for the Beer Soap Experts

[BakingNana]

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!

I'm one of those who was concerned about gluten because my niece has a serious case of celiac's. But this thread has me convinced to try it! I'll just make sure she doesn't get any of it. My husband also brews beer. I never thought about using the wort in soap. And Bigmoose's soaps are REALLY cool!

Does anyone see a huge difference between using the dark beers vs. light beers? My favorite beer is a Scottish ale, very dark, so I have that one in the house.

 

[Hazel]

BakingNana -

Couldn't you find some gluten free beer and try it in soap? Or doesn't gluten free beer exist?

 

[BakingNana]

It exists and is easy to get, but it's sort of like a generic American beer (think Bud....sorry Bud lovers, but yuck) and doesn't (IMO) have the gorgeous qualities of a fine beer. I'm not going to sell beer soap and I won't give it to anyone in the family without a big caution. She should be OK. The soap I make for her for her eczema is all she uses anyway. If I'm going to play around with beer soap, I'd at least like to use a beer I like. My boys would sure like it!

 

[evergreen]

ice cube method for beer soap?

Has anyone tried freezing flattened beer into ice cubes the way that Anne L. Watson does for milk soap in her book, "Milk Soapmaking"?

 

[PrincessPeach]

Yep, freezing beer works just fine, evergreen! It helps ensure that the beer is really and truly flat.

 

[evergreen]

Yep, freezing beer works just fine, evergreen!

I just did it! I have my first batch of beer soap bubbling in the crock.

I put the beer in a quart container and shook it every couple of minutes for about forty minutes. I let it sit while I did some things around the house and found my ice cube trays. I froze the beer and started the soap a few hours later.

So far, so good. It didn't smell that bad...somewhere between crab and fermenting bread dough or Amish Friendship starter. I can't wait for the Sam Adams Summer Ale Soap to be finished. I'll be putting honey and litsea in this one.

 

[Hazel]

Sounds wonderful!

You do know it's forum rules that you must post pictures after telling everyone that you have soap in the pot...hee hee :wink:

 

[jessicammorton]

So, now I am truly inspired I work at a brewery and so have access to loads of great beer!

Since I only use EOs, and no FOs, in my soaps, I am curious as how to KEEP that beer aroma. I am making a pumpkin soap and want the beer to give my soap a really nice herbal/earthy note...like falling leaves. I am planning on using our fall ale, which is quite hoppy and has lots of oats, wheat, and rye in the malt bill...I want to boil it down 25-30% so I can evaporate off the alcohol and add the beer concentrate at trace.

Question: will my soap still have a little "hoppy-beery" character if I do it this way? And is adding at trace a good idea if using concentrated beer (most alcohol flashed off)? Anyone tried this?

I am super excited!!! My creative wheels are whizzing...

 

[jessicammorton]

P.S. -Totally agree that beer is the best for hair, need to try it in my shampoo bar formula!

I'll share my Beer Hair Rinse recipe, it works like a charm and especially for those days in between regular washings (and as a conditioning rinse after a good scrubbing with a shampoo bar):

- 12 oz. bottle of beer (light, filtered, hoppy styles are best...pilseners and pale ales)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp. honey
- 1/4-1/2 tsp. jojoba oil (depending on how dry your hair is)
- 5 drops bay laurel EO
- 5 drops grapefruit, peppermint, rosemary, or geranium EO

Pour into a jar, cap, and shake well to mix. I use 1/2 cup poured over my wet hair (and I have long hair) in the shower and massage it in, then rinse it out. Store the remainder of the jar in the fridge and use it up within a week, always shaking before you use.

*Note: if you use rosemary EO, don't wash hair at night...the rosemary will make you very alert and you won't get any sleep!! I always forget, until I am still awake at 2am

 

[Soaplady22]

Thank you for sharing your recipe! May have to try this one ~
*S*

 

[lily]

This thread inspired me to make my first batch of beer soap ! I made a HP blonde d'Achouffe (from Belgium) beer soap. I found an amazingly good link that helped me very much. http://www.natural-skincare-made-easy.o ... -soap.html

Everything went so well ! Therefore, I feel that a slight yeast smell residue... is it normal ? It faded a bit during the night but then... I will see if my e.o.'s smell will get stronger.

Today, I try with Guiness. I am so much looking forward to making it. I think that us, soapmakers are crazy and so much hooked on our art !

Thank you to everybody for your inspiration !

 

[paillo]

beer soap is one of my favorites! creamy, extra-bubbly lather and really moisturizing. on a really hot day i love a corona with lime, and it has become my most popular soap.

i use an entire 12-oz corona as all the liquid for a 3-lb batch. i haven't boiled it down at all, but have made sure it's totally flat by keeping it in the refrig for a week in a larger bottle and shaking it frequently. i've never had a volcano effect (only did with wine) and the beer lye smell's not too bad and disappears during cure. lime eo gives it a wonderfully fresh scent, and enough of the beer's natural fragrance remains to make it really smell like corona with lime. to keep the scent i keep the batch in a covered plastic shoebox with a couple of lime eo/ soaked cotton balls.

can't wait to try some autumn beers, but a bit perplexed as to what eos to add...

here's a not-very-pretty and small pic of the corona lime if anyone's interested. http://www.dragonphlies.com/images/1279 ... 67174.jpeg. i made a new batch with lime and lemongrass eos and green french clay lemongrass embeds -- much prettier than these examples, a hit with my buyers, and one of my personal favorites.

 

[dubnica]

OMG another thing to do...I will never stop :roll:

 

[peteyfoozer]

I made my first beer soap recently, and I LOVE it! I can't believe what it does for my hair!
:mrgreen:

 

[lily]

I made HP beer soap and am too looking forward to trying it. ... is it another addiction.
Tonight, this is my second batch and I add honey, honey f.o. and nutmeg e.o. (with a Guiness soap)

I wonder if phytokeratin would be destroyed if added after cooking.

 

[Stacey]

Ok, you got me. I'm trying Beer Soap today. Go Me!

I'm gonna boil down the Extra Stout Guiness I got to at least half concentrate. Then I'm going cool it down in the freezer. When making my lye water I reduce the amount of water by how much concentrated beer I have and add the beer to the oils.

Lastly, I'd like to add some honey to the soap. I'll do that at trace. I'm putting in eo's or fo's for my first trip down the Beer Soap Road.

Am I missing anything? Does it sound like I'm doing it correctly?

Thanks to everyone for the inspiration! My family will love the beer soap!

 

[steffm]

I made beer soap this summer. This and my hemp soap are what went the fastest. Love this soap. Just got more beer to make more soap !

 

[Stacey]

So I made my beer soap yesterday. CPOP. I took it out of the molds this morning to cut and it was a little oily. That normal?

This is the recipe I used:
http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/s ... -beer.html

BTW: I didn't put any honey in or any EO's/FO's. I just made it plain.

 

[judymoody]

Thanks for all of you who contributed to this thread. Armed with all of your tips, I just made my first batch of beer soap which I hope will also work as a shampoo bar. I boiled down the beer by half and then added my honey to that. The remainder of my liquid was water and I added the lye to that. I stirred the concentrated lye water with my oils at about 110 degrees to blend and then I added my beer honey mixture. I don't know what it's supposed to smell like but it just smelled like beer, not funky at all. Used Cedarwood, Rosemary, Clary Sage and 10x Orange EO to scent. All went beautifully until I tapped the mold (it was a small 500 gram test batch so I used an old Pringles can) to get out air bubbles and the bottom of the mold fell off. Oops! Fortunately my work surface is a scrap piece of formica counter top. I jammed the lid back on, scooped up the soap that had oozed out (let's hear it for rubber gloves) and glopped it back into the mold. I made a mess but hopefully the soap will turn out OK. I had two cylindrical molds lined and waiting to go but only taped the bottom of one of them. Lesson learned!

Oils were PO, CO, OO, Castor, Babassu, and small amounts of wheat germ oil, cocoa butter, jojoba, and beeswax.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all of you who contributed to this thread. Armed with all of your tips, I just made my first batch of beer soap which I hope will also work as a shampoo bar. I boiled down the beer by half and then added my honey to that. The remainder of my liquid was water and I added the lye to that. I stirred the concentrated lye water with my oils at about 110 degrees to blend and then I added my beer honey mixture. I don't know what it's supposed to smell like but it just smelled like beer, not funky at all. Used Cedarwood, Rosemary, Clary Sage and 10x Orange EO to scent. All went beautifully until I tapped the mold (it was a small 500 gram test batch so I used an old Pringles can) to get out air bubbles and the bottom of the mold fell off. Oops! Fortunately my work surface is a scrap piece of formica counter top. I jammed the lid back on, scooped up the soap that had oozed out (let's hear it for rubber gloves) and glopped it back into the mold. I made a mess but hopefully the soap will turn out OK. I had two cylindrical molds lined and waiting to go but only taped the bottom of one of them. Lesson learned!

Oils were PO, CO, OO, Castor, Babassu, and small amounts of wheat germ oil, cocoa butter, jojoba, and beeswax.

AS I am on a similar quest now, how did this shampoo bar turn out?