Can I gel beer soap?
- Thread starter Jessrof
- Start date
Help Support Soapmaking Forum:
thebarof
Member
for my shampoo bars I use beer, all of my soaps I make sure they gel, my favorite method is cpop (on the non overly heated soaps anyways)
I have not had any harm from any of my soaps going through gel phase. I adore my shampoo bar, it is a nice creamy tan/white bar and it has a lovely long shelf life.
when I had milks, sugars, and beer or any additive that increases heat, I just wrap my mold in towels and then place it in an off oven (for me it is the safest place to ensure no one gets overly curious while it is doing its thing)
when I don't add any additives that increase heat I warm the oven, lightly wrap the mold and let it sit in the warmed oven for an hour before turning the heat off and letting it finish doing its thing in the oven.
i prefer my soaps to go through full gel. I find the bar is just so much more to my liking, and I do love the fact that the bar will be able to wait for me until i need it. as I make large batches to last me a few months.
so to be less wordy and more to the point (yes I know I have a habit of rambling ;-) ) yes it is perfectly fine for your beer soap to gel.
I have not had any harm from any of my soaps going through gel phase. I adore my shampoo bar, it is a nice creamy tan/white bar and it has a lovely long shelf life.
when I had milks, sugars, and beer or any additive that increases heat, I just wrap my mold in towels and then place it in an off oven (for me it is the safest place to ensure no one gets overly curious while it is doing its thing)
when I don't add any additives that increase heat I warm the oven, lightly wrap the mold and let it sit in the warmed oven for an hour before turning the heat off and letting it finish doing its thing in the oven.
i prefer my soaps to go through full gel. I find the bar is just so much more to my liking, and I do love the fact that the bar will be able to wait for me until i need it. as I make large batches to last me a few months.
so to be less wordy and more to the point (yes I know I have a habit of rambling ;-) ) yes it is perfectly fine for your beer soap to gel.
"...Can I gel beer soap..."
I do, and it has worked fine for me. I do CPOP as well -- put the soap in the mold then put in the oven at 170 deg F for about 1 hour. Check it every 10-15 minutes especially for the first 30 minutes or so, until you're comfortable with how your recipe works with the CPOP the process.
I use frozen double-strength beer for my lye solution -- I boil beer down to half its original volume then freeze it. Miller beer makes a lovely ivory colored soap. My DH was unhappy that I'd boiled down an entire (cheap) 12 pack of Miller for soap. I promised I would save a few bottles just for him next time.
I do, and it has worked fine for me. I do CPOP as well -- put the soap in the mold then put in the oven at 170 deg F for about 1 hour. Check it every 10-15 minutes especially for the first 30 minutes or so, until you're comfortable with how your recipe works with the CPOP the process.
I use frozen double-strength beer for my lye solution -- I boil beer down to half its original volume then freeze it. Miller beer makes a lovely ivory colored soap. My DH was unhappy that I'd boiled down an entire (cheap) 12 pack of Miller for soap. I promised I would save a few bottles just for him next time.
thebarof
Member
I use frozen double-strength beer for my lye solution -- I boil beer down to half its original volume then freeze it. Miller beer makes a lovely ivory colored soap. My DH was unhappy that I'd boiled down an entire (cheap) 12 pack of Miller for soap. I promised I would save a few bottles just for him next time.
roflmao
when I add beer i do the same thing. The first time i did that my hun was like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" bahahaha just love the reaction when you use their precious beer for so much better uses. hehe.
The men have a hard time understanding this "waste" of beer. Too bad, ha ha. It's why I soap when he's at work. I love Sam Adams Winter Lager in my soaps. And I gel them, too - I just keep an eye on them for overheating problems.
lizflowers42
Well-Known Member
I gel mine, no problems!
Yooper
Well-Known Member
I also gel all my beer soaps.
One thing that my husband loves is the "homemade" aspect. I'm a homebrewer, and I recently made a 100% tallow (that I hand rendered from a grass-fed side of beef we bought) and 100% homebrew for the liquid. I used an oatmeal stout, condensed it down by boiling it to 1/2 its volume, and then froze it and added my lye to that. Then I used 100% tallow, superfat at 8%. Of course, the lye was store-bought, but all the rest was 100% homemade.
It was a great success, and now I'm doing deer tallow soap from a deer I shot with my bow, along with goat's milk and all sorts of other things.
I really like beer soap. The sugar makes nice bubbly lather, and if you use a dark beer you get a wonderful "chocolate" colored soap. The beer scent fades. One of my favorite fragrances was some orange EO in the oatmeal stout soap. It's really nice. (I don't use FOs or much scent at all, but I do use some EOs).
One thing that my husband loves is the "homemade" aspect. I'm a homebrewer, and I recently made a 100% tallow (that I hand rendered from a grass-fed side of beef we bought) and 100% homebrew for the liquid. I used an oatmeal stout, condensed it down by boiling it to 1/2 its volume, and then froze it and added my lye to that. Then I used 100% tallow, superfat at 8%. Of course, the lye was store-bought, but all the rest was 100% homemade.
It was a great success, and now I'm doing deer tallow soap from a deer I shot with my bow, along with goat's milk and all sorts of other things.
I really like beer soap. The sugar makes nice bubbly lather, and if you use a dark beer you get a wonderful "chocolate" colored soap. The beer scent fades. One of my favorite fragrances was some orange EO in the oatmeal stout soap. It's really nice. (I don't use FOs or much scent at all, but I do use some EOs).
Thanks everyone! I have made several batches with beer and I always boil it down. Just made a beach bum soap with corona light! I recently came across a new local brewery and managed to snag a growler of their winter stout. Made the batch today. Figured it would be good soap for the stocking stuffers for the men in my life
Thebarof, do you use slab molds or loaf molds? I attempted to gel my recent beer soap in a slab mold and resulted in a partial gel. Just wondering if I could try a loaf wooden molf, or would this result in the volcano?
Kansas Farm Girl
Well-Known Member
I gelled my last beer soap in a wooden loaf mold. no volcano. I put a stryofoam cooler over the mold to hold the heat in. Sometimes I put the mold in a shoe box first that way I can set another batch on top then put the cooler over that. I want it gelled all the way through. I got some beer from a local brewer. I took some back into him. He was tickled. It was an IPA.
