help with dark ale PLEASE

[justme]

I am getting ready to do my first batch of beer soap. or should I say ale,, oils are ready ale has been sitting for a week open poured it into a bpitcher no fuzz. thinking I'm ok. add lye a little at a time... Poof foam all over the place.. Phew we survive that, thank heavens it was a big pitcher take it outside to cool an now... Now there is like a gelled clump on top. What is it? is it still good to use? the more it cools the thicker it gets. and I mean thinker it was about scum thick now its like 1/4 inch
Any advice?

 

[agriffin]

I've never heard of that... hopefully someone will respond... wow!

 

[SoapyMom]

Never happened to me either ... I just use flat ale/beer in place of water, dump in the lye, then dump it into my oils.

*Notice how I "dump" a lot? SOOOOO scientific!!!

 

[justme]

you dont let it cool like your water? To room temp. Gotta tell ya after alal the reading I never expected it to foam up the way it did scared the crud outta me.

Ok so notes for beer soap ....
be prepared for the foaming when lye is added

 

[bodybym]

Chances are that it was the alcohol NOT that it wasn't flat. Alcohol boils at a lower temp than water so it will bubble up faster than if you added lye to just water.

Next time try simmering the beer for 5-10 minutes and then letting it cool back to room temp (or put in fridge) before adding lye. This should solve the problem.

 

[ilove2soap]

I also like to whisk my beer with a wire whisk a few times while it is at a low boil to get it super flat, pop it in the fridge overnight and it is ready to make soap by the morning. Using the beer cold out of the fridge helps it to keep from overheating when you add the lye. Darker beer tends to make the soap trace faster so have your molds ready to go...Good luck! Beer soap is one of my favorite soaps!

 

[SoapyMom]

Nope, I don't let my lye solution cool. But I do room temp, so it's a little different from yours.

 

[ilovedoxies]

yep, definately simmer it for a few minutes. Sitting it for a couple days (which I do also) lets the carbonation go flat but it does not remove the alcohol.

 

[djk17]

a question--
why beer? does it add something to the finished soap, or is it more fun label appeal?

I made my thanksgiving turkey basted with beer and it kicked our big dinner up a serious notch, so if it's so good with turkey I believe it could do something in soap too--but what? :shock:

 

[bombus]

The added sugars in the alcohol make for better suds.

 

[Lindy]

Beer itself is extremely good for hair and skin so it does have that something extra which makes it nice in soap and shampoos.

I boil mine down so it's more concentrated then use it as my water substitute....

 

[opalgirl]

what are some good scents to use with the beer. I want to make some with our local brewery and I don't mean Budweiser lol.

 

[ChrissyB]

You've got to boil or simmer the alcohol out. The reaction you got is from the alcohol.
It's meant to be great for a shampoo. I think bigmoose (bruce) soaps with a lot of beer. I think he even home brews his own.
My grandpa used to make home brew beer, geez it was strong stuff.
Would have take a week to boil the alcohol out of that.

Someone had a beer soap that they made and scented with "Mary Jane" fragrance, and called it Buds and Suds.
Who was that????

 

[theBrewMeister]

Hello! Im pretty new to soaping but not new to beer so I feel, being a brewer, I may be able to add some helpful info finally.

Alcohol is a broad term. When people talk about beer/wine/spirits and refer to Alcohol they are referring to Ethanol. However, there are many other "alcohols" in these beverages known as Fusel alcohols. The biggest concern is Acetone-the most volitile and Methanol. Both chemicals are volitile and poisonous. There is also ethyl alcohol, isopropyl and other fusels that are pointless to list as most have never heard of them. All of these chemicals are the culprits (in higher doses) that cause hangovers. I have a chemistry backround but without testing I can not say for sure what reaction these chemicals would have with a caustic material like NaOH.

These chemicals all have lower boiling points than water- beginning around 63* C. Ethanol, the good stuff, evaporates at about 78*C. Thus, even a light simmer which is typically considered to occur (depending on altitude) around 200F (~95*C) will cause a complete loss if carried out long enough; which also depends on alcohol levels.

So, to make a long story short...

I would reccomend removing ALL of these chemicals prior to combining with NaOH. The exothermic reaction (heat) caused by the NaOH in solution might be enough to remove these but other chemical reactions may also be taking place. Again, without proper testing I can not say for sure.

Other things to consider and possible helpful facts:

* If working your soap ingredients at room temp some of these chemicals may make their way into your bars. Do you want to bath in nail polish remover or wood alcohol? These chemicals would be very minute in the amount neccesary for making soap, but still...

* "beer" typically has a pH of about 5.1 - whats the pH of soap??? Just throwing out a scientific question here to maybe understand more benifits of beer in soap. distilled water should be around 7-7.5 pH - neutral.

* Any "bubbling" occuring while making your Lye solution is most likely your "alcohols" being evoporated at accelerated rates. THIS IS DANGEROUS!!!! Especially if you are working near open flame. ALL FORMS OF ALCOHOL ARE FLAMMABLE, and in concentration EXPLOSIVE!!!!

Now, before I scare everyone away from using beer to make soap I'll say this, the amount of alcohols present in beer in the typical amount used for home soap-making isnt really high enough to cause an explosion. But when distilling off alcohol I suggest doing so in a well ventilated area free of open flame, included but not limited to cigarettes.

*Beer contains Hops! Humulus Lupilus,, ever heard of NIOXIN shampoo? they use hop oil to promote the thickening of hair.

*Beer also contains whole grain barley and sometimes wheat and oatmeal. All of which are good for you!

*Beer still contains many complex sugars unlike honey and cane sugars. These sugars are closer to starch in complexity.

*If you boil beer it will carmalize these sugars and make the beer darker.

Hope this helps!!! (sorry no spell check, its really late.)
Joe

 

[madpiano]

wow, thanks for that information. I always wondered why some beers give me a hangover and some don't.

Funny enough, the german word for really cheap and nasty alcoholic beverages is "Fusel".

I boil my beer for 10 minutes (quite a good boil, rather thna a simmer) and then let it cool for a day. This usually gets rid of any alcohols and bubbles. I then use it instead of water to make my lye solution (it stinks !), but add the lye slowly, otherwise vulcano (my drains are squeaky clean). Always put the pitcher in the sink, while mixing it. Beer has a habit of making vilcanos, even if you are careful.

You might want to use fragrances that darken the soap, as even dark beer makes a fairly light coloured soap, definitley not as dark as the beer. So you can use Patchouli or Dragonblood. I also like lime & ginger for a "Shandy-Soap". Or, if aiming at the female market, Vanilla

 

[theBrewMeister]

Yeah, I was told that Fusel was german for "rotgut", or "hooch".

I also learned while going thru one of my chemistry books that the pH of human skin is about 5.5; so our skin is slightly acidic, similar to beer @ ~5.1.

 

[Soaplady22]

I sometimes add crushed hops to my beer soap in keeping with the theme!!

*S*

 

[Soaplady22]

........ ooops - double post