Soap Beginners Sites(Long)

[Guest guest]

Hi Folks,

For the person whom wanted to learn about soapmaking here are a few items of

interest-- Best to research before jumping right in so you will know what is

involved in soapmaking. But once you take the leap you are hooked for life.

LOL

Assorted Librarys fro recipes and references:

http://www.foxglovemeadows.com/soappot1.html

http://www.angelfire.com/mi/soapnutshome/index.html

http://www.esosoft.com/thelibrary/index.htm

Essentials Oils Encyclopedia

http://essentialoils.net/

Hot Process Soap - From Scratch!

http://members.tripod.com/allcrafts/index.html

Soapmaking: free soap recipes & directions.

http://members.aol.com/oelaineo/soapmaking.html

How to Make Soap From Scratch

http://www.soapcrafters.com/makebase.htm

Step by Step Soap

http://www.angelfire.com/on2/mysoappage/picpage.html

Pro's and Con's of Soapmaking:

Pro’s to cooking soap:

Cooking the soap solution greatly speeds up the chemical reaction needed to

make soap. Instead of taking weeks to cure, it’s ready for use much sooner

(animal fats only).

It's a relatively quick way to trace vegetable oils.

Cons to cooking soap:

This can be very dangerous. Before the process is complete, the soap can get

up to 330 degrees F. From 220 degrees F. to 275 degrees F. it has a tendency

to splutter or spatter soap out of the pot if it boils too vigorously. I

would think this is not something you would want to do with children around.

There is a chance of fire. If you have a fire extinguisher handy and use a

pot with high sides, you shouldn’t have any trouble. Have a lid handy to

smother any fires, and never leave cooking soap unattended. Be sure to wear

adequate protection. This includes long gloves and protection for all exposed

skin and face. A face shield would be a good idea. No one wants a drop or two

of this stuff spattering on their face or arms and making a scar.

There are some things you can't put in your recipe if you are going to cook

it.

How It’s Done...

For cooking, you must modify the recipe somewhat. Don’t add any sugar or salt

as this will make a mess. Lanonin will curdle your batch if it is heated

above 120 degrees F. You should be able to add the other ingredients in the

recipes found on these pages. However, the three basic ingredients, fat, lye

and water make great soap all by themselves.

With your ingredients well mixed, place your soap mixture in an enameled pot.

(I have found stainless steel pots also won’t be damaged by the cooking

process.) Turn the heat on moderately high until it gets to the boiling

point, then turn it down so it maintains a slow but rolling boil - a low

enough boil so it is not spattering all over the place. If it starts

spattering out of the pot, pull it off the heat partially until it slows

down. Then turn down the heat. Your goal is to keep it boiling, but not so

vigorously that it becomes dangerous. Stir constantly and always be conscious

of how it’s boiling and behaving. As it boils two things happen:

The chemical reaction necessary to make soap is greatly accelerated.

The water in the soap is boiled off, leaving only the fat or oil and the lye.

The soap cooks somewhat like candy in that it starts boiling at a temperature

of about 220 degrees F and as it continues to boil the water off, the

temperature rises. It is very important to know when to quit. As it slowly

gets thicker, the instant the bubbles start appearing in the same place,

giving you a hint that it is acting just a bit more rigid than before, pull

it off the heat. In my experience this happens at a temperature of between

300 and 330 degrees F. It would be handy to keep a candy thermometer around

as an aid in checking on it’s progress.

300 - 310 degrees F for lard

320 - 330 degrees for vegetable oil

If you keep cooking it at this point, in a very short time it will go solid

and you will end up with a mess of broken up soap you will have to rebatch to

save.

With the pot off the heat, place it in cold water (don’t let it continue to

cook with the pan off the heat). Continue to stir it until it has cooled off

- down to at least 120 degrees. As it cools you may wish to add a piece of

crayola. As it melts it will color your soap. This is also a good time to add

fragerance oils (FO's). After it has cooled, it should have the consistency

of pudding. Pour, or scoop the soap into your soap tray or mold, then smooth

it out the best you can with a spatula. As it is very sticky, to get it nice

and smooth on top, place a layer of plastic wrap on it and continue to smooth

it out. I like to place something flat on top of it and press down lightly.

This makes it as flat on top as it is on the bottom. A couple of hours later

as the soap has continued to cool and harden, you can remove this top layer

of plastic wrap. Smooth any imperfections out with your finger that were

created by wrinkles in the plastic wrap.

Soap made from Animal Fat: After a couple of hours, section it into bar sized

squares with a table knife. Depending on how firm it is, on the second day,

you can remove it from the tray and break it into bar sized pieces using the

knife marks you put into it. After two more days it should be mostly cured

and ready for storage. If you want to use it now rather than wait a couple of

weeks for it to finish curing, give it a litmus paper test. It should be

below a PH of 9. Or you can give it the taste test. If your tongue stings, it

probably still has a high PH level and needs more time to cure.

Soap made from Vegetable Oil: After you get it in the soap tray, treat it in

the same way as you would for soap made from animal fat using a non-cook

recipe. It will take longer to cure but still makes fine soap.

EQUIPMENT NEEDED

2 thermometers

1 large soap pot (enamel or stainless steel)

1 heat resistant plastic or glass pitcher

2 wooden or plastic stirring utensils

1 mold (anything that's a sturdy plastic will do...candy molds, ice trays,

tupperware, etc. The plastic should " give " enough

to allow you to jiggle the soap out if it gets stuck)

1 rubber gloves

SAFETY TIPS

1. Wear rubber gloves when handling lye and fresh soap

2. Don't inhale lye fumes that occur when first making lye water

3. If you do get lye or fresh soap on your skin, rinse with vinegar or

flush very well with cool water

4. Always use COLD water when making your lye water as the mixture will

instantly heat up to 200 degrees F when the

lye is first added.

5. Always pour lye into the water, and not the other way around.

6. Always pour lye water into the oils, not the other way around.

Some easy recipes--these are not my recipes:

TALLOW SOAP

6lbs clean fat (about 13 cups)

1/4 cup borax (optional)

1 13oz can lye granules

1 1/2 pints water

to make only 1 test bar:

1 cup clean fat

1tsp borax (optional)

5tsp lye granules

1/2 cup water

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

COCONUT OIL SOAP

1/2 cup light vegetable oil

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup lye granules

2 cups cold water

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix your lye into your water in the glass pitcher. Insert thermometer

and set aside to cool down to 100 degrees F.

2. Measure your oils into the enamel or stainless steel soap pot and heat

on the stove to 100 degrees F. (The most

complicated part is jiggling the oils and lye to become the same

temperature, particularly the lye since you CANNOT just

pop it in the microwave or do it on stove top. If your lye becomes too

cool, you can heat it back up by putting the pitcher

in a hot water bath making sure no extra water gets spilled into your

solution. Likewise, if the lye water isn't cooling fast

enough for you, you can put it in a cold water bath.)

3. When the oils and the lye water have both reached 100 degrees F, pour

the lye water into your oils in a slow, steady

stream. It's good to get the oils in motion before you start pouring

the lye and continue stirring until your mixture gets thick

enough to pour. (This is called " tracing " . When your soap has become

thick enough to the point when drops of it from

your stirring spoon stay on top for a bit before sinking back in, your

soap has reached trace. Traced soap is similar

to the consistency of thick pancake batter.) It will take between

10min to 1 hour for your soap to trace.

4. At the trace stage, you can add scents and color to your soap if you'd

like. Use only manufacturing fragrance oils or

essential oils. You can use small amounts of fabric dye to color the

soap as they are a safe, sodium-based, compounds.

5. After adding the scents and colors of your choice, pour your soap into

clean, plastic molds. When the soap has

hardened, remove from the molds and let cure for 4 weeks.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy and Keep Smiling- it makes people wonder what you've been up to

Pam - in the Deep South

" There are no strangers, Just friends we have not met yet "