Beer Soap - what do you wish you knew for your first batch?

[Seawolfe]

I've joined a local soap making meetup group, and the first one I can make is next week and we will be making beer soap! We bring our own soap making kit, recipe and materials, and I guess hang out and talk soap while we make soap! Doesn't that sound like fun?

So we are to prep our beer (let it go flat, then freeze) before the meetup. Its up to us what recipe, colors, scents and molds we want to do. I have a 2 lb soap mold, or a 4 lb square flat mold (ok ok its a silicon cake pan).

So far the only thoughts I've had is that I should use lard in the recipe (because I just bought a ton), and Id like to do a sort of beer colored on the bottom, fluffy white head on the top soap in my little 2 lb loaf mold, or just a big old wad of swirls in the cake pan. I have a LOT of whole dried hops in my freezer that would be cute sprinkled on top of a soap - but then they would just go nasty and clog up the drain so probably no on that...

I don't even know what to think of for scents - I have basic EO's - maybe something citrus eucalyptus something?

So if you've made beer soap - what do you wish you knew when you were formulating and making your first beer soap? Any advice or suggestions? I don't want to be the strange kid in the corner eating paste (again )

 

[Obsidian]

I wish I had know not to mix the beer into the lye solution, it smells bad and it really does limit the amount of beer you can get into a recipe. Instead, I condense a 16oz bottle into roughly 2oz of "syrup" (thick, not sweet) and add that at trace, thats for a two lb batch. I prefer a dark stout to help color the soap.

As far as scents go, I think something like vanilla or caramel would be good. I usually leave my beer soap unscented but I do really want to try a lauger or stout FO of some kind.

I think lard would be great in a beer soap but I love lard in everything I like using a log mold and making a lighter head on the bars but some white swirls in a darker base would look nice in a slab mold too.

This is my last beer soap. I didn't use any beer in the top part but I forgot to add extra water so there wasn't the same amount of liquid in the two layers and the top cracked.
I tried to use tapioca to imitate bubbles but I didn't push them into the batter enough and most has fallen off. I wish I hadn't made so much white, the layer is too thick and I should have made the layers more uneven.

 

[Nevada]

I use Barley Malt Extract instead of beer, (I have other uses for it)

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=311869&postcount=15

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=419348&postcount=2

 

[Seawolfe]

Huh interesting - I do have DME (for making beer - but I should try some in soap), but I think Im stuck on the idea of having the hoppy goodness of actual beer in the soap. Cooking it down to a syrup would be pretty easy.... Ohh maybe Ill infuse some hops for the water!

 

[Candybee]

Thats really pretty beer soap! It makes me want to buy some of that. So far I have made bourbon and whiskey soaps but have yet to make beer. I even have my beer fragrances from Brambleberry ready. I was going to do them this fall just haven't had time.

Good luck Seawolfe on your first beer soap. Hope you post a pic. I am jealous you have a local soaping group.