It is true when I said that you can safely make soap at home. However, that safety relies on you making sure that you handle your ingredients with care and follow some simple precautions.
Because lye is caustic it is very harmful to children. Therefore if you have children in the home, make sure that your lye is placed far away from little fingers, preferably locked up in an area where children do not have access. And never make soap when small children are about, or pets for that matter, as accidents can happen very quickly.
If you use beef fat in the form of beef suet, your soap will be brown. If you use pig fat in the form of lard, your soap will be white. If you use vegetable oils, you will end up with a creamy off white soap that will be softer than soaps made with beef or pig fat. Olive oil will give you a soap that can either be light-yellow or green in colour. Of course, once you get the hang of it, you can be more adventurous and try other additives like colourants, herbal infusions and the like. But for now we are going to look at what process takes place when making soap and how one can make soap simply and safely without handling lye from store bought bars of white soap through a process called milling.
1 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons 11 cups 1 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons 13 cups Table courtesy of Carla Emery. As you beat your soap mixture within 10 minutes to an hour, the soap will begin to 'trace'. That is, once a spoon is dragged through the mixture an indentation remains behind for a few seconds. Now you know that your soap has a good chance of being successful. As your soap is left to harden and it loses water content, the lye becomes less and less active, and eventually, after 4 weeks your soap will be able to be used safely with no lye evident. For those of you who don't know how to make soap the most difficult thing to get right is knowning when trace actually occurs and knowing when to stop stirring. We have an excellent video for you by David Fisher on this subject.
Watch your mixture and stir often. If you have put the suet through a grinder, then the fat should have melted within half an hour. However, the larger your fat pieces to start off with, the longer the melting process with take. Once all the fat has melted and you are left with the cooked meat and gristle, it is time to strain the liquid using a sieve. Carefully pour the hot liquid through a sieve into a bowl that has been placed underneath to catch the strained liquid. Almost at once you will notice that the oil is floating on the top, and the water has separated and is now on the bottom of the bowl." Place the mixture in a cool place undisturbed until the next day. What you are hoping for is a nice white disc of tallow that you can now use for making soap. Not all fats are the same however, and you will want to adjust the heat of the fat accordingly when you add it to the lye water to get the best results. Type of Fat Vegetable Oil Goose Pork Beef Deer Sheep Temperature 110-115F 115 F 120 F 130 F 130 F 130 F
Table courtesy of Carla Emery. However, you will still need to do a couple of things to get it to a usable stage. Lift the disc of fat carefully out of the bowl and wash it gently under a tap to get rid of any jelly, debris and foreign matter that is still clinging to your tallow disc. Once you are happy that your tallow is clean, break it up into small pieces and use straight away. Or, if you are not ready to use it, place in a freezer bag for later use. Tallow can be kept in your deep freeze for up to a year. If you feel that your tallow isn't as clean as it could be, repeat the melting process again, until you are satisfied with the result.
Problems do occur from time to time unfortunately, and we have listed a couple of common soap problems and how to fix some of them. Grease on the top, liquid on the bottom - your mixture was either too hot or too cold. To fix the problem, pour the mixture into a dish and sit it in a pan of hot water. Stir this over a low heat till it combines again. The soap separates as it hardens- Grate it up and add 400 ml water to each 500 g of soap. Stir and boil till it changes consistency and 'sheets' as you scoop it up. Streaky Soap - it hasn't been mixed properly. Fix by the same process as for problem number 1. Cracked Soap - it's been stirred too much, has too much caustic soda or has dried to fast, or got wet and then dried again. Greasy Soap - You have too much fat or oil in the mixture. White deposits on the soap- Too much caustic soda, too much borax or very hard water has been used.
When you stop the blender, wait a few seconds before removing the cover. Sometimes the soap "burps" when it stops (as a large amount of trapped air comes to the top). 7) At the thin trace stage, stop the blender. Stir the soap to check for tracing and to allow bubbles to escape. Pour the soap into individual molds. Thats all there is to it!
HOW TO MAKE SOAP AND STARTING YOUR OWN SOAP MAKING BUSINESS
Are you tired of working for someone else? Or are you a stay-at-home mum looking to make extra income? There are lots of people who have been very successful at making a profit from their soap making cottage industry. Have a look at the books and DVDs on starting your own soap making business. However, some friendly advice. If you live in America, your soap business ventures will not have the same regulations that those living in Europe will have to wade through. In America, soap is classified as a detergent, whereas in Europe it is classified as a cosmetic. As a result, you may find that setting up such an cottage industry in Europe is just not worth all the hassle. However, there are ways around that, and one of them is to make soaps from a glycerine base which will allow you to sell that soap, fully compliant with the current European Union regulations regarding the sale of toiletries. As in all new business ventures, do your homework first. Know what legalities exist and requirements needed to be fulfilled before you buy any expensive equipment or sign any long-leases for shops and stores. See more information on soap making as well as some recipes for homemade soap.
Now that you know how to make soap how about visiting our soap recipes page forso that you can start making your very own homemade soap. Or, if you are looking for Soap Making Kits and books and magazines to buy online, then visit ourCountry Corner Store for all your soap making supplies. For those of you looking for more resource on soap making, especially a site that makes organic soaps and creams visit Natural Villa Soaps . Their aim is improving lives through natural means, using organic herbs and plant based oils in the creation of all natural handmade soaps and creams.