for the Beer Soap Experts

[cp chick]

I made my first beer batch this past weekend. About a week ago I poured a beer into an ice cream container and stirred it well. It was left at room temp in my soaping room until Saturday, when I made my batch. No reducing and used 100% beer as liquid, but I did partially freeze it, with no volcano. The smell is very wheaty/hoppy, but not what I would call bad. I used green clay and green/yellow oxide with a Sweet Grass EO. Unfortunately it was a partial gel, but after 36 hrs all I smelled was EO. Can't wait for it to cure!

 

[marghewitt]

Wondering if anyone knows if I can use a stock photo of a bottle of Guinness Stout on a soap label for soap make with Guiness? I btw boiled the beer and had no problem stirring in the lye.

 

[Lindy]

You do need to get permission to name the beer in your advertising which would include a picture of their beer. They are very fussy on their branding so a quick email to them should take care of it.

 

[marghewitt]

Oh well they said no to using thier logo.

 

[Lilahblossom]

Hello from Wisconsin! Beer is us lol. Listen even if your beer is flat you still have to cook off the alcohol! Beer shampoo idea is old as the hills. Back in the fifties, it was used plain as a setting lotion. Now we know how to put it in our soap. You don't have to leave it open for a week either cause when it's boiled, it goes flat. I use two bottles. lol
Hope this helps someone.

 

[marghewitt]

Well I've made several batches at this point using 100% Guinness and they are turning out great. Seems to be very popular. I do not boil the beer, just pour into a pitcher and stir often for a couple of days. I leave it out on the counter till the carbonation goes way down then I weigh it for my batch of soap and freeze it. I mix the lye very slowly into the frozen beer so the mixture does not heat up. I mix the mixture into room tempture oils and it all works perfectly. It does have a funky odor but the cured soap does not.

 

[Lindy]

Oh well they said no to using thier logo.

Is there a craft brewery in your area? They will usually donate the beer for soap as long as you are putting their logo on your label. It is wonderful advertising for them. The one I use gives me beer as it is being filtered so it's not a drinkable or finished product yet and it works fantastic!

 

[jeremmy]

I made a 100% beer soap this week for the first time. Boiled it for 10 minutes and than put it in the freezer for one hour in a shallow container. The smell of it boiling is horrible...it did heat up more than a water/lye solution, but definitely no burning or volcano effect...i actually did it cpop, but it didnt overheat or volcano in the oven either.

 

[melstan775]

I made a 100% beer soap this week for the first time. Boiled it for 10 minutes and than put it in the freezer for one hour in a shallow container. The smell of it boiling is horrible...it did heat up more than a water/lye solution, but definitely no burning or volcano effect...i actually did it cpop, but it didnt overheat or volcano in the oven either.

Is there any reason to boil other then making it go flat faster? Soaping101 says to get the yummy benefits of brewski in the beer not to boil it. Just curious.

 

[Lindy]

I like to reduce it so that it is significantly stronger when I add it to the soap.......

 

[Hazel]

I simmer it to make sure most of the alcohol has evaporated.

 

[paillo]

i forgot to say i love my milk soaps, so i use half the beer, mixed with buttermilk powder, at trace.

 

[Hazel]

That's a good idea1 I never thought of adding some buttermilk powder. I have tried beer and cream together and liked the soap. What I didn't like was the FO I used so I still have bars of it.

 

[hoegarden]

It's really good that this post from 2 years ago surfaced up.

I am always interested in using beer in my soap, especially shampoo soaps. All the reading got me excited and wanting to try out more.

Just a few questions:
1) Have anybody use beer that were expired before to make? Will it affect the quality of the soap?
2) Which is a better way of adding beer? To the lye? or to the soap at trace?

Seems like different people have different preference on the adding of the beer. Thus will like to have more understanding before I proceed.

 

[TangledFrog]

What timing! I just came across a video on YouTube over the weekend (Soaping101 Channel, if you've heard of it).

Anyway, the video I watched mentioned leaving the beer out until flat and then freezing it. And combining with a "milk" of your choice for added conditioning to offset the effects of any residual alcohol. I'm actually hoping to experiment with this soon.

Oh, here's the link... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfbmeZuWwuY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfbmeZuWwuY[/ame]

 

[Lindy]

I really need to emphasize that you have to get the alcohol out too. That is why I cook mine.

Expired beer should be fine as long as there is no mold....

 

[Hazel]

Just a few questions:
1) Have anybody use beer that were expired before to make? Will it affect the quality of the soap?
2) Which is a better way of adding beer? To the lye? or to the soap at trace?

I agree with Lindy.

As long as the beer isn't moldy, it will be fine in soap and won't affect the quality. Of course, you may not want to drink old beer. :wink: As I understand it, beer doesn't really expire because of the alcohol content. It just won't taste as good (some people have told me beer doesn't taste good even before the exp/sell by date). I reply - it depends on the beer.

The best way of adding beer is how you prefer to do it. I've done it both ways - either add the lye to the beer or mix the lye in water and add the simmered down beer after I've blended the lye solution into the batch. Both ways work fine - just do what you find is easiest.

 

[pjfan74]

My husband brews beer and we have talked about making corresponding batches of soap. I want to use the wort for soaping. That is the pre-carbonated "runnings." I will have to post and let you know how it goes with that. Thanks for all of the ideas!

My husband brews as well...I'm anxious to hear how the soap turns out using the wort! Have you ground any of the spent grains and used in soap? Although, I love making Spent Grain Bread, so not sure I could part with any to use in soap!

 

[green soap]

My husband brews as well...I'm anxious to hear how the soap turns out using the wort! Have you ground any of the spent grains and used in soap? Although, I love making Spent Grain Bread, so not sure I could part with any to use in soap!

I used to brew beer and recently made my first three batches of beer soap. I was just thinking that the wort would work out better than the finished beer. We would not have to boil it for a long time to evaporate the alcohol, and no carbonation to worry about either. With my method I would freeze the wort directly into ice cube trays.

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

What is the "wort"? I just spoke with my local brewer to work out of deal to trade some beer for beer soap. He said that I could get some before it is carbonated from him. He was very willing to try out the soap I make out if it.