Holey moley, thats some lather

[Obsidian]

Some months back I saved a little tallow after cooking some cheap hamburger. Its been sitting in the freezer and I really needed to get it used so I slapped together a quick recipe and made a small batch a couple weeks ago.
Gave it a test lather last night and wow! It has more lather then any of my other soaps except salt bars. I'm really surprised I was able to get such nice results while keeping the cleansing number right around where I need it.

Though I would share in case someone else is looking for a really nice, high lather recipe. Of course I don't know how it will feel on the skin yet since its young and I've not properly tested it. I do know I like it enough to actually render more tallow, a process I absolutely hate.

As far as texture goes, its not sticky or draggy, in fact its a nice slick bar but it is still a little soft. I'm not sure if its from the high % of castor or because I forced gel. Seems I always get a weird soft texture when I cpop, next time I'll leave it to saponify at room temp.

http://www.evernote.com/l/ANgTj5kWO0VHPYo6KS0h8qNDmdn37gsihj0/

 

[cmzaha]

Do you always use 20% coconut oil? I use about 17% with my 45/25 tallow to lard and I get a thick creamy lather. Tallow as I am sure you noticed does up the cleansing number, but I never found it drying, even when I tested 100% tallow. I love tallow but do not render my own since I make so much and have to source for the trimmings. I use Smart and Final beef shortening which is pure beef fat

 

[IrishLass]

That looks like a very nice recipe. Thank you for sharing!

LOL, I like what you wrote in the "notes" box: "made with 1 oz of nasty patch".




IrishLass

 

[Obsidian]

I use 14-20% coconut, I'll try 15 next time. I wish I could get rendered tallow here but so far, its a no go. I suppose I could order it but I have around 20lb of ft in the freezer.

@IrishLass I got a new bottle of patch and it is terrible, smells really sweet and chemically, not the normal moldy patch that I love

 

[MorpheusPA]

I loves me some tallow, and use it in amounts right up to 80%. Use some oatmeal and the lather is thick, creamy, and impossible to beat.

 

[lenarenee]

I wish I knew how you all are getting a nice lather from tallow. I played with 50 lbs of it: high tallow, low tallow, lard and tallow, etc. I never got thick or creamy lather - I got thin milky lather. Mixing lard and tallow in equal amounts gave me a "dead" bar of soap. Yes, there's the initial large bubbles, but little of it.

I absolutely love the crisp bars that tallow can make, but never found a recipe to make it perform.

 

[Obsidian]

Thats odd, even my high tallow bar had decent creamy lather. I wonder if it had something to do with the tallow you had. Maybe try a small amount from a different source.

 

[lenarenee]

Thats odd, even my high tallow bar had decent creamy lather. I wonder if it had something to do with the tallow you had. Maybe try a small amount from a different source.

I've used 2 types of tallow: Smart and Final and Fannie and Flo's (hydrogenated vs non hydrogenated) - in fact 3 different lots of Fannie and Flo's tallow. I truly love the stuff; it's whiter and has less fatty odor than lard. I simply don't get a rich lather even with shea and avocado. Now, keep in mind I've been a dedicated lard user using at least 60% lard in my recipes, and that makes a very voluminous, coating lather. Maybe I just can't accept tallow's lather as creamy?

Another possibility is that I tried the dual lye method on lard recipes (hated it! too many hard to wash off bubbles). But never tried it with tallow or combo tallow and lard.....(insert image of Winnie the Pooh tapping his paw on his little thinking head). Darn, I don't think I have any tallow in the freezer. I could hit Smart and Final for a 50 lbs of it, and what I don't use can make into soap to donate to the Lost Boys of Sudan - which actually is a great idea because some of them are muslim and can use tallow soap. ....sigh....like I don't have enough on my plate already. But I do love the crispness of tallow in a bar - something I miss with a lard bar.