Hello everyone!

[Nobellius]

What a fantastic resource this is!
Hi, my name is Joshua; I'm pretty new to soap making. I work third shift and my nights off are pretty boring. On one night off a few weeks ago I was cleaning up the kitchen, saw my can of hamburger fat (I don't dump it down the drain and I don't compost stuff like that, so it usually sits on the counter until the coffee can is full enough that I can justify throwing it away), thought about the KOH I had in the basement from other things and I decided I was going to make soap. Here I am! Haha I'll say I learned quite a few things
That first batch of soap pretty much sucked. Sure it got bubbly, kinda, but the fragrance I put in it (warming oil from Walmart) couldn't quite mask the fact that some of the oil I used had been sitting on my counter for a few weeks. I also didn't know that KOH makes liquid soap, but this batch of soap was more pasty than anything.
I put some green food dye in it and it turned deep purple. Anyone ever experience anything like that?
Ah, I digress.. back to introducing myself. I'm 27, I live alone with my puppy Hero. I garden a lot, I'm a homebrewer, mostly meads and IPA's, and now I make soap. Nice to meet ya!

Joshua.

 

[Badger]

Welcome to the forum Joshua! I love mead and haven't had any in what seems like ages. I hope you are learning a lot more about soap making now and that you will have more success now and in the future

 

[lsg]

Welcome Joshua. Please make sure an fragrance oils you use are safe for soap and bath & body product. You can clean your grease by dumping it in a large pan and covering it with water. Bring to a boil and then set it off the burner and let the fat come to the top. Skim off the solid fat. You may have to do this a couple of times to get clean grease.

 

[theath2010]

Hey Joshua, this forum is full of information to search through. They're haven't been many questions I could find the answer too on here. Are you interested in just liquid or CP/HP soap too?

 

[Nobellius]

ISG:
I have some fry oil outside cooling now from boiling it. I'm hoping it's cold enough to at least partially solidify it.

What do you mean, though, about fragrances being 'safe' for soap? How do I know? I was hoping to one day figure out a way to use natural fruit juices for scents, but I'm not sure how the acids would affect the reaction and the overall quality of the soap. Thoughts?

Badger: One thing I think one can never have too much of is mead! There is an absolute trove of information here! It was the consistently withing the top 5 results of all my google searches.

 

[Nobellius]

Theath:
I actually want to make bar soap. The liquid is alright, I use it for laundry, but it's not pretty. I can't show it off like some of the soaps I've seen on here. Haha.

 

[lsg]

The fragrance should state that it is skin safe. Many fragrances at Walmart are for candles or for ceramic fragrance warmers. These are not safe to use for soap.

 

[Nobellius]

Well.. crap, then. Haha good to know, Thanks!

 

[Shannon_m]

Welcome to the forum Joshua! Soaping is a crazy addiction so beware lol. Most of us soapers find our fragrance oils online through suppliers. There are tons and spending hours perusing product and price comparison can do a world of good. I don't know about using fruit juices for fragrance will work. I can't tell you for sure since I've never done it, however from what I understand just about anything you'd want to fragrance with besides good fragrance oil and essential oil will be "killed" in saponification. Best of luck on your soaping adventure and be sure to share pics, we love those here!

 

[Soapa]

Hi Josh!
I learned soap making techniques by watching [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghvQ4v_Fjrs"]You Tube[/ame] and by reading everything I could find in many searches over a number of months. I learned to pay attention and follow instructions fast! My soaps are great. I don't even use commercial soap anymore. I had to purchase a stick blender and a digital scale and a few other items but it wasn't super expensive.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFOdi989-aU"]Soaping 101[/ame] is a great resource. Peak candle supply sells wonderful soap fragrances and colorants may be found at TKB Trading. A Google search of "cold process soap making" or "hot process soap making" returns tons of helpful results. I started out watching the vids for fun because I thought the saponification process fascinating. I thought after a few months: "Could I do that?" The answer is "yes." It is so addictive but at least you get a great bar of soap unique to you out of it. Happy soaping!

 

[kazmi]

Welcome Joshua! I'm a newbie here too and I think you'll find this place is great! Lots of wonderful people that don't mind our questions.

 

[Hazel]

Hi Joshua,

Welcome to the forum! :grin:

Food dyes aren't stable. The high alkalinity of soap will morph colorants which aren't specifically manufactured to be stable for cold process soapmaking. Also, some colorants will fade over time. However, deep purple sounds really cool and if it doesn't fade, you may have found an inexpensive colorant for purple. :wink:

I wouldn't worry too much if your first batch didn't turn out like you wanted. At least you made a batch. Also, I think it's great you're a home brewer. You might find some of the beer soap discussions interesting.

I'd love to see a picture of Hero.

 

[Nobellius]

Ok, so here's what I did today. Which was actually yesterday for those of you not on 3rd shift schedule lol. Not make soap, don't get too excited just yet, I had to work. But I did go to Hobby Lobby and found some nice soap dye and some fairly inexpensive scents. I also went to a local Mom n Pop shop and got some essential oils so I can make soap tonight! A lime one and a wintergreen. They don't really compliment each other well, I don't think, so I probably won't be doing any layering.. or.. whatever we call it. If it's even a thing lol

Thanks Kazmi! I love it here already

Hazel - I really hope that, for me, soaping doesn't end up the way brewing did. It's kind of like, "Oh. I'm not brewing anything right now. I should brew something." LOL And then it's a problem because I need to find a place to put a million buckets (hyperbole, of course) when I want to park my car in the garage. And Hero will be my profile picture if I ever figure out how to have a profile picture. I'll probably at some point make an album for Hero because he's my buddy and I like showing him off But beer soap? I never would have thought a thing. I'll be sure to check it out!

 

[heatherglen]

Welcome!! Mead is awesome!! I have thought about making soap with mead, I've made several beer soaps and they turned out to be some of my best! Not sure what it is about the beer, but the lather was amazing!! We have a local winery close to my house, so I think that is my next venture. You'll be amazed at all the things you can make soap with....and all the things you can"t!

 

[lizflowers42]

Hi Joshua,

Welcome to the forum. You sound pretty adventurous--I was so afraid to use lye for the longest time. I highly recommend that you check out the book "The Everything Soapmaking Book: Recipes and Techniques for Creating Colorful and Fragrant Soaps" by Alicia Grosso from your library (mine had it at least!) Welcome to the forum, everyone here is very helpful and nice, so don't be afraid to ask questions, we all do!!

 

[Hazel]

Be very, very careful with Wintergreen essential oil. I've read it can be hazardous.

http://www.cherylsherbs.com/Essential%20Oil%20Profiles/wintergreen.htm

To add a picture of Hero, click on "My Account" in the upper right hand side. Move your pointer down, click on "Edit Avatar" and then follow the directions.

If you haven't already seen it, there's a beer soap discussion going on right now which you might find interesting. Also, you will find links to related topics at the bottom of the page in a topic.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/beer-soap-why-34029/

 

[Nobellius]

Maybe I'll have to use the wintergreen on a smaller batch. Or not at all. We'll see. I hope, though, that I can figure out how to use it safely, as I grow it in my garden. Probably wouldn't be the same as the super concentrated stuff, though.

I finally got Hero up! He's there <-----

The beer soap sounds spectacular! I can't wait to make some. Hm, using home brew to make home soap. Who knew? Haha! So if you're using a different liquid than water, do you just use it a direct substitute? That is, however much water the recipe calls for, use the same amount of beer, mead, milk, etc?

 

[Hazel]

Beautiful dog! Is he an Australian shepherd?

Some people use other liquids as a direct substitute and some people don't - it's personal preference. I normally use beer and wine for all of the liquid amount unless I don't have enough. Then I'll add some water. I'm lazy about milk/cream so I normally use water for the lye and the rest of the liquid is a dairy product. I'm also find the scent of butyric acid noticeable so I tend to use more water than cream in soap. I only use cream to make up about 25% to 33% of the liquid amount.

There have been discussions about wintergreen which you may find helpful and you can find more if you want to search. But I thought the ones below would give you a good overview.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/safe-soap-making-wintergreen-30232/

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/wintergreen-eo-just-how-dangerous-do-you-think-25265/

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f13/wintergreen-eo-how-dangerous-32574/

 

[Nobellius]

Thank you, Hazel! He's a collie. He doesn't fit the contemporary idea most have based off of Lassie, but collies do come in black, technically tri-color.

Yeah, I decided I'm just going to stay away from wintergreen for now. I'll put in a diffuser or something. Sell it eBay. I dono.
I was mostly curious about the alternative liquids because I have a bunch of pear mead but, as it turns out, I'm not very fond of the flavor of fermented pear. Ya live, ya learn, right? haha I thought if beer can be used in making soap, why not use that pear mead? I'll probably do it tonight!

 

[Camdonnell]

Did you make your soap with the mead? How did it turn out. I'm thinking about using some of our pumpkin wine.