Tallow ho!

[Chris_S]

I totally agree with Susie that you experienced false trace. First mistake was trying to get to trace while cooling off your batter in cold water while whisking, especially when working with tallows, hard butters, lard etc. They will start to thicken up due to the cooling and you will think you have trace, but you do not. It is a learning curve. If you had continued stirring your batter would have heated up and thinned back out.

Using a stick blender will help tremendously, unless trying to make a floating soap, it is best not to use a wire whisk, which incorporates air into your soap batter. A lot of the trick is know how your batter behaves and you now know with your deer tallow. My go to recipes contain around 40% hard oils such as my tallow/lard soap or high palm. They will always go into false trace when I dump in my room temp lye solution, and take a few minutes of off and on stick blending before the batter warms back up and thins out. I will mention here I do not pour my fragrances into the oils before adding in my lye. If I tweak my recipe at all, which I am certainly known to do, I want to know how the batter is going to behave.

Am i understanding correctly that if im working with cold batter iv hit false trace? and all i need to do is stir and sb occasionally until its got warm and thin again? what happens if its not false trace but i think it is it will just continue to get thicker and thicker?

 

[DirtyKnuckles]

I will let these bars age for a month and get back to you on what I think of them at that point. They look just fine to me, at this point. They smell completely normal. And they feel "soapy" (wow, really?) on the surface.

So. I got that going for me.

 

[Meena]

It was my third or possibly fourth.

I will probably stick with tallow based soaps because this is about an ethical use of every part of the animal that I can.

I really applaud that. Life is sacred, and taking a life should be done with reverence, respect, and appreciation for the animal's sacrifice on our behalf. Nose-to-tail is a great ethic to follow.

 

[Steve85569]

Another Lardinator!
Welcome to the forum!

Your soap turned out very nice looking.
Less water and a stick blender will help the tallow and alkali become soap faster. Makes soaping much easier.

 

[DirtyKnuckles]

I really applaud that. Life is sacred, and taking a life should be done with reverence, respect, and appreciation for the animal's sacrifice on our behalf. Nose-to-tail is a great ethic to follow.

Oh, Meena. You don't know the half of it. My work carries a particular burden regarding death that I can only hope to lay down some day. There is a struggle to remember that reverence, respect, appreciation, and maintain my humanity.

On a brighter note, the soap passed the zap test this morning. If anything, it is even WHITER today.

One question, though....what differences can I expect to find in the final product since I used hard tap water instead of distilled? Or is it just something I would see in the processing?

 

[Steve85569]

One question, though....what differences can I expect to find in the final product since I used hard tap water instead of distilled? Or is it just something I would see in the processing?

As long as you don't have metals dissolved in your water it should be okay.
( Watch for DOS)
Minerals can reduce lather and also create soap scum. Using a chelator like EDTA or Sodium citrate helps with that.

 

[DirtyKnuckles]

Minerals can reduce lather and also create soap scum. Using a chelator like EDTA or Sodium citrate helps with that.

Ok, minerals reduce lather, create scum. Gotcha. Simplicity is my watchword, so I will just work on remembering to use the distilled water so I can not have to worry about adding other compounds to the ingredients list. Gotcha. Thanks Steve.

 

[Donee']

you should sell your soaps. tidy them up a bit with a peeler on the corners. Chuck some carboard around them and a ribbon and away you go - perhaps approach some delis or butchers (that is my thinking).

Until I have an excellent grasp of "the rules" and why they are "the rules", I try not to break them. In this case, that is what the soap calculator said to use. Several others have also suggested less water, so I am gonna take this advice to heart, though considering the sieve-like state of my memory, perhaps I should take it to pen and paper in a notebook labeled "Soap Making Adventures; or My Vain Attempt to Keep the Wheels From Coming Off".



Well, you will just have to imagine me rolling about the kitchen on a unicycle, knocking things over, pots and pans crashing, two dogs huddled under the kitchen table vacillating between hope for scraps and dreading the taste based on what they are smelling.

Just keep it simple KISS works well (there goes your gutter mind again i know)
To many people get all to involved in oil combinations and scents and swirling - the more simple your soap the better.
I make medicinal soap and am going to be in pharmacies (yes - even educated pharmacists understand that soap is not just for cleaning) hopefully by end of Feb this year so I am working like a banshee on LSD trying to get enough stock.
The great thing about a simple soap is that you will be able to add anything you like - just keep the "adds" to about 2% of weight of soap.

I have just had a bath with my lard soap and I feel soft and silky - I always add in poppy seeds for home soap - for exfoliation and conditioning.
Sell. Sell. Sell i say
The sooner the better

 

[Susie]

Just keep it simple KISS works well (there goes your gutter mind again i know)
To many people get all to involved in oil combinations and scents and swirling - the more simple your soap the better.
I make medicinal soap and am going to be in pharmacies (yes - even educated pharmacists understand that soap is not just for cleaning) hopefully by end of Feb this year so I am working like a banshee on LSD trying to get enough stock.
The great thing about a simple soap is that you will be able to add anything you like - just keep the "adds" to about 2% of weight of soap.

I have just had a bath with my lard soap and I feel soft and silky - I always add in poppy seeds for home soap - for exfoliation and conditioning.
Sell. Sell. Sell i say
The sooner the better

I really can't tell if you are acting like a troll or if you are serious.

People selling when they have very little experience is bad for everyone. Once someone has bad handmade soap, they are reluctant to use it again, much less buy it. And I am really glad you live in a different country than me.

 

[Jill B Blasius]

Loved your story... very pretty soap and great practice of using all of a harvested animal.

A suggestion - take the plastic wrap off the bottom of the box and just use the box.

 

[Misschief]

One question, though....what differences can I expect to find in the final product since I used hard tap water instead of distilled? Or is it just something I would see in the processing?

Until earlier this year, all I used was tap water. I now use distilled water. I ca.n't say that I've noticed any difference whatsoever. We have soft water here. Whether that makes a difference or not, I couldn't say.

 

[Chris_S]

Oh, Meena. You don't know the half of it. My work carries a particular burden regarding death that I can only hope to lay down some day. There is a struggle to remember that reverence, respect, appreciation, and maintain my humanity.

On a brighter note, the soap passed the zap test this morning. If anything, it is even WHITER today.

One question, though....what differences can I expect to find in the final product since I used hard tap water instead of distilled? Or is it just something I would see in the processing?

You arnt a cannabal are you?

 

[LionLady]

I work in a grocery that has a butcher counter. I just brought home 12+ pounds of ground grass fed beef fat trimmings, that would have otherwise been thrown out. I rendered it out to about 4 lbs of meat (would be great for dogs, I suppose, my cats thought it was okay), and a bit over 8 lbs of creamy white tallow. I'm about to make some laundry bars with a bunch of it.

 

[Meena]

I work in a grocery that has a butcher counter. I just brought home 12+ pounds of ground grass fed beef fat trimmings, that would have otherwise been thrown out. I rendered it out to about 4 lbs of meat (would be great for dogs, I suppose, my cats thought it was okay), and a bit over 8 lbs of creamy white tallow. I'm about to make some laundry bars with a bunch of it.

What a fantastic score!! I don't want to tell you what one miserable 11 oz jar of grass-fed beef tallow costs in Denver! I need to get a job at Whole Foods and make friends with the butchers.

 

[cmzaha]

I really can't tell if you are acting like a troll or if you are serious.

People selling when they have very little experience is bad for everyone. Once someone has bad handmade soap, they are reluctant to use it again, much less buy it. And I am really glad you live in a different country than me.

Susie said it very well and I totally agree with her.

If your country allows you to claim medicinal properties good for you. You cannot do that in our country and I would not test my insurance by even thinking about making such claims. I have had many potential customers tell me they would never use handmade soap because their experience with it was so bad. Some I was able to convince to try mine some not

 

[DirtyKnuckles]

I am not interested in starting a soap making business. There are already half a dozen in town trying to make their way and struggling. I am happy to make a little for myself when I need it, hand out a few bars to certain friends that have an affinity for self-reliance and esoteric crafts. It just fits in well with my lifestyle of hunting, gardening, bees, brewing, pickling, canning, cooking from real ingredients.

You arnt a cannabal are you?

Oh, a little playful nibbling here and there, but that is about the extent of it. I work with wildlife.

A suggestion - take the plastic wrap off the bottom of the box and just use the box.

I have had my soap become discolored from sitting on cardboard, so I avoid that now. I turn the soap every few days to make sure all sides are getting air flow. I have never noticed that the plastic is reactive, is there a problem?

 

[penelopejane]

I have had my soap become discolored from sitting on cardboard, so I avoid that now. I turn the soap every few days to make sure all sides are getting air flow. I have never noticed that the plastic is reactive, is there a problem?

Sitting your soap on cotton between the cardboard is a good idea because it lets the soap breath. Don't sit your soap on metal shelves or trays. Timber can also discolour soap so a cotton cloth (old t-towel) is a great idea for most situations.

 

[SaltedFig]

I'm liking the white.

Water (soft or hard) from the tap can be a problem if you have copper pipes or brass taps.
For the same reason - don't handle your non-leads before handling your fresh soap.
The residual copper (on your fingers or in the water from the pipes) can be enough to set off oxidation/cause DOS spots in soap.

(I second @penelopejane's cotton cloth/tea towel suggestion - cotton is resistant to lye and ... washable )

 

[DirtyKnuckles]

Ok, washed up using this batch today. Virtually NO suds, but it did clean my hands nicely. I seem to remember the last batch several years ago also included some OO. I think someone here had told me to try adding OO to increase the sudsing action. Wondering about rebatching this into a small batch of a castile soap recipe in order to increase the sudsing character or if I should just let it ride.

 

[cmzaha]

Beef Tallow at 100% will not lather either. But adding 25% lard to 40-45% tallow makes a very nice soap, with whatever other oils you prefer