@SonuvaMitch that's quite a recipe! Did you boil off the alcohol from the beer? If not, that would definitely contribute to the seizing, although the stearic on its own moves super fast, of course.
I'm also wondering about the choice to use ghee. Butter and ghee typically produce a fairly nasty smell in the finished soap. Even if you don't smell it when the soap is dry, it typically comes out strongly when the soap is wet. You mentioned a "bread" smell, so perhaps it is a yeasty note for you? Since we all experience smell so differently, you might ask what others smell in the soap, and whether they find it offensive. If so, consider switching to milk or cream instead of ghee or butter.
With all that, I'd love to see the finished product if you get a chance to post some pics!
@AliOop thank you! It's nice to hear that, I considered it deeply.
I actually used a non-alcoholic beer! I used Athletic brand, (I don't think they have to show nutrition facts, but what I found showed no sugar, and 14g of carbs. I may want to add sugar or sorbitol for extra lather, even though that wasn't my problem and won't affect much). Even so, I boiled it to remove the carbonation, and I'm glad I did, because it still foamed up a bit.
I think you're right about the ghee; the finished soap does honestly smell pretty bad. A friend even said it smells like vomit, which I don't entirely agree with, but it's not surprising! It smells fine when used, and although it is very thirsty. It still makes a pretty nice hand soap. I have supposedly rspo palm oil, but the stearic beads are higher in palmitic acid, so I might be better off subbing with shea butter. I like ghee because it has carbohydrates, but the hoppy IPA I have does, too.
If you think milk or cream is a good idea, what about coconut milk? Apparently, it has the same fats as coconut oil, in lower quantities. Also, maybe a dual phase cook would help, since the stearic seizes pretty much instantly.
I'm much better at making lotions and other stuff, but I don't want to shill here. I'll put my website on my profile or something if I can. I couldn't figure out how to upload photos directly on here from my phone or computer, I even converted them to pdf and jpg. For now, here's a dropbox. Thanks again!
Dropbox Link
@SonuvaMitch that's quite a recipe! FsDid you boil off the alcohol from the beer? If not, that would definitely contribute to the seizing, although the stearic on its own moves super fast, of course.
I'm also wondering about the choice to use ghee. Butter and ghee typically produce a fairly nasty smell in the finished soap. Even if you don't smell it when the soap is dry, it typically comes out strongly when the soap is wet. You mentioned a "bread" smell, so perhaps it is a yeasty note for you? Since we all experience smell so differently, you might ask what others smell in the soap, and whether they find it offensive. If so, consider switching to milk or cream instead of ghee or butter.
With all that, I'd love to see the finished product if you get a chance to post some pics!
@AliOop thank you! It's nice to hear that, I considered it deeply.
I actually used a non-alcoholic beer! I used Athletic brand, (I don't think they have to show nutrition facts, but I found it's got no sugar and 14g carbs. It might not change anything, but I'm considering adding sugar or sorbitol for even more lather, not sure if it's a good idea). I still boiled it to remove the carbonation, and I'm glad I did, because it still foamed up a bit.
I think you're right about the ghee; the finished soap does honestly smell pretty bad. A friend even said it smells like vomit, which I don't entirely agree with, but it's not surprising! It smells fine when used, and although it is very thirsty, it still makes a pretty nice hand soap. I have (supposedly) rspo palm oil, but the stearic beads are higher in palmitic acid, so I might be better off subbing with shea butter. I like ghee because it has carbohydrates, but the hoppy IPA I got does, too.
If you think milk or cream is a good idea, what about coconut milk? Apparently, it has the same fats as coconut oil, in lower amounts. Also, maybe a dual phase cook would help, since the stearic seizes instantly.
I'm much better at making lotions and stuff, but I don't want to shill here. I'll put my website on my profile or something if I can. I finally figured out how to get some photos on here, so here you go!