beer soap

[Aschecte]

I hope I'm in the right place for this post. I am am complete noob with only a few basic batches under my belt. I keep reading and seeing posts about beer soap. this cnfuses me for some reason as I would assume you would replace the water content ( 38%) with beer but, I could be wrong with this. i'm just looking for some input on how to make a beer soap and the basic process to do so. I am a brewer by trade and can make any style of beer period and I would love to incorporate my brewing into my soap making. Thanks for any input !!!!

 

[lizflowers42]

Aschecte, you can do it any way you want. Some people replace all liquid (this is how I have done it), some use water, and at trace add their beer-syrup. The most common complaint that people have is the "lye-volcano" effect when they mix their beer with lye due to the carbonation. Some people (like me) allow the beer to go flat and freeze before mixing with lye to combat the volcano effect and burnt sugars. So far, this is the only way I have done it and have not had trouble and will continue using this method because it works well for me.

Since you are a brewer, why not use your wort, rather than use carbonated beer? Or if you have end of the keg beer that's not quite as good to drink let that go flat?

 

[Aschecte]

Aschecte, you can do it any way you want. Some people replace all liquid (this is how I have done it), some use water, and at trace add their beer-syrup. The most common complaint that people have is the "lye-volcano" effect when they mix their beer with lye due to the carbonation. Some people (like me) allow the beer to go flat and freeze before mixing with lye to combat the volcano effect and burnt sugars. So far, this is the only way I have done it and have not had trouble and will continue using this method because it works well for me.

Since you are a brewer, why not use your wort, rather than use carbonated beer? Or if you have end of the keg beer that's not quite as good to drink let that go flat?

Thanks for the advice !!!! as to using the wort to use in place of water I would think that would be worse if burnt sugars are a concern from the lye. Wort is all sugar from the alpha and beta gluconase conversion and no yeast is there to covert those sugars to alcohol. Using a well attenuated beer that has left most of the residual sweetness out would probably be best. I would shoot for 80% attenuation to remove most of the sugar mot commercial beer is not this attenuated ( sugar - alcohol removal ) so it will be a custom order I will whip up. Thanks again.

 

[jeremmy]

I boil the beer for 10 minutes and than put in the freezer for an hour so that its nice and cold. I just replace the entire amount of the water with beer. I did one batch cpop and even than it didnt volcano, so i guess what i do works well..i did use homemade non-alcoholic beer, not sure if that made a difference (of course, that means there was trace amounts of alcohol).

 

[lizflowers42]

Wort is all sugar from the alpha and beta gluconase conversion and no yeast is there to covert those sugars to alcohol.

I didn't know that! So next time I bum home brew from my brother I will not request just a batch of wort and ask for his end of keg left over

 

[marghewitt]

I do the same as lizflowers42. I let the beer go flat out on the counter overnight, stirring it everytime I pass it then weigh and freeze the total amount I need. I don't use water at all. Never had a problem with the volcano and never had it burn. I mix the lye slowely into the frozen beer and keep it cool. I also don't insulate the mold, just cover with freezer paper.