Trying Lard on soap. Starting from scratch

Well I have written here before that here in Greece we call leaf lard as royal fat. After rendering it I just understood the reason why. From now on, I will never again try the back fat.
This time I rendered it the way I mentioned at this post, and I also thought of adding a cheesecloth. My idea was that I didn't want to burn the fat neither inside its liquids, nor on the hot stainless steel surface of the strainer.

Firstly I cleaned leaf lard manually again (I didn't use any blender) as the pure fat was inside some membranes from which I pulled out the solid and somehow "dry" fat. When I cut it, it easily breaks up in smaller pieces, and there is no piggy smell at all. Just pure odorless fat. I could easily try to eat some if I could. Great quality compared to backfat.



I had around 670gr of pure leaf lard to render. So I tied a cheesecloth onto the strainer, so the fat would always sit on fabric on high temperatures.



I then put it in the oven at 100ºC, and was watching it how it would go for the first 30 minutes. This temperatures seemed to me to be too low to melt the fat quickly so I turn the oven up to 120ºC and just left it there alone, and went to watch a movie. (The Imitation Game - very nice movie by the way).



When I came back most of the fat had melt, so a took the pan to strain the initial liquid fat through coffee filter and put a second pan to strain the remaining fat. And for the fact that the liquid was not getting through the coffee filter quickly I put it in the oven so as to always keep it in liquid form.

I then squeezed the leftovers with a potato masher to get every little drop of this liquid gold. I also grabbed the cheesecloth and strained it with my hand to get the last drop out of it.



So I finally got around 470gr of leaf lard, which is more rock solid than the fatback at room temperature. It's like coconut oil and of course odorless. I gave it to some friends to smell it in order to recognize this food. They didn't realize what it was, and they said that it should be some kind of cream.

So now I will focus on the recipe, and while I had drunk a Weiss beer with the movie, I had also kept a spare bottle for the next lard soap. I have let some beer liquid sit in open air for 1-2 days with a portion of sugar in it and some liquid for boiling it to make the beer syrop as Seawolfe advised.

It will be a Lard 75%, PKO 20% and Castor 5%.

Thanks to everyone for every advise and information that have given.

ps.
I haven't yet tried the lard soap bars, but I think I like them already. I somehow have got this feeling from your posts.

Nikos

This has turned out to be an awesome tutorial on lard!

Nikos, why are you adding sugar to the beer? Beer already has quite a bit of "sugar" in it. I fear you will make a lye volcano - which is why I freeze my flat beer into slush and cubes before adding the lye (and add the syrup later after trace).

I put my ground fat into the dutch oven and set the temps on very low , so it simmers. Mix from time to time with a wooden spoon. I do it for like 35 years and it is the easiest. I do not use water or any complicated methods. When the lard is done I let is sit on counter for an hour or so and gently pour through sheave. You guys do a good job but it is unnecessary complicated.

Seawolfe said:

Nikos, why are you adding sugar to the beer? Beer already has quite a bit of "sugar" in it. I fear you will make a lye volcano - which is why I freeze my flat beer into slush and cubes before adding the lye (and add the syrup later after trace).

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Seawolf, I'm adding sugar with the logic I have to add all the base additives in all my soaps so far (oatmeal flour, sugar 3%, salt 3%)

I have once made a beer soap before and it was made with beer that had also honey, but I had also added sugar 1%.

Current beer seems to have little to no sweeteners as it is described as bitter taste beer, so I have already diluted 3% sugar in it. Beer syrop is only for fragrance purpose?

As far as it concerns lye volcano, I haven't seen any and maybe it is for the fact that I mostly use 50% Lye Solution when mixing with the recipe's liquids, and NaOH has somehow lost its "thermal power". When I mix it with the rest of liquids, I always get max 60ºC which is easily dropped @ ~28ºC with the help of a stainless steel container and only cold tapped water.

I'm also thinking of using FO of "Green Apple" and I hope that I won't have any more than beer's speedy tracing issues so as to be able to to mold it on time. Should I refrigerate FO so as to add it in low temperature? What should I be aware of, so as not to through my whole batch in the bin?

Nikos

I wouldn't worry about cooling the FO - if it is a trouble maker, the heat of it won't make a big difference.

As for the beer, the sugars are in the alcohol - while some is burnt off when you reduce it not of all of it is. Unless you're using an alcohol free, sugar free beer then I think the added sugar is not needed. That is more what the beer adds, rather than being used mainly for the scent, as there are certain types of beer where the scent doesn't survive, but the resulting bubblage certainly does.

"...As far as it concerns lye volcano, I haven't seen any and maybe it is for the fact that I mostly use 50% Lye Solution when mixing with the recipe's liquids, and NaOH has somehow lost its "thermal power"...."

I would say the truth of the matter is that you have simply been fortunate enough to not have a soap volcano. And may you never have the bad luck to have one!

Chemicals that are more concentrated (your 50% lye solution) are more likely to react faster than less concentrated reactants -- I am quite certain there is no loss of "thermal power" in the 50% lye. Fats such as lard, tallow, olive, etc. are slower reacting and will do pretty well with 50% lye. If you make a soap high in coconut oil and use the 50% lye, you might see a different result.

For example, I made a 70% CO soap this weekend and it gelled quickly with an unusual amount of expansion and heating. A different recipe made the same day with only 20% CO went through its full gel in a polite, gentle way, even though I used the same method of making the soap.

So last Friday night was the time to make my last soap before Easter. I had used different molds this time. One was the all time classic pringles box and the other was a plastic mold game for the sand of my son's games. I did this especially for my kids to play and clean themselves at their bath time.



The final recipe was:

Lye Concentration: 28%
SF: 5%
Oils: 600gr
---Lard: 450gr (75%)
---PKO: 120gr (20%)
---Castor: 30gr (5%)

NaOH: 84,09gr (168gr - 50% LYE Solution)
Beer: 86,7gr + Beer Syrup: 45gr (I didn't add the syrup at trace b/c i was afraid of the acceleration)

Oatmeal flour: 18gr @ oils
Salt: 6gr @ beer
Sugar: 12gr @ beer
Sodium Citrate: 18gr @ beer
Silk: @ LYE
Green Apple FO @ light trace: ~5ml (Acceleration!)

CPOP: 30min @ 60ºC

When I bought the Green Apple FO I asked the store if it would create any problems with my CP soap, and he told me that he hasn't heard anything for this. I didn't ask him to give me the MSDS and I just risked my recipe. So at light trace I added a little less than 1% of this FO and after a few hand stirring and little SBlends I saw the soap getting thick quite fast... So I immediately poured the soap to the molds and you can see the air bubbles that were created by this in both soaps.



And after 8 hours I unmold/cut the soap and just set them to cure. By the end of the month I will also test this version to see what 75% leaf lard means for me too.



Happy Easter to everyone.

Nikos

The soap collection grows! that was a clever idea using the toy for a mold

Your soaps look really good! And I envy your organizational/notekeeping skills, those cards are awesome. Also envy you being able to get leaf lard, no way for me to do that here unless I was willing to spend an arm and a leg.

not_ally said:

Your soaps look really good! And I envy your organizational/notekeeping skills, those cards are awesome. Also envy you being able to get leaf lard, no way for me to do that here unless I was willing to spend an arm and a leg.

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It is even hard to get beef fat here since most stores have a rendering company picking up all their fat. At my Stater Bros I can get them to give me 5 lbs of fat trimmings a couple times a month, but I found the beef tallow shortening does not have much difference in soap so I am not going to hassle rendering and trying to acquire enough for a large batch

"I found the beef tallow shortening does not have much difference in soap so I am not going to hassle rendering and trying to acquire enough for a large batch"

That's good to know, Carolyn. I have wondered about the differences in store bought and rended tallow/lard, hard to get much info on that, it seems like most people either render or buy. I know you have had problems w/DOS w/the S&F lard and am a bit worried b/c I love it in soap so far and we live pretty close by, so can't count on it being locality/humidity differences etc.

Seawolfe said:

The soap collection grows! that was a clever idea using the toy for a mold :smile:

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Yes I have made so far around 7 batches (1 per week) and I can't wait to make even more with new ingredients/mixes.




As for molds I'm planning on making custom silicone molds from object/toys after reading this link.

not_ally said:

Your soaps look really good! And I envy your organizational/notekeeping skills, those cards are awesome. Also envy you being able to get leaf lard, no way for me to do that here unless I was willing to spend an arm and a leg.

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Well for me it was also a bit difficult to find leaf lard as I had to ask many butchers, to finally find one that could give a small quantity. The Athens Central Market were someone can find many butcher-shops together, they don't give their "meat waste" to people, but they must give it to a company that processes such food to create animal foods.

It is only 5 days since I made this soap and I just can't wait to test some small portion that it is for testing purposes. Fortunately I will be away for vacations so I will not see the curing rack everyday inside the house. I guess I can cope with it easier and let the bars cure alone.

Until then I'm posting another pic for me to see them in case I miss them :wtf:

Well yes, you were right, lard is just a one of a kind! 75% in a recipe produces rich, creamy, thick and generally great lather.
It will be an oil that I will definitely use again in another recipe.
Nikos

Lard makes amazing soap, no doubt about it. Welcome to the lardy side!

Good job. Welcome to the waste not want not side. We raise our own pigs. Nothing goes to waste here.

I'm so happy that I want to share something with you! I finally found today here in Athens lard from a Romanian mini market. A white pork fat with a very slightly piggy odor only for 1€ / 250gr. I guess I will not bother again with rendering it from scratch.

Already bought 500gr and thinking of a recipe like 50% Lard, 25% coconut /Palm Kernel, 20% Palm, 5% Castor.

What a wonderful day.

Congratulations from another lard lover. That is a great find for a soapmaker, I am happy for you!

ngian said:

I'm so happy that I want to share something with you! I finally found today here in Athens lard from a Romanian mini market. A white pork fat with a very slightly piggy odor only for 1€ / 250gr. I guess I will not bother again with rendering it from scratch.

Already bought 500gr and thinking of a recipe like 50% Lard, 25% coconut /Palm Kernel, 20% Palm, 5% Castor.

What a wonderful day.

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Good find! I would swap the palm for OO or somesuch, though - lard and palm are very similar. Of course, a 70% lard recipe wouldn't be too bad, either.............

Well TEG now that I found cheap lard I will try various combinations, I have already tried 75% Lard, 20 palm kernel , 5 Castor and I will start trying to break down each oil to similar ones...

As also for example 30 lard, 20 Palm, 15 CO, 10 Palm Kernel, 10 OO, 10 sweet Almond, 5 Castor. I'm thinking of a big party that will have many various girls with their friends!