Beer Soap?

[Nona'sFarm]

I have some homemade cider which is just undrinkable could I use this instead of beer? It's a natural cider of apples, yeast and a little extra apple juice at the end of processing? If so does anyone has a good cider soap recipe I can experiment with please

I used my same basic recipe, just substituted the cider for the same weight in water.
The difference is the process, here is what works for me:
1. Weigh your cider, you want the weight to at least equal the weight of liquid you need
2. Simmer the cider for 20 minutes to get rid of any alcohol or carbonation. The amount of liquid will reduce as it simmers. That's ok. Just keep an eye on it, don't let it boil dry. Add a little distilled water to keep it from boiling dry, if needed. You want the liquid to reduce by about half.
3. While the cider is cooking, weigh out distilled water for half of the amount of liquid. Add the lye to this water and set aside to cool.
4. Once the cider is finished simmering, set the pan in an ice bath to cool.
5. Prepare your oils/fats.
6. Once the cider has cooled to 60 -70 F, weigh it. You need it to weigh 1/2 of your needed liquid amount. Add a little distilled water, if needed to get to the weight you need.
7. Once the lye water has reached room temperature, add the cider. Mix well. The sugars in the cider will make the lye mixture heat up a little and may give off a little burnt smell. That's ok. It will disappear as the soap cures.
8. Continue with your normal soap process.

Note that if you want the finished soap to smell like cider, you will need to add a fragrance.
Also, I usually simmer the cider the night before and let it set in the refrigerator overnight. But you can cool it more quickly with an ice bath, if that works better for you. For example, I don't always know in advance when I'll have a window of time to do some soaping. So the ice bath is good for those sudden bandwidths of time that appear.
Hope this helps.

 

[linne1gi]

I have no beer in my house and no beer drinkers. No, we're not tea-tollers, just not beer. Picnic weather is coming up. Maybe I'll grab a beer at one of the cookouts and try it in the future.

I buy beer just for the soap. I usually buy a six pack of beer in the grocery store, make beer with it and just buy new beer when it’s used up. I don’t drink the beer just make soap with it. Makes luscious lather. And I also scent it however. No rhyme or reason to it.

 

[MarnieSoapien]

I just made a batch of beer soap today I added Orange and Patchouli EOs and am going to call it Brass Monkey (if you don't know what a brass monkey is, it's a poor man's mimosa, beer and OJ). @Nona'sFarm I don't simmer my beer, I just leave it open in the fridge for at least 3 days to make sure all of the carbonation is gone and I don't use an ice bath since my beer is already refrigerator cold.

 

[linne1gi]

I just made a batch of beer soap today I added Orange and Patchouli EOs and am going to call it Brass Monkey (if you don't know what a brass monkey is, it's a poor man's mimosa, beer and OJ). @Nona'sFarm I don't simmer my beer, I just leave it open in the fridge for at least 3 days to make sure all of the carbonation is gone and I don't use an ice bath since my beer is already refrigerator cold.

I make my beer soap like you. I don’t simmer either. But I leave it open on my soaping table for several days then refrigerate it, then use the liquid to dissolve my lye. Maybe I’ll try leaving it open in the refrigerator instead.

 

[DeeAnna]

People have had their room-temp beer get moldy (edit: as in an open bottle of beer left out to go flat). Even though I know I'll add lye to it, the idea of using moldy beer in my soap doesn't have a lot of appeal.

 

[linne1gi]

People have had their room-temp beer get moldy (edit: as in an open bottle of beer left out to go flat). Even though I know I'll add lye to it, the idea of using moldy beer in my soap doesn't have a lot of appeal.

Well, I’ve let my beer go flat dozens of times and it hasn’t gone moldy yet. Since Florida is pretty much the mold capital of the world, and it hasn’t happened, I’m not going to worry about it.

 

[Nona'sFarm]

My understanding is that you also want to boil out the alcohol, that the alcohol is not conducive to soap making. You are left with the sugars, but not the actual alcohol. But perhaps it depends on the ABV, perhaps low ABVs do not need the same treatment. Either way, this is working for me and am glad your process is working for you, @linne1gi & @MarnieSoapien .

 

[linne1gi]

My understanding is that you also want to boil out the alcohol, that the alcohol is not conducive to soap making. You are left with the sugars, but not the actual alcohol. But perhaps it depends on the ABV, perhaps low ABVs do not need the same treatment. Either way, this is working for me and am glad your process is working for you, @linne1gi & @MarnieSoapien .

I understood that by letting the beer sit out, the alcohol also evaporates, as well as the fizziness.

 

[ShirleyHailstock]

I buy beer just for the soap. I usually buy a six pack of beer in the grocery store, make beer with it and just buy new beer when it’s used up. I don’t drink the beer just make soap with it. Makes luscious lather. And I also scent it however. No rhyme or reason to it.

I might try this. The more I read about beer soap, the more I want to try it. I love a lot of lather.

 

[linne1gi]

I might try this. The more I read about beer soap, the more I want to try it. I love a lot of lather.

It cannot be beat for luxurious lather.

 

[amd]

I understood that by letting the beer sit out, the alcohol also evaporates, as well as the fizziness.

Not much though.
https://oureverydaylife.com/what-ha...n-bottles-of-beer-are-left-open-12389841.html
This article references 30%, but I quickly asked my husband and another guy in our brew club and they feel it would be less than 30% loss due to evaporation. They were more concerned about wild yeast being collected in the beer by sitting out opened, which would give the beer unpleasant smells and tastes (which my husband also expressed to me when I first started making beer soaps)... but as this is going into soap I'm not as concerned with those things as long as my soap doesn't smell unpleasant. The smell concern [from wild yeast] is why I prefer to give my beer a quick boil rather than letting it sit. It's faster, more thorough (a 10 minute low boil will remove approx 70% of the alcohol), and doesn't have the risk of being spilled and/or drank (drunk?) by accident.

 

[MGM]

I only soap with leftover beer. There are only a handful over the years that I absolutely would not drink another sip of, and so now I have a good use for them.

 

[Nona'sFarm]

I understood that by letting the beer sit out, the alcohol also evaporates, as well as the fizziness.

Oh, did not know that, interesting. Just read the article @amd referenced, looks like about 30% of the alcohol evaporates overnight. So maybe that is enough to offset whatever negative effects the alcohol has on soap. I honestly can't remember what these negative effects are, just that there are some.

 

[jcandleattic]

My understanding is that you also want to boil out the alcohol, that the alcohol is not conducive to soap making.

Alcohol can make the soap seize or get thick quick. I've never had a soap seize with beer (even with an ABV of up to 13%) and I don't boil out the alcohol.
I've also soaped with wine of about 18% and although it got thick quick, it didn't seize.
So I guess it depends on what you are doing and how fast you want to work. I do swirls in almost all of my soaps, and even with the thicker batter of my alcohol soaps, I'm still able to bend it to my will... LOL

 

[Claire.martin2]

I used my same basic recipe, just substituted the cider for the same weight in water.
The difference is the process, here is what works for me:
1. Weigh your cider, you want the weight to at least equal the weight of liquid you need
2. Simmer the cider for 20 minutes to get rid of any alcohol or carbonation. The amount of liquid will reduce as it simmers. That's ok. Just keep an eye on it, don't let it boil dry. Add a little distilled water to keep it from boiling dry, if needed. You want the liquid to reduce by about half.
3. While the cider is cooking, weigh out distilled water for half of the amount of liquid. Add the lye to this water and set aside to cool.
4. Once the cider is finished simmering, set the pan in an ice bath to cool.
5. Prepare your oils/fats.
6. Once the cider has cooled to 60 -70 F, weigh it. You need it to weigh 1/2 of your needed liquid amount. Add a little distilled water, if needed to get to the weight you need.
7. Once the lye water has reached room temperature, add the cider. Mix well. The sugars in the cider will make the lye mixture heat up a little and may give off a little burnt smell. That's ok. It will disappear as the soap cures.
8. Continue with your normal soap process.

Note that if you want the finished soap to smell like cider, you will need to add a fragrance.
Also, I usually simmer the cider the night before and let it set in the refrigerator overnight. But you can cool it more quickly with an ice bath, if that works better for you. For example, I don't always know in advance when I'll have a window of time to do some soaping. So the ice bath is good for those sudden bandwidths of time that appear.
Hope this helps.

Thanks I'm deffo going to try this Will post the results

 

[Saffron]

I use the cheapest non-alcoholic beer on the supermarket shelf. No need to boil - just pour into a shallow dish and stir until the fizz is gone, then freeze into cubes before mixing with NaOH.

 

[Zen Pretzel]

I did that last summer....Corona with lime eo....had to do it...the lather was crazy, and it was fun.

We could definitely make some Corona beer soap with lime fragrance oils. Given the state of today's society, I'd call it "Coronavirus with a slice of Lyme disease". I'm sure it will be a bestseller.

 

[ShirleyHailstock]

I use the cheapest non-alcoholic beer on the supermarket shelf. No need to boil - just pour into a shallow dish and stir until the fizz is gone, then freeze into cubes before mixing with NaOH.

Good idea. As an FYI, beer, wine and alcohol are not sold in our supermarkets. A few have them, but you have to go to a special cash register or through a dedicated door to buy them. I'm seen wine at Trader Joe's, and I don't know how that works. There is no separate door or signs leading to a particular cash register. Just an FYI.

 

[Arimara]

Good idea. As an FYI, beer, wine and alcohol are not sold in our supermarkets. A few have them, but you have to go to a special cash register or through a dedicated door to buy them. I'm seen wine at Trader Joe's, and I don't know how that works. There is no separate door or signs leading to a particular cash register. Just an FYI.

Was it just wine in that Trader Joe's?

 

[ShirleyHailstock]

Was it just wine in that Trader Joe's?

That's all I noticed. I don't go there often and I'm rarely looking for wine. I have my favorites and they don't sell them there.