Cocoa butter beer soap

[metrodynamo]

Hi all.

I know that beginners shouldn't be making beer soap, but I promise to make sure that all the bubbles are taken out.

My question is twofold:

I am using a very strongly scented cocoa butter. How much percentage would I need to use so that I just might get some of that chocolate fragrance in there? I know that usually that saponification tends to make the soap lose all cocoa butter fragrance but I figured I'd give it a go. Is 20% too much? I also plan on using coconut oil, sunflower oil, olive oil and castor oil, so if anyone has a rough idea of percentages for the oils, please let me know!


If I use a dark beer instead of water, it would colour all the soap. How do I make it so that the soap has two different colours and isn't all dark? I'm trying to keep everything natural.

Thanks everyone!!!

 

[judymoody]

Hi there, beer soap is not that complicated. Just make sure you have a tall container to mix your lye. It will tend to bubble and froth. Add the lye bit by bit, stirring thoroughly after each addition and let it cool down before you soap and you should be fine.

If you want a two color soap, you can make half the batch with water and the other half with beer and layer them. Alternately, you could color one half with clay or an oxide if you're not opposed to oxide colorants. When I soap with beer, I add titanium dioxide to a portion and then swirl the two for a subtle, two-toned effect.

Cocoa butter scent is unlikely to survive at 20%. Too much CB will make your soap waxy feeling also.

Have fun and I hope it works out for you.

 

[goji_fries]

Judy mentions a great point. Watch out for bubbling and frothing when mixing in your lye into beer. The beer lye solution will heat up really fast and it willbegin to bubble if you add too much lye too fast. AKA lye volcano.

Also, the bubbles are one thing but it is the alcohol you want to slowly simmer off. You may begin with a 24oz bottle and end up with 18oz of beer liquid. :wave:

 

[seven]

i would do 15% max. usually, with my soaps, i go around 5-10%,

 

[Seawolfe]

I cook down some of the beer into a very dark thick syrup - like from 8 ounces to 2 ounces, and add that to half the batter. The other half just gets 2 ounces of stale beer - that gives the beer a nice two tone. So of course the original addition of lye to beer is short by 4 ounces of beer - your recipe may vary, but something like this works well. I like to add the lye to frozen beer - it doesn't overheat and do that ammonia smell. On this soap I used a darkish IPA (Arrogant ******* from Stone Brewing)

As for the cocoa - the scent really won't be noticeable against the beer.

 

[metrodynamo]

So...how does that work in a recipe with the lye calculator? Are you telling it that you are using 4 oz of liquid? Thanks!

You've all been really helpful. Thank you!

One more question though: if I wanted to have a chocolatey scent which was all natural yet didn't cause staining, what would you suggest?

 

[Seawolfe]

So...how does that work in a recipe with the lye calculator? Are you telling it that you are using 4 oz of liquid? Thanks!

No - I use the full liquid, just some is added up front to the lye, and some after to the batter.

Pretend the recipe called for 9 oz of water (or beer in this case). I added 5 oz of frozen beer to the lye, then later when I divided the batter into two I added 2 oz of beer syrup to one half and 2 oz of plain flat beer to the other half. Its still 9 oz of liquid total - I just didn't mix it with the lye all at once.

 

[cmzaha]

I cook down some of the beer into a very dark thick syrup - like from 8 ounces to 2 ounces, and add that to half the batter. The other half just gets 2 ounces of stale beer - that gives the beer a nice two tone. So of course the original addition of lye to beer is short by 4 ounces of beer - your recipe may vary, but something like this works well. I like to add the lye to frozen beer - it doesn't overheat and do that ammonia smell. On this soap I used a darkish IPA (Arrogant ******* from Stone Brewing)

As for the cocoa - the scent really won't be noticeable against the beer.

Gorgeous soaps SeaWolfe

 

[Seawolfe]

Thanks Carolyn, that means a lot. It wouldn't have been possible without everyone's help when I asked about beer soaps

 

[Saponista]

Do they keep the scent of beer or do you fragrance them with something else?

 

[Seawolfe]

Those bars still smell pleasantly beery, slightly hoppy. Its fading, but becomes noticeable in the shower again. I was super careful not to scorch the beer with the lye by using frozen beer, but you have to be careful not to keep it all TOO cool.

 

[Saponista]

I think I will give some beer soap a go then if it keeps that hoppy smell.

 

[snappyllama]

I've got some pumpkin ale that I am working on a recipe for... Any suggestions on a good scent profile to go with it?

For the life of me, the only thing I can think of that smells good with beer is pizza and/or sweaty DH after cutting wood. Neither seem really right for soap though...

Something spicy maybe??

 

[AMyers]

Orange goes well with the hops in beer. Some of it depends on what kind of beer. A heavier beer will go with different scents than a lighter one, and the amount of hops vs. malt will probably make a difference in scent as well. I've got some homebrew in the freezer, waiting for a day to play (maybe today, hopefully today!) and I'm not sure what scent I'll put with it, as we don't like much hops, so it's a malty one. I'll figure it out when I get the batter mixed and see how it's smelling then. I'm thinking orange.

 

[snappyllama]

Thanks!

 

[metrodynamo]

No - I use the full liquid, just some is added up front to the lye, and some after to the batter.

Pretend the recipe called for 9 oz of water (or beer in this case). I added 5 oz of frozen beer to the lye, then later when I divided the batter into two I added 2 oz of beer syrup to one half and 2 oz of plain flat beer to the other half. Its still 9 oz of liquid total - I just didn't mix it with the lye all at once.

Cheers!

 

[metrodynamo]

How could I keep the chocolate scent naturally without using anything that stains?