Beer Soap

[bambi]

Hello soapers! I made a few batches of beer soap before without any problem using pilsner light colored beers. But this time I wanna try using stout that has dark color. I want most of it to be black and add bamboo charcoal to color. And I want 1/5 of the top to be light mimicking the frothy foam.

I usually have the beer (added water to match the recipe because I only use one can) and put the lye to the mix.

But for this design using dark stout, should I add the beer to the batter instead? Because I want a small part of the batter to be light. I prefer not to put a lot of TD to lighten a dark batter. How does it work when you add the beer to the batter?

Or is it possible to make separate lye solutions, using beer and using water?
Let's say for a 26oz batch I would need 10oz of water and 4oz of lye, and after simmering my beer comes to 7oz.
Would it work if I mix all the beer with 2.8oz of the lye, and put the rest of the lye to 3oz of water? The beer-lye solution to make the dark base, the water-lye solution to make the light top. Or is it gonna interfere the saponification?

Thanks in advance, guys

 

[Navaria]

Honestly, when I made mine I frothed m&p for the top. I used beer in place of my water for my lye solution. Main reason was I was concerned about getting cp to froth without setting up too much to use. If you do use cp, I would think you should consider it as 2 separate batches and do lye calculations for each part separately. I would be concerned I had 1 part to heavy and one part too light on lye. But that could just be because I tend to fret over that kind of thing lol

 

[LisaAnne]

I made this beer soap over a year ago so I hope I remember this right. I used dark beer and took out the amount for the froth and colored the rest with a fragrance oil that darkened the beer part even more. I don't remember using TD for the top.

 

[Misschief]

This was my first beer soap. I used a dark ale. For colouring, I added a bit of cocoa to the darker portion and a little bit of TD in the "foam".

 

[Navaria]

Beautiful! Both of you guys! I took it to mean you wanted actual foam on the top. Sorry, my bad lol

 

[Misschief]

Hello soapers! I made a few batches of beer soap before without any problem using pilsner light colored beers. But this time I wanna try using stout that has dark color. I want most of it to be black and add bamboo charcoal to color. And I want 1/5 of the top to be light mimicking the frothy foam.

I usually have the beer (added water to match the recipe because I only use one can) and put the lye to the mix.

But for this design using dark stout, should I add the beer to the batter instead? Because I want a small part of the batter to be light. I prefer not to put a lot of TD to lighten a dark batter. How does it work when you add the beer to the batter?

Or is it possible to make separate lye solutions, using beer and using water?
Let's say for a 26oz batch I would need 10oz of water and 4oz of lye, and after simmering my beer comes to 7oz.
Would it work if I mix all the beer with 2.8oz of the lye, and put the rest of the lye to 3oz of water? The beer-lye solution to make the dark base, the water-lye solution to make the light top. Or is it gonna interfere the saponification?

Thanks in advance, guys

Bambi, I used beer as my full liquid. First, I heated it gently and let it sit open for a couple of days to get rid of the carbonation. Even though you may be using a dark ale, it really doesn't come out very dark in the end. For instance, in this picture, the lighter part has been left completely uncoloured except for the beer. I added a bit of cocoa to create the darker swirl.

This particular soap was made with an oatmeal stout that was almost black.

 

[bambi]

Thank you for all the replies and pics, guys. So using dark ale won't make it as dark as I thought it would be . It's just I had an experience before when I used tea as a full water replacement. So when I mixed the lye to the tea, it turned really dark. I got panic (was planning to make light pastel color). I dropped a lot of TD to the batter and it created glycerin river.

 

[bambi]

One more question. Do you guys have any tips if I want to add oatmeal? I'm afraid some parts will be clumpy. How much should I add per pound of oil?

 

[Obsidian]

1 tsp fine ground oatmeal PPO.

 

[TeresaT]

Bambi, my first beer soap was made with oatmeal stout. If you go to the photos tab and do a search of "oatmeal stout" you'll see how dark the batter was when I poured it and how light the soaps turned out. I didn't put any colorant in it because I just assumed the stout would make a dark soap. Not at all. The next time, I'll put some cocoa powder in it to keep that "stout" shade. I need to find a good ale FO.

 

[Arimara]

I have to concur about the stouts. I used a chocolate stout for my non-cider soaps and I was surprised by how light it was after cure. A little bit of cocoa powder would help with coloring but reserving some of the batter for the "foam" would be a smart idea.

 

[kchaystack]

I will third the fact that while the batter looks dark - but lightens once the soap has set up. So you should darken the base with cocoa or brown oxide, and there would be no need to lighten the 'head'.

 

[Misschief]

One more question. Do you guys have any tips if I want to add oatmeal? I'm afraid some parts will be clumpy. How much should I add per pound of oil?

My batch has about 1 tbsp colloidal oatmeal in a 30 oz batch. In addition, I added a little bit of ground hops in the darker swirl (about 1.5 tsp).

 

[rainycityjen]

The only beer soaps I've made with a "beery" dark brown color resulted from using a discoloring FO. Even a reduced stout syrup didn't get me all the way there.

 

[SuzieOz]

I also used Oatmeal Stout FO in mine and didn't add any colour at all, and the soap turned out quite dark. The top "foam" I left without the FO and added a wee bit of TD to. The beer I used was just a lager so quite pale, so the FO was what darkened it. I like the fact that using FO for the colour means no colour runs in the shower.

Doesn't look very "foamy" in the pic but the top of it does a bit.

 

[bambi]

I did it! I used Guinness and added oatmeal. I also tried to soap using 33% lye concentration. This was my first time using this method, usually I used water as % of oils from soapcalc default. I was nervous because (with the same recipe) using 33% of lye concentration needed soo much less water than using water at 38% of oils.

But it did accelerate super fast! I stopped using stick blender only after few seconds but I still managed to put oatmeal and FO but didn't have time to make it darker with charcoal as I planned before. And stir it again manually a couple of times. I couldn't pour the batter to the mold, I had to use scrapper and spatula.

The unmolding was so easy. And when I cut it, the bars are nice and firm. I love it.

From this experience I have even more questions

1. The fast acceleration, was it from the less water or from Guiness? Or maybe from the FO ( I used Beer from NG)?
Even though I love how easy it was to unmold and the firm bars, I still need time to do swirls, add colors, additives, etc on my next soaps. Do you think using less water limits my time to do all those?

2.) I live in the tropics (90% humidity, temperature is high 90s on average), which method is better to soap? Lye concentration or water as % of oils?

Thank you all for the responds

 

[green soap]

We like beer soaps the best, and my latest uses Guinness stout as well!

I used essential oils (a blend that I know does not accelerate) and even after boiling the stout for 2 hours and freezing it, my batter accelerated to the point where I used just a spatula to mix and no stick blender at all.

I boil the beer to take most of the alcohol out because the alcohol does accelerate. There is still a bit left though (I calculated about 0.5%), and i guess this is enough to cause acceleration for me? this has been the case for all my beer soaps though, not much time left for designs. Sometimes I still manage a simple spoon drop type design but I often just make them plain.

I was happy about not needing a stick blender in my future soap endeavors! The stick blender has been conscripted for food and I like it this way.

I should probably clarify that I use the frozen beer to dissolve the lye and use an intermediate amount of liquid (~31% lye concentration)

 

[kchaystack]

As green soap suggests, how did you prep your beer? If you did not heat it to drive off the alcohol that will cause your acceleration. You don't have to boil it - you just need to heat it to about 170F for 15 minutes or so.

When I make beer soap I reduce my oatmeal stout to about half and then freeze it in a zipper bag laid flat in the freezer.

But less liquid will cause things to move faster. Just blend to emulsion, not trace if you want to swirl.

 

[bambi]

Here's how I prep the beer for this batch and the previous ones:
1. Open it and let it sits for 2-3 days.
2. Simmer it for 15 minutes.
3. Freeze it for a night.
4. Take it out of the fridge and wait a little while until it turns nice and slushy and mix it with the lye.

 

[green soap]

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index...doesnt-really-cook-out-of-food-in-most-cases/

according to the above link and other information I have researched, cooking/simmering for 15 minutes will retain 40% of the original alcohol, while a 2 hour simmer will only retain 10%, hence my estimation of 0.5% alcohol in a beer that had originally about 5% alcohol.

This is negligible, but in my case I do it for two reasons: 1- I have acceleration issues even after a 2 hour simmer; 2 - both of us have dryish skin, and since alcohol is considered 'drying' I rather have less of it in our soap, while still enjoying the subtle scent and wonderful bubbles.