Diaries of the Heart

YAY I FINALLY MADE SOAP…

28 Comments

I have been wanting to make  soap for a couple of weeks now and I have been hesitating for probably no particular reason.  Maybe I was a bit hesitant about the lye ingredient and using it.

I made soap about 10 years ago from rendered fat and it was great and we really liked using it.

So I have finally done it.  I have two tubes and one small ice cream container sitting on the bench ready to open tomorrow night, and guess what??? it wasn’t that hard at all.

I bought some fat from the butcher this time (next time I will render our own from our steer we are butchering in a weeks time).  It cost me all of nothing and rendered really well and looks just great.

Here is the recipe ingredients:

  • 40 oz lard (1134 grams)
  • 5.4 oz Lye or Caustic Soda (153.09 grams)
  • 13.5 oz water (382.72 grams)

This is it three simple ingredients for a basic soap.

Necessary equipment

  • Rubber gloves
  • Goggles or glasses
  • Ceramic bowl
  • Stainless steel spoon
  • Stick blender

First of all mix the Lye with the water.

BE VERY CAREFUL DOING THIS:  Always add the lye to the water not the other way around.  Keep your nose away because it will fume and get quite hot.

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Lye/water mixture cooling
Place lye/water mixture aside and let cool to 100 degrees F.

Melt fat in saucepan and then place into your mixing bowl.  I used a ceramic one.

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Fat melting in pan
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Melted fat in ceramic bowl
Bring your fat temperature to around 80 degrees F or room temperature.

When mixtures are at the right temperature carefully pour lye mixture into fat.

Stir mixture with a stainless steel spoon and then use a stick blender in 20 second bursts.  Stir with blender between.  You would probably blend 3 times.  I did 4 and I think I slightly over did it.

When mixture is at trace stage (when you see lines of mixture sitting on top).  I was so busy trying to mix it and get it right that I forgot to take photos of this stage.

Pour mixture into moulds

I used some tubing that my husband had left over from the aquaponics set up.

IMG_0585[1]IMG_0586[1]

I put cling wrap on the bottom before putting the caps on.  Then after pouring it in I placed both tubes in a bucket and wrapped a towel around them.

After 24 hours slide the soap out of the tube and slice in to soaps at whatever thickness you desire.

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Leave soap on a rack to dry and age for 3 weeks.

NOTES:

I didn’t add any essential oils this time (I didn’t have any) but I have ordered some Lemon Myrtle Essence for next time)

I doubled the recipe and filled both moulds and put the extra bit into an ice cream container lined with cling wrap.  I then wrapped this container in a bath towel.

I had trouble getting the soap out of the long pipe moulds but Graeme came to the rescue and poured boiling water along them until they came loose.  This didn’t affect the soap at all.

This is the You tube clip that I watched before making the soap.  Becky really explains it well.

 Becky’s homemade bar soap recipe

 

This post is linked up here…

Weekend Bloggy Reading

28 thoughts on “YAY I FINALLY MADE SOAP…”

  1. Those look nice! I’ve always wanted to make lye soap, but hubby says no.

    Isn’t it great when you can make more for yourself and family?? 🙂 That soap would smell amazing in lemon! OOOh I can just imagine lavendar too…and rose water…

    Reply

    1. Hi, why does hubby say no, is it because of the lye?? I really like the lemon smell the best. I am just about to make home made washing powder and lip balm and hand cream for Christmas presents, very exciting. Blessings

      Reply

  4. We make two large batches of soap every October (so they are cured and ready for gifts in December). It lasts us the entire year. I’ve always made goats milk soap, but every time we have to butcher a cow, I think “if only I could use this for soap.” Thank you for showing your steps–I feel a bit more prepared to go out on a limb and try it. Pinning for later use 🙂
    Blessings,

    Reply

    1. Do you have your goats milk soap recipe on your blog?? I will have a look. I found this soap easy to make, you just have to be careful with the lye, but I had no problems. I find the tallow soap is great for skin conditions too. Maybe next year I will be more organised and have mine made in October too. Thanks for taking the time to comment, blessings.

      Reply

      1. I don’t have it up yet. I think in April I’m putting it up on the other blog.
        Now that you’ve had time to get to know your tallow soap, how do you like it? I’m trying to decide weather to make candles or soap with what I’ve got and I wanted to ask your opinion about how it was going, since this is the recipe I think I’d use.
        And by the way…the pipe? Genius, really.

        Reply

        1. Hey there, I didn’t know you had two sites, wow you are amazing. I am inspired by your gardening posts and your encouragement. I like the tallow soap and I suppose the only thing I would do differently would be to put some essential oil for scent in it. I have lemon myrtle one and that is my favourite so that is what I would do. I was also thinking of putting in some rolled oats (blended up) for a bit of texture. I can’t claim the pipe idea for myself I got if from one of the you tube videos I watched, it is good though, the only thing would be to put it in the freezer before pushing out to make it easier (another idea from a lovely blogger). I am thinking that next time I might make cows milk soap using the method by Oak Hill Homestead. I have always wanted to make milk soap but never found a good recipe. This looks similar to mine and I might hot process it this time because I want to use it sooner. Will be interested to see how you go, and I appreciate the title “genius” even though I don’t deserve it. Blessings

          Reply

          1. I always use a TON of essential oils and barely have any scents 🙁 . I should just leave it without. Have used herbs, flours (not oats yet). The only problem is when I gift them to my “city” friends, they keep the soap for decoration and it turns colors in a year.
            Dyer’s woad is a noxious weed here that covers the mountains. Turns blue when you extract the dye. I might do that this time around. Thank you for taking the time to answer, this is a project I’ll be doing soon and I appreciate your input.
            Blessings,

          2. I want a soap I can use here at home and not have to purchase any. I suppose the oats is to help my husband clean off the dirt and grease that comes from his work each day and the scent is to just cut the edge off the smell of the tallow. The blue colour sounds interesting. I remember watching an episode of the Good Life (British show) and they died wool with nettles and it turned green I wonder if you could use that for soap??? My husband isn’t keen on all these fancy soaps but likes a good solid white one. I look forward to seeing how it turns out, please do a post. Hope you are all feeling better and getting back on top of things. Blessings xxx

  5. My niece taught me a great trick for getting soap out of
    the molds: the freezer. I put them in the freezer for 20 minutes
    and the soap pops out. Good luck. I love homemade soap.
    Especially the recipes from Rhonda’s Down to Earth &
    Linda’s The Witch’s Kitchen blogs from there in Australia.
    Sincerely, Sandy

    Reply

  7. This is a wonderful post! Thank you so much for sharing and breaking it down so well. I need explicit instructions! LOL! I love your blog and am so happy to have found you through the home acres link-up. God bless you and yours with a Merry Christmas!

    Reply

  9. I’m totally in love with this idea! Pinned and tweeted. We appreciate you being a part of our party, and I hope to see you on Monday at 7 pm. We love partying with you!
    Happy Saturday! Lou Lou Girls

    Reply

  10. Can I just say that you are amazing? I am just starting to get into all natural stuff and DIY products for our family and it’s kind of inspiring to see when others successfully do it!!! Thanks for the recipe, I will get there one day…

    Reply

    1. Thanks Mary for your kind comment, there are so many easy recipes on the internet and I am very excited to make some of them. When you get there I would love to hear how you go. Blessings.

      Reply

  12. Good for you! I know people that have made soap. I would love to make soap and get into essential oils!! I feel i intimidated about making soap though. My blog is centered around the craziness or raising 5 kids – one with special needs. My homestead is crazier than you would believe! Thanks for inspiring me with you work of art 🙂

    Reply

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