Wine Soap Questions

[traderbren]

I did a search, and went back quite a few months and wasn't able to find an answer to all my questions.

My aunt stops by often, and usually brings a bottle of wine. She never drinks it all, and I'm quite the lush but don't like wine. I want to make a soap with it. It is white wine, mostly Sauvignon Blanc.

1. Do I need to boil it down as I would for beer? I'm assuming yes, but not sure.
2. Is it okay if it is "less than fresh"? It's not full on vinegar, but it's not really enjoyable drinking wine.
3. Will I need to freeze it into cubes as I do for beer soap to prevent "exciting lye mixing"?
4. Are there any other things I am missing? I plan to use a Peach FO from NG.

Thank you!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I would boil it and I don't think that the age will make too much of a difference as it is not really old. Freezing is always a good idea, especially if doing a 100% replacement. As for the FO, I'm afraid I can't really help you out.

 

[galaxyMLP]

I've made wine soap quite a few times now.

1. Do I need to boil it down as I would for beer? I'm assuming yes, but not sure.
-Yes, its got alcohol just like beer so it needs to be boiled down.

2. Is it okay if it is "less than fresh"? It's not full on vinegar, but it's not really enjoyable drinking wine.
-Yes, thats usually what I use. When I have wine that is a bit "off" I'll reserve it for soaping. Of course, I don't use wine that is visibly changed. Just when I wont drink it.

3. Will I need to freeze it into cubes as I do for beer soap to prevent "exciting lye mixing"?

-I don't ever freeze mine. But, I usually boiled mine down a lot so I end up adding a bit of water first and mixing the lye, and then adding in the wine. I let the wine cool down first to room temp or put it in the fridge.

4. Are there any other things I am missing? I plan to use a Peach FO from NG.

I haven't used that FO so I cant give any advice for it but, dark red wines turn a tan color in soap and white wines like moscatto turn yellow/light tan so plan your designs accordingly.

If you boil down your wine too much, you will get crystal formation (I think its some of the sulfites and sugars). In this case, add back water until they re-dissolve.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I have no definitive answers, but I'm interested in the topic. It's certainly complicated enough.

I know a bit about wine, having made a few, though not nearly as many as beer. Wine is acidic - more so than beer - typically with tartaric, malic, lactic and citric acid. Sweeter wines are more acidic for balance. pH should run in the 3s and 4s, but that doesn't really tell you much about the strength of the acid in terms of how to neutralize it. It gets more complicated when you factor in the "less than fresh" component as alcohol is oxidized into acetic acid, and you'd always be guessing how far along that action has progressed.

Absent any experience from the knowledgeable soapers here, I would be pretty leery of dealing with that acid and inadvertently getting an unknown, large lye discount. I think that if I were going to try it, I would first neutralize the wine by adding a base and testing with the good plastic pH strips (not the paper ones) before trying to soap with it. But let me be clear that I'm just spitballing here. If anybody contradicts my guesses with real experience, believe them over me!

ETA: Galaxy posted while I was typing, so it looks like my concerns might be overblown.

 

[galaxyMLP]

I hadn't really thought about that but, with a pH of 3-4, its shouldnt have a too significant amount of acid. I'll have to test the pH of it the next time I make it. I would imagine that as I boil it down it would be more concentrated though. Hmm, very interesting. Thank you for bringing this up. None of my soaps have ever had a problem with it though but, still worth looking into.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I hadn't really thought about that but, with a pH of 3-4, its shouldnt have a too significant amount of acid. I'll have to test the pH of it the next time I make it. I would imagine that as I boil it down it would be more concentrated though. Hmm, very interesting. Thank you for bringing this up. None of my soaps have ever had a problem with it though but, still worth looking into.

That's not necessarily a valid conclusion because we don't know how much of wine's acidity is buffered.

But the fact that you've made successful soaps already says a lot, IMO.

 

[galaxyMLP]

You're right and I thought about that when I posted it.

 

[TwystedPryncess]

If it is the same Peach FO I used from NG, please don't. Please huck that stuff right into the garbage. This advice comes from probably the un-pickiest nose on the board, too. It was awful. It smelled like armpit. It never got better. I finally gave it to my son, although I always keep a bar of all my batches. I re-smell it every so often-- I made this almost 6 months ago now, if not longer, and it still smells like armpit.

 

[traderbren]

If it is the same Peach FO I used from NG, please don't. Please huck that stuff right into the garbage. This advice comes from probably the un-pickiest nose on the board, too. It was awful. It smelled like armpit. It never got better. I finally gave it to my son, although I always keep a bar of all my batches. I re-smell it every so often-- I made this almost 6 months ago now, if not longer, and it still smells like armpit.

eek! It's this peach FO - Fresh Peach. It smells lovely OOB. Maybe I will just try it in spray conditioner first... Thank you for the warning!

ETA: I just saw your review on the review sheet, and it's the same one. Thank you for the heads up. I'll search for another FO!

 

[shunt2011]

I used that when I first started soaping. The scent wasn't all that good and disappeared by the end of cure. I really haven't found a straight up peach that sticks yet.

 

[TwystedPryncess]

Oh yeah, it was gorgeous OOB, and I couldn't wait to soap it-- visions of a lovely peach bar danced in my head. Instead, I got...armpit. I forgot what I wrote on the review. I think i was still searching for a comparison at that time. One time when I re-smelled, hoping it had cured out, it hit me.

Glad to help. I like Brambleberry's plain Peach FO, sorta. It's at least way better than NG's. to soap with. The NG one would probably be lovely in a room spray. I want to try BB's Southern Peach.

I agree that a good peach is hard to find. The BB Peach is holding scent well in the soap I made. I made 4 lbs and still have 3 bars left, and gave a few away. Everyone raved about the scent in that one, and it is also about 6 months old. What I have left on the shelves still smells great. I would have liked a lighter, sweeter scent. It smells more like peach cobbler, but I'm certainly okay with it for now. I'm ultimately still searching for a Peach Bellini dupe like Bath & Body, but I haven't been in a big hurry.

Just not NG! I hope to hear back and hear how your wine soap turns out!

 

[MrsSpaceship]

One of these days I'm going to do a whole lineup of wine soaps. I believe it's Rustic Escentuals that has several wine FO's. I haven't tried them yet myself, but if they're the similar to the ones that a soap vendor at our Farmers Market uses (haven't asked yet) they are amazing. Not how wine really smells, but amazing none the less.
I remember watching this video by Ariane Arsenault where she took a bottle of raspberry liqueur and just poured it straight into her soap which surprised me since at 22% alcohol it has more than some of your average wine (9-16%).
Ok, I've realized that this comment isn't really all that helpful, but oh well, I'm posting it anyway.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1GlTQhjp-Q"]THIS [/ame]

Edit for format

 

[KristaY]

I want to try BB's Southern Peach.

I've used BB's Southern Peach and it's lovely in lotion and liquid soap. In CP it hasn't held up really well. My first batch faded quite a bit after a few weeks cure. Next I tried anchoring it with kaolin and that helped some. Then I blended it with BB's Grass Stain so it smells like eating a juicy peach while walking through a freshly mown lawn. This one has faded a bit too but it's still very nice. People that don't like strong scents really like it.

 

[TwystedPryncess]

Thanks for the heads up, Krista! I personally like strong scents that stay. My best testers right now are my co-workers and they seem to be the same, all but one. She liked the current peach I have, and an cherry almond I gave her to try, but her fella doesn't like the scents on the body...like the way in mingles on her, inparticular. I will keep trying!

ETA: Maybe not BB's Southern Peach for us then. I should maybe try Mike, or Mad Oils. We have hundreds of suppliers to choose from, so the search for peach goes on.....

 

[grumpy_owl]

Don't? Like? Wine? WHO ARE YOU??

Uh, anyway, yes, boil it down, freeze the cubes, and proceed to soap as usual, with care as if you were using a milk for liquid. No residual scent was left in mine but i used BB's Bordeaux Blend FO and it needed some time to smell nice and not skanky. The color was gorgeous and putting the wine info on the label adds to the appeal.

 

[Spice]

I have never boiled my wine. That is not to say it cant be done. The way I was taught was 30% wine, 40% water, 30% lye. The only thing was that I had a very small window to work with because of seizing. I poured wine at the very last, just before my colorant. And at that I had only seconds before seizing.
I am going to say that if I boil the wine I wouldnt have that issue. Seizing that is. :crazy: And the other thing, the darker the wine the more tan the soap will be.