dripped out their own lye? I've made a weak solution that did work for dehairing a hide but never have attempted soap lye.
Homemade lye has always interested me, but I never could find how to do it.
Thanks guys :) So far I've learned that this soap is completely different. I live in the desert and I fight the dryness all the time, and of course working with my hands on the cabin, as we all know, makes your hands rough as old leather. Then I washed up after remelting this soap on Tuesday night....it's Thursday and I can still feel the difference! Heck, my hands aren't dry even yet.
The recipe I made uses coconut oil, olive oil and canola oil...all my wife wants me to do now is to add vanilla fragrance oil and she was even looking at recipes herself :)
Also, I found that even this expensive home made soap is about 1/2 the price of Irish Spring and perhaps as much as 1/3 or 1/4 the price of a good quality store bought soap.
Can't beat that with a stick!
Quote from: Squirl on January 19, 2012, 09:14:40 AM
Homemade lye has always interested me, but I never could find how to do it.
It's about as simple as can be Squirl....just drip water through wood ashes.
Look in the Foxfire books, I think they had a chapter on making soap including making lye.
Jarhead, the fat/lye reaction, saponification, is still going on and sort of like concrete will be going on for about a month. Until that time the lye is partially unreacted and liable to give you caustic burns. Your description sounds like it might be a good idea to wash your hands in vinigar, a weak acid, to neutralize the basic lye. While the soap is "hot" it would just as soon render us as the oils in the soap.
My question about making and using your own lye is getting the ratio right, the lye is of unknown strength. Too early old too late smart, my grandmother used to use a chicken feather to see if she had added enough fat to balance the lye. If the feather was stripped it was still way too strong but I'm not sure where right was.
Quote from: Don_P on January 19, 2012, 07:58:09 PM
Jarhead, the fat/lye reaction, saponification, is still going on and sort of like concrete will be going on for about a month. Until that time the lye is partially unreacted and liable to give you caustic burns. Your description sounds like it might be a good idea to wash your hands in vinigar, a weak acid, to neutralize the basic lye. While the soap is "hot" it would just as soon render us as the oils in the soap.
My question about making and using your own lye is getting the ratio right, the lye is of unknown strength. Too early old too late smart, my grandmother used to use a chicken feather to see if she had added enough fat to balance the lye. If the feather was stripped it was still way too strong but I'm not sure where right was.
Don, not so.
You see when you make your soap the cold press way (or whatever it's called) then you are correct and the soap needs to complete the process which takes, I beleive, 4 to 6 weeks.
However, when you remelt as is the case here, you complete the saponification process and can immediately use the soap.
Remelted soap isn't as nice as cold press I'm told but it's faster to use if you are desperate for soap.
Erik
[cool], looks like I have some studying to do. We got into some of my sister in law's pumice soap today, that oughta work good. There's generally a hen party in the kitchen a couple of times a year, they get together to cook up a big batch.
Hey, now this is my kind of topic! I love making soap and talking about soap. Whitlock even calls me a soap-head sometimes. I make soap and sell it at the local farmers market and I have a store on Etsy too.
So I'm curious, OlJarhead, why did you rebatch... what was wrong with the first batch? And I'm curious how long the first batch cured before you rebatched it. Even though I've made a lot of soap, I've only rebatched four times and I thought for some reason it was supposed to fully cure 4 weeks either before or after rebatching. But I don't know everything. ::)
Did you know that rebatching soap is preferred because it makes a harder soap that will last longer. If you wait to add the essential oils or fragrance during the rebatch, you only need half as much (approx 1/2 oz per 1 lb of oils)... which is really good because essential oils can get expensive. I rebatch my lavender soap and my grapefruit soap. It's also a good time to add other fun stuff like honey, milk, aloe vera, lavender buds, etc.
Okay I'll stop now.
I may make some Ramp soap this spring.
That'll pretty much guarantee people will leave me alone ;D
Quote from: Flutterby on January 21, 2012, 01:14:11 AM
Hey, now this is my kind of topic! I love making soap and talking about soap. Whitlock even calls me a soap-head sometimes. I make soap and sell it at the local farmers market and I have a store on Etsy too.
So I'm curious, OlJarhead, why did you rebatch... what was wrong with the first batch? And I'm curious how long the first batch cured before you rebatched it. Even though I've made a lot of soap, I've only rebatched four times and I thought for some reason it was supposed to fully cure 4 weeks either before or after rebatching. But I don't know everything. ::)
Did you know that rebatching soap is preferred because it makes a harder soap that will last longer. If you wait to add the essential oils or fragrance during the rebatch, you only need half as much (approx 1/2 oz per 1 lb of oils)... which is really good because essential oils can get expensive. I rebatch my lavender soap and my grapefruit soap. It's also a good time to add other fun stuff like honey, milk, aloe vera, lavender buds, etc.
Okay I'll stop now.
Rebatching completes the saponification process so no need to let it 'cure' for 4 weeks after doing so, or so I've been told by a soap maker -- apparently the difference is that it is no longer a cold process soap which does need to cure.
In my case I let the soap cool too much while mixing and after an hour of mixing had not seen trace. I gave up and poured it into a mold, then after a while poured it back into the pot, fixed the mold which was leaking and poured back into the mold.....3 hours later I discovered I was supposed to cover the soap mold (insulate it) and did so. But it was too late and the soap didn't harden up enough to cut. Even after 48 hours.
So I consulted the soap maker and was advised that I could let the soap continue to cure as is and that it would become sort of a 'rustic soap' or I could choose to rebatch it to complete the process after which it would be hard and ready to use, if desired, immediately. So I rebatched -- which was two+ hours of melting and mixing in a crock pot and then poured back into the mold.
A few hours later the soap was hard. I cut it the next day and it was nice and hard as well as useable :) I've been using it since.
I plan to try another batch this weekend ;)
I believe I carried on a wives tale. From what I'm reading 99% of the ph change happens within 48 hrs of the ingredients being mixed. Soap does get milder during curing but you're working in that last 1%. What it does in that time, the moisture evaporates, it becomes harder, lathers better and lasts longer.
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/coldprocesssoapmaking/g/soapcure.htm
Rebatching sounds worthwhile for some ingredients like lavender.
Which of course brings up a whole nuther story. We were experimenting with flame weeding in the garden as a method of weed control. We rigged a 25 lb cylinder on a pack frame and had one of the flamethrower weedburner torches. It worked pretty well although the fuel isn't cheap and you had to be careful. We had a 50' row of lavender that was looking good and almost ready. All I can say is lavender oil must be somewhere between gasoline and diesel. One touch of flame and it ran down that row in about the time it takes to say "Oh ****" d*
Live 'n' learn. ;D
I'm finding that using this soap is opening my eyes a little....I need to calculate the cost of making a bar this way but I beleive it's considerably cheaper then buying high quality soap in the store.
What's more is that I'm finding it has a noticeable impact on my skin and hair -- and I'm not the sort of guy that normally pays attention to that so it must be pretty damn impact-ful! lol (is that even a word).
seriously, this old jarhead is thinking the soap manufacturers suck right about now :P
Your thinking right! Most of the soap from the store isn't even "soap." If you look at the labels they say "body wash" and "bath gel"... and they're full of chemicals that irritate and dry out the skin. Nothing better than homemade soap. I'm getting so spoiled with mine. I don't even like washing my hands in public restrooms because the so-called soaps are so drying to my skin. I have a friend with eczema and she says handmade soap is the only stuff that doesn't burn when she uses it. Hmmmmm. Makes you wonder.
Have fun making your second batch of soap this weekend and let me know how it turns out. My next batch of soap is going to be made with coffee! Its supposed to be good for deodorizing hands after cutting onions, etc. ;)
Oljarhead... I haven't looked yet, but did you find lye easy to get? I've read that it's not as easy to locate real lye at times...
Quote from: MountainDon on January 29, 2012, 10:15:54 PM
Oljarhead... I haven't looked yet, but did you find lye easy to get? I've read that it's not as easy to locate real lye at times...
Most of the supermarkets here still carry it as drain opener Don but there's always Amazon ;D
http://www.amazon.com/Sodium-Hydroxide-Caustic-Cleaner-Making/dp/B0032LVYXQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1327895030&sr=8-3
Quote from: MountainDon on January 29, 2012, 10:15:54 PM
Oljarhead... I haven't looked yet, but did you find lye easy to get? I've read that it's not as easy to locate real lye at times...
I had no problem Don -- went to Ace Hardware and found it in 1lbs bottles in the clog drain section.
Went and bought two more after reading it was sometimes hard to get -- planning on buying more now.
Quote from: Flutterby on January 21, 2012, 08:14:13 PM
Your thinking right! Most of the soap from the store isn't even "soap." If you look at the labels they say "body wash" and "bath gel"... and they're full of chemicals that irritate and dry out the skin. Nothing better than homemade soap. I'm getting so spoiled with mine. I don't even like washing my hands in public restrooms because the so-called soaps are so drying to my skin. I have a friend with eczema and she says handmade soap is the only stuff that doesn't burn when she uses it. Hmmmmm. Makes you wonder.
Have fun making your second batch of soap this weekend and let me know how it turns out. My next batch of soap is going to be made with coffee! Its supposed to be good for deodorizing hands after cutting onions, etc. ;)
I'm finding I REALLY like the stuff! Doesn't surprise me though as I've found a lot of the older things are better (like a safety razor that shaves better then any 5 bladed new model and costs 1/10th or less to use)...
(https://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/emcvay/soap-cu.jpg)
2nd batch actually worked out -- though I had some times I wasn't sure!
(https://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/emcvay/Soap.jpg)
At first I laid them down like this but then learned to stand them up.
Next time I have to work MUCH harder at cutting them evenly! Sheesh.
4.29 for a pound at my local True Value Hardware. Lots on the shelf. :)
Oljarhead, any tips on the CanoliveII you made (other than what's on that website)?
Quote from: MountainDon on January 30, 2012, 11:29:50 PM
4.29 for a pound at my local True Value Hardware. Lots on the shelf. :)
Oljarhead, any tips on the CanoliveII you made (other than what's on that website)?
Yes!
It doesn't really 'trace' the way I thought it would. So once it's nice and thick like this:
(https://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/emcvay/IMG_1683.jpg)
Then pour it into the mold -- takes about 30 minutes of manual stirring at a pace just below fast enough to splash! Actually I used a whisk for the first few minutes to really get it stirred up well. Then altered between the whisk and the spoon in the picture. The author of the site says it's 8-10 minutes using a stick blender but I haven't tried that yet.
Here are a couple more:
(https://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/emcvay/IMG_1679.jpg)
(https://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/emcvay/IMG_1680.jpg)
After it's in the mold I learned from her that it is a good idea to put the mold into a pre-warmed oven. TO do that I turned the oven on for a minute or so and then turned it off and left the light on.
After a few hours it looked like this:
(https://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/emcvay/Jell.jpg)
That's called 'Gel phase' I guess and is what you want to see.
You take it out of the oven and let it cool a bit and then place it into a box (covered) and put a towel over it if it's cool in your house.
After 24hrs it should be hard enough to cut into bars (cuts very easily) -- probably best to use gloves at this point too.
Take the bars and stand them on edge and flip them every couple days or so to make sure they dry all around (like cheese really)....let age for 4-6 weeks before use.
Also make sure the mold is leak proof (I failed there) and use freezer paper instead of wax paper! The wax paper melts :(
Another hint is to use a knife or something to make sure there are no trapped air bubbles.
Is that a full recipe or a part?
Quote from: MountainDon on January 31, 2012, 10:25:28 AM
Is that a full recipe or a part?
What do you mean? The Canolive II is the one I made and it's the full recipe with no additives (add scents only by using scented oils, fragrance oils or essential oils)....
Oh wait! LOL you mean IS THAT as in the pictures, a FULL Recipe -- yes! Sorry. d*
That's the full thing -- What I did is drop the 16oz of coconut oil (do a search for 'soapers delight' coconut oil online to see where I got mine) into the pot and start it on low. I then weighed out the canola and olive oils and then combined them into a jug together (to make pouring them in easier) and put a few ounces in with the coconut.
I added the lye to the water (outside) and mixed it in -- takes about a minute to do this *be careful*
Then I set the Lye mix in a sink of cold water to cool it down while heating up the oil to 110 degrees (this is important)...once all of the oil was mixed in and heated to temp and the Lye was lowered to ~95 degrees I mixed it in and stirred with a whisk like a mad man!
Then took a break and stirred with the spoon (use all stainless steel -- no aluminum) and whisked and stirred and didn't know what trace was so kept going and going and going and an hour later gave up and poured into the mold....and put in the oven.
And it worked ;)
If it fails, no problem! Just put in a crock pot (after a couple days of letting it semi-harden) and cook on high (covered) for about two hours stirring it after the first hour and then periodically until all of it is melted like jello then put in mold and let hard (you can use remelt as soon as it's cooled)....
Thanks... yes I was wondering if you made a full batch or a part batch.
Coconut oil at Walmart, shelves above the lard.
Quote from: MountainDon on January 31, 2012, 01:19:24 PM
Thanks... yes I was wondering if you made a full batch or a part batch.
Coconut oil at Walmart, shelves above the lard.
Cool! You only need 16 oz I think but I like having a lot :)
I found out the Glycerine in the soap is the reason it feels so good after using it -- has something to do with absorbing into the skin instead of leaving oil ON the skin. Whatever it is, I like it! Also cheaper to make then buy.
I just need to improve my mold a bit and get MUCH better at cutting it -- might have to make a jig just for cutting as I found the miter box doesn't provide a way to cut the loaf length wise before cutting into bars...
You know the cardboard GratinGs they use to keep thinGs seperated in boxes. I am thinkinG
you could make the same thinG from some stainless steel sheet. I wouldn't think you would
need anythinG thicker than about 30 GauGe. Just slip it in at the last moment.
Just an idea,
Bruce
Gee Golly i am wonderinG, puzzlinG about that very thinG.
Quote from: firefox on February 01, 2012, 07:27:26 PM
You know the cardboard GratinGs they use to keep thinGs seperated in boxes. I am thinkinG
you could make the same thinG from some stainless steel sheet. I wouldn't think you would
need anythinG thicker than about 30 GauGe. Just slip it in at the last moment.
Just an idea,
Bruce
You can certainly use smaller molds or shaped molds so it's certainly possible to do it that way I suppose. However it seems easy enough to use the box mold off millersoap too.
MD: The cat removed the "g" key ::)
Bruce
I thought you were being funny or weird. I had the "F" key break once. Got a new keyboard (laptop) from Laptopjacks (http://www.laptopjacks.com/products.php?gclid=CJuYr5_vgK4CFSYaQgodChCn3A) . Easy install and their service was great.
Thanks MD, I usualy reserve the humor and weirdness for Gary. He needs all the
help and supervision he can get.
I am eventually going to break down and and get a new computer, but I want to wait until I move to Eureka, NV, Until then I will have to cut and paste this g.
Bruce
We/I made some soap today. Same recipe as Oljarhead, the Canolive II from the Miller Soap Making website. But we elected to go with a half batch for our trial balloon. :) I measured and stirred and Karen gave me moral support.
I used the stick blender after the initial minute of stirring the lye/water solution into the oils with a wooden spoon. That caused a near instant change in the mix. I think it was ready after about 12 minutes but I went for another 8 - 10 and then noticed a change to being more thick. I could see drips I made on the surface not disappear very quickly. Looks like vanilla pudding or maybe cheesecake.
Poured the mix into a glass baking dish (lined with plastic wrap just in case it wanted to stick) and stuck it in the pre warmed oven. Left the light on, oven elements off with a tray of water in the oven along with the soap. Read that someplace. It peeked and touched it a short time ago and it was surface solid at least and unlike a soufflé it did not fall. :)
So now we wait till tomorrow morning.
A thought on stick blending...by stick I mean electric stick blender (http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-CSB-76TQ-SmartStick-Immersion-Turquoise/dp/B003WIZ99E/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1328393114&sr=8-7) not a wooden stick. :D They do get warm even with intermittent power on and power off. It might be an idea to have two. I placed a moistened cloth in the freezer and used it to wrap the motor housing for cooling. I didn't freeze it just got it good and cold.
Looking at the soap through the oven window I'd say I could have poured it into the mold earlier. The surface still shows some slight drips and bumps that never flowed out after the pour. I imagine it'll still be good soap and the bumps will soon be gone after staring to use it. Picture when I go to cut it tomorrow.
Wow! Guys making soap. Too cool. Do you make scented or unscented? I like natural real soap but have an awful time finding any that is just plain old soap. If I want to smell like lilac or mint or bacon I'd like to add that for the special occasion rather than have to have that scent all the time.
Kathy (millersoap) told me the stick blender will trace in 8-10 minutes so I suspect you were right about pouring it earlier. But it sounds like it was fine anyway.
Careful with plastic wrap and wax paper :( Mine melted! The soap gets VERY hot in the first several hours.
Let's see some pics?
No pictures of the weighing or mixing. Here's the soap in the glass dish...
(https://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q305/djmbucket/2750/P1040829sml.jpg)
And after we removed it from the mold. It came out with relative ease by pulling on the plastic wrap. No problems with that.
(https://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q305/djmbucket/2750/P1040830sml.jpg)
And then cut bars. They're not pretty, not evenly cut, but I'm keeping them, not selling them. :D
(https://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q305/djmbucket/2750/P1040831sml.jpg)
This was a half batch. No scents or colors, just plain soap. :)
I could not wait to try it. Washed up after doing some dirty renovation work and it worked! Lather was good. My skin is still intact. I have a spot on one arm that sometimes gives me grief with dry skin itchies. So far so good on that. A week or two use would tell. The soap is supposed to improve with some aging but feels okay right now.
I can see how it would be nice to have a square sided box with narrow kerfs for slicing, maybe with a wire like a cheese slicer?
Using already? It's my understanding that it's supposed to cure for a month after using the cold process to make. Am I wrong?
Quote from: MountainDon on February 05, 2012, 11:41:48 PM
I can see how it would be nice to have a square sided box with narrow kerfs for slicing, maybe with a wire like a cheese slicer?
Your soap looks great by the way! Much nicer then mine too! I was told the mixer would do that to it and I can see it in the pics...think I better get one!
Something I just learned: soap makers (manufacturers) remove the glycerin from the soap using salt and some process akin to 'souring' it like making cheese and separating the curds and whey -- anyway, they take out most of the glycerin and then add it to oils to sell it to you.
Now do the math:
Store bought soap has no glycerin.
Store bought soap dry's out your skin.
You now need a lotion for your dry skin -- which just happens to contain glycerin....
Hmmmmm :o d*
Make your own soap and you won't need the lotion and will save tons :D
Quote from: OlJarhead on February 06, 2012, 12:23:54 AM
Using already? It's my understanding that it's supposed to cure for a month after using the cold process to make. Am I wrong?
I had to give it a try on one hand. Hours later no problems, so two hands. Don't tell anyone. Ooops, too late for that! ;D
The moment I turned on the stick blender I could see the liquids in the pot change to a cream color. Just like that! Bang! And within a minute I'd say it had reached the fully cream color, but still thin.
Yes, I read about the glycerin removal in commercial processes. Quite capitalistic of them. ;D
I made it about 10 AM and left it in the oven overnight with the light on for a little heat and with a pan of water alongside. I noticed the temperature went up over the first hour or so. By next morning it was still 85 in the oven. I removed it and cut it about 23 hours after I placed the soap in the mold and oven. It's firmer than I thought it would be right off (at the 24 hr mark).
Quote from: OlJarhead on February 06, 2012, 12:27:16 AM
Something I just learned: soap makers (manufacturers) remove the glycerin from the soap using salt and some process akin to 'souring' it like making cheese and separating the curds and whey -- anyway, they take out most of the glycerin and then add it to oils to sell it to you.
Now do the math:
Store bought soap has no glycerin.
Store bought soap dry's out your skin.
You now need a lotion for your dry skin -- which just happens to contain glycerin....
Hmmmmm :o d*
Make your own soap and you won't need the lotion and will save tons :D
Glycerin is a byproduct of making biodiesel fuel. Find someone that's cooking their own fuel and you can probably get gallons of the stuff for a few bars of the finished product
Quote from: Rob_O on February 12, 2012, 12:33:48 PM
Glycerin is a byproduct of making biodiesel fuel. Find someone that's cooking their own fuel and you can probably get gallons of the stuff for a few bars of the finished product
It's also the byproduct of making soap so no need unless you're planning on making Glycerin soap which has a higher level in it and comes out clear...
However, the home made soap I'm using (remelted) is pretty awesome as is. Frankly I'm stunned!
(https://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/emcvay/CanoliveII.jpg)
Made the Canolive II recipe last night with my mother-in-law and it went excellent! We used the stick blender (1st time I've used one) and the soap was at full trace in less then 8 minutes!
Left it in the slightly warmed oven (off but not room temp) and it cured nicely. Was super easy to cut and had excellent texture today.
(https://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/emcvay/REbatching.jpg)
She wants to use it right away so we're re-batching it tonight (2hrs in the crock until melted). Then it can be poured into molds and let cool -- and used right away.
Though it's best to let it dry for 2-3 weeks I guess.