Seventy Second Post - Soap Making
So.. i wanted to post pictures and process of my soap making.. i originally wanted to post them to show how i made soap... but my soap kinda came out fail.. so... i'm going to post pics and explain my fail as a documentation. I"ll probably document another batch of more fancy soap or anything new i make but this was my first batch ever.. it's really exciting and i can't wait for my next batch.. which was hopefully going to have been facny-y.. but probs will be more practice with half the batch size of this.. anyways.. i made old fashion soap that they made on the praries and whatnot back in the 19th century.. lol.. for this you need 
lard, chilled water and 100% lye. the ingredients were a little difficult to find but it's easy if you know where to look.. i bought the lard at a local butcher meat shop.. but you can find it at krogers. the lard i bought had BHT, BHA preservatives. I really couldn't find any lard that didn't have Bht of BHA.. but i really wish i could.. i'm still looking.. after i sucessfully make my soap with lard.. i will deffinetly try out other plant oils which will probs be easier to find w/o preservatives.. here is a snippet about BHT
"BHA and BHT excellent preservatives may also be implicated in health effects. The oxidative characteristics and/or metabolites of BHA and BHT may contribute to carcinogenicity or tumorigenicity; however the same reactions may combat oxidative stress. " so atleast i'm not eating it. Lye is bought at hardware stores in the plumbing department.. since the ever so popular REd Devil Lye is not longer 100% lye there is one brand - Rooto that is. it come in 16 oz for like.. $3.50. okay.. lye's really caustic but it's really not something to be scared of.. just don't touch it.. i wore rubber gloves and they say to wear goggles and i had some.. so i wore them.. lol.
i used 6 pounds of lard and 12-ish oz of lye.. to figure out the correct amount for the lard-water-lye ratio. i used the lye calculator.. just google it. the lye comes like a white powder. your water should be really icey.. mine wasn't really. i just chilled it.. but i think i could've been more patient.. apparently, when you add lye to water.. it gets really hot..
it's not too dangerous just don't splash any on your self..keep stirring.. and melt the lard. lard smells.. bad.. i promise.. like dead animal fat.. i'm not kidding. i'm not really sure about the next part.. my recipie told me to wait for the temps to be 85 for lard and 75 for lye. which i think is not correct.. i'm not sure what i did.. but after watching vids and doing a little more research.. it's really really really important that your lye and lard are really close to the same temp when you combine them.. i don't know if mine was.. which is why maybe i had some probs.. so.. i'm not sure what a good temp is for lard and lye but oils and lye are around 120 degrees you slowly pour the lye in at a pencil's thickness. and stir stir stir.. it's really important that when you stir your don't loose the heat too fast. which i think is what happened to mine.. because i never really reached a true trace. then you stir constantly for like 15 min to one hour.. i watched like.. 2 eps of family guy. the lye will saponificate and if it starts to trace, it means its done. i just pours mine into a tuperware tub.
see how clear it looks? BAAAD. but i stirred like.. for an hour.. omg.. i didn't get any pics of the messed up looking parts.. but mine had like two layers. and ashy squishy top part and on the bottom was hard like reall soap.. i think the problem was the lost of heat so quickly.. so i think i'm going to get an electric mixer which is what a lot of people use and it's easier and you won't have so many stirring probs. after a couple hours i guess you can cut it and then later take it out and let it dry in the air for like.. 30ish days?? i dunno.. i had to scrape of the top ashy layer of my soap and i'm letting the rest dry atm. i used a little the other day just to see if i totes failed.. but it suds up and stuff.. it was quite cool.. so i can't wait to make another batch.. i really want to make a goats milk bar... really bad.. so.. yaaay. that's my thing about making soap. and here's a youtube vid of this lady that makes soap.. and it really helped me.. i think the most helpful soap making vid on youtube.. so here: check it out and try it. kay.. i might add more latas. i 'm tired of typing.
lard, chilled water and 100% lye. the ingredients were a little difficult to find but it's easy if you know where to look.. i bought the lard at a local butcher meat shop.. but you can find it at krogers. the lard i bought had BHT, BHA preservatives. I really couldn't find any lard that didn't have Bht of BHA.. but i really wish i could.. i'm still looking.. after i sucessfully make my soap with lard.. i will deffinetly try out other plant oils which will probs be easier to find w/o preservatives.. here is a snippet about BHT
"BHA and BHT excellent preservatives may also be implicated in health effects. The oxidative characteristics and/or metabolites of BHA and BHT may contribute to carcinogenicity or tumorigenicity; however the same reactions may combat oxidative stress. " so atleast i'm not eating it. Lye is bought at hardware stores in the plumbing department.. since the ever so popular REd Devil Lye is not longer 100% lye there is one brand - Rooto that is. it come in 16 oz for like.. $3.50. okay.. lye's really caustic but it's really not something to be scared of.. just don't touch it.. i wore rubber gloves and they say to wear goggles and i had some.. so i wore them.. lol.
i used 6 pounds of lard and 12-ish oz of lye.. to figure out the correct amount for the lard-water-lye ratio. i used the lye calculator.. just google it. the lye comes like a white powder. your water should be really icey.. mine wasn't really. i just chilled it.. but i think i could've been more patient.. apparently, when you add lye to water.. it gets really hot..
it's not too dangerous just don't splash any on your self..keep stirring.. and melt the lard. lard smells.. bad.. i promise.. like dead animal fat.. i'm not kidding. i'm not really sure about the next part.. my recipie told me to wait for the temps to be 85 for lard and 75 for lye. which i think is not correct.. i'm not sure what i did.. but after watching vids and doing a little more research.. it's really really really important that your lye and lard are really close to the same temp when you combine them.. i don't know if mine was.. which is why maybe i had some probs.. so.. i'm not sure what a good temp is for lard and lye but oils and lye are around 120 degrees you slowly pour the lye in at a pencil's thickness. and stir stir stir.. it's really important that when you stir your don't loose the heat too fast. which i think is what happened to mine.. because i never really reached a true trace. then you stir constantly for like 15 min to one hour.. i watched like.. 2 eps of family guy. the lye will saponificate and if it starts to trace, it means its done. i just pours mine into a tuperware tub.
see how clear it looks? BAAAD. but i stirred like.. for an hour.. omg.. i didn't get any pics of the messed up looking parts.. but mine had like two layers. and ashy squishy top part and on the bottom was hard like reall soap.. i think the problem was the lost of heat so quickly.. so i think i'm going to get an electric mixer which is what a lot of people use and it's easier and you won't have so many stirring probs. after a couple hours i guess you can cut it and then later take it out and let it dry in the air for like.. 30ish days?? i dunno.. i had to scrape of the top ashy layer of my soap and i'm letting the rest dry atm. i used a little the other day just to see if i totes failed.. but it suds up and stuff.. it was quite cool.. so i can't wait to make another batch.. i really want to make a goats milk bar... really bad.. so.. yaaay. that's my thing about making soap. and here's a youtube vid of this lady that makes soap.. and it really helped me.. i think the most helpful soap making vid on youtube.. so here: check it out and try it. kay.. i might add more latas. i 'm tired of typing.
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