Making Hot Processed Soap - The Oven Method

Re-posting from my old blog

Firstly I'd like to give shout out to Iowa Farmerz Wife for her write-up on her blog. It was the only non-crockpot method of hot processed soap making I have found, and it is very easy to follow if you've made soap before.

This is the link to her blog - in particular the process of making soap using an oven.

http://iowafarmerzwife.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/hot-process-soap-making-oven-method.html

So now that I have stated my reference source I'll go through the recipe I used and the process of making hot-processes soap with an oven in a little more detail.

Note: There are two reasons I used this method:
1. because I don't own a crockpot (and most hot processed soap methods use one) and if I have a perfectly good oven then why not use it?
2. It appears that most crockpot recipes require you to stand watch over your soap at all times to prevent overflow. You can just pop this recipe in the oven and forget about it till your alarm goes off. 

What you'll need:

*Ingredients - 250g (8.8 Oz) Copha, 400g (14.1 Oz) Olive Oil, 350g (12.3 Oz) Tallow, 380g (13.4 Oz) Distilled or Pure Water and 142g (5 oz) lye.
*Scale
*Thermometer that reaches at least 200°C (392°F)
*A mold of some description (An ice cream tub is great for this)
*Wooden Spoons and metal spoons
*Large microwave and oven proof bowl
*PPE - so safety goggles, an apron and nitrile gloves
* A stick blender
* Dishes to measure ingredients into - preferably clean glass ones
* a well-ventilated room


Take your block of copha and dump it into a large microwave and oven safe bowl. This will be the bowl you use all the way through the soap making process.
Microwave your copha on high for a minute at a time, stirring and breaking it into smaller pieces with a wooden spoon after each heating.
Once it is completely liquid then you can add your olive oil and Tallow to the copha. If you do not have Tallow check out my post on Rendering Beef Fat.

Copha, Olive Oil and Tallow Mix

The next step is to then add the lye to the water - very carefully. DO NOT ADD THE WATER TO THE LYE as you may end up causing a violent reaction and burning yourself. Always add the lye to the water.

The reaction will cause the water/lye mix to bubble and fizz releasing gases so don't stick your head over the top of the mix. It will also heat up to about 80°C (176°F) so be careful as the mixture is quite hot.

Gently stir until the lye has been completely dissolved in the water. (I suggest using a jug to mix your water/lye in, that way it makes it easier to pour later).

At this point it is optional to go onto the next step OR if you have never attempted soap making before wait until the water/lye mix has cooled to around 50°C (122°F).

Water/Lye Mix

Very carefully pour the water/lye into the fats and oils, you will immediately see a creamy precipitate begin to form in the bowl.

This is what your mixture should look like when you begin to pour your water/lye into your fats and oils.

Using your stick mixer on LOW, mix the water/lye and fats together until you reach trace.

Carefully mixing everything together. 

Trace is the point where the mixture looks like thick custard and when you pull your stick mix out it will leave behind a pattern on the top of your soap. Your mix should be thick and custard like, but not lumpy or not too thin. If you feel your mix is a bit too thin, or your pattern begins to disappear after a few seconds, continue mixing with the stick mix until it thickens up.

Trace

Once trace has been reached you are ready to put your bowl in the oven.

Note: If your bowl is more than half full I suggest transferring to a bigger bowl as your mix will "rise" in the oven and may overflow. Alternatively as I had no bigger bowls I split my mix into two separate bowls to "cook" them and then mixed them back together again at the end. I have only taken photographs of one bowl though.

Preheat your oven to the LOWEST temperature it can go. On my oven that is 90°C (194°F) and it worked fine. 

Place your bowl in the oven and "cook" for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes take it out and stir with a wooden spoon.

(At this point while my soap is "cooking" I like to grease my mold so I don't forget!)

After 30 minutes "cooking" in the oven.

Put your bowl back in the oven and "cook" for another 15 minutes. At this point when you take it out it should have the consistency of applesauce. So it should be thick and a little bit lumpy looking.

If it does not yet look like applesauce it is suggested you place your bowl back in the oven for 15 minutes at a time, stirring every 15 minutes, until it looks like applesauce.

Mashed potato consistency - this is when you add extras.

Once it has the consistency of applesauce, turn off your oven and stir the mix to cool it down. It will slowly turn into the consistency of mashed potatoes. 

It is at this point you can add any extras you want to put in your soap, like essential oils, exfoliating substances, and any colouring etc. 

I added 40 drops of tea tree oil at this point.

Soap in the mold cooling

Once you have added all you extras and thoroughly stirred them in until they are mixed through, scoop the soap mix into your mold. Flatten the top (as best you can) and then tap it hard on the counter to to settle the contents into the mold. Leave it to cool overnight or until the soap is solid.

Finished Soap cut into bars

When the soap is dry, unmold it and cut into bars.

Note: I didn't wait until the soap was completely cool before I popped it out of its mold and cut it up. However it had set completely into its shape and the fact that it was still a little warm meant that cutting it into bar shapes was a lot easier. 

Happy Soapmaking and please feel free to comment or add anything you think I may have left out!

xx mattimay

Rendering Beef Fat

Re-posted from my old blog

So ever since my mother made hot processed soap with her own rendered fat I've been wanting to try it for myself and today I finally had the time to render my fat and make my soap, so I'm blogging the process here for anyone else who has an interest. Since the whole process is fairly long I will blog them in two separate posts - one for the process of rendering fat and the other for hot processed soap.

What you will need:

Large saucepan

Beef Fat (Also known as Beef Suet)

Wooden Spoon

Cheesecloth (I use a 100% Cotton tea towel from spotlight)

Metal Colander

5 cup glass jug (if you are rendering 2kg of fat)

First things first, get your fat! You may have your own from butchering a cow or you may want to buy it from your butcher. I bought mine from my local butcher for $1.50/kg and asked for 2kg - this will generally be enough for any at home soap making venture you're doing. If your butcher is not sure what you're asking for then ask specifically for beef suet - it's the same thing.

Now that you have your fat chop it into chunks about ice cube size. Some people recommend refrigeration before cutting it up so that it is easier to chop, if you buy it from your butcher it's generally frozen so just let it thaw a little and then start chopping. I rendered mine from frozen and it turned out beautiful!

Place your fat chunks into a saucepan and put the saucepan on a hotplate over low heat.

Fat chunks in the Saucepan ready to be rendered

After a little while your fat should start "melting" with liquid forming underneath your fat chunks. Give the fat a little stir when this happens and try and squash the chunkier pieces of fat into smaller pieces.

The fat beginning to render. Notice the liquid beginning to form underneath the fat chunks as it melts.

Rendering fat is going to take anywhere from 1-2 hours so you need a bit of patience for this, however after you find the first liquid under your fat chunks you only really have to take a look at it every 15 minutes and give it a little stir while occasionally breaking up the larger fat chunks into smaller pieces with your wooden spoon.

After about an hour of stirring over low heat. Notice the "floaties"

After about an hour you will start to notice that less of the fat melts and more "floaties" come to the top of your liquid. This is normal, the impurities in your fat will float to the top so that you can strain them off later.

The finished rendering. Notice all that is left are the "floaties" and the rendered fat.

My fat took approximately 2 hours to render and when it was done it was a clear liquid with all my impurities floating on the top of the liquid and no fat left to melt. You will be able to tell your endpoint of your render when there is no change in the amount of "floaties" on top of your liquid.

At this point take your saucepan off the stove and let it cool down a lot before you try and strain out the impurities.. My rendered fat was sitting at 113°C (approx 235°F) when I took it off the stove and I waited until it was down to about 80°C (approx 176°F) before I started straining. Please note however that I have worked in hospitality for a lot of years so while 80° is cool enough for me to handle you may want to let it cool down to a nice 50°C (122°F) before you start straining it.

Straining the impurities out of the tallow.

Using the cheesecloth sitting in the metal colander carefully strain the impurities out and let the tallow strain into the glass jug. Note that both glass and metal are used instead of plastic because of the high temperature of the rendered fat. There is every chance you could melt plastic working at these temperatures - especially cheap plastic.

The impurities strained out of the tallow

Your strained tallow should be clear (not colourless - just clear) and free of impurities.

Rendered fat (Tallow now) clear and impurity free

You can let your tallow cool until it turns white and use it to make soap or you can let it cool to about 50°C (122°F) and still use it for soap making (this also means you don't have to reheat it). I have used it at the 50°C temperature and my hot processed soap has turned out fine. 

Happy Rendering!

xx mattimay

Introduction to my Blog

Okay so first things first, I suck at blogs. Like, really suck at blogs. I never manage to keep at it because I always think I need a project to write about and I don't always have a project to write about. 
However, after reading other blogs I realise that you don't need a project to write about, you can just pop down any random thought that makes it's way into your head and out through your fingers (as you type... get it?).
So this is my first post of the year on my new blog and this year I plan to just blog at my own leisure, no pressure right?

For anyone who followed my other blog (the one that was completely unattended to) there are a couple of tutorial posts that I am planning to move across to this blog and perhaps fine-tune in the process; like my tutorial on how to make hot processed soap in the oven.

In the meantime, here is an introduction to the things you  are likely to find on my new blog (once I start getting the posts flowing!)

* Gaming things: I love gaming (I am sooo into Destiny atm, lvl 30 hunter ftw) so expect to see quite a few posts about games and game related things. Also expect screenshots of in-game play and even some vids.

* Frugal things: I love being able to make and fix my own stuff. I make my own soap, fix my own clothes and recycle as many things as I can to make new things; although not as often as I would like. As previously stated I shall move my tutorial for hot processed soap in the oven over from my old abandoned blog.

* Knitting and Crocheting things: Being able to make something with your own two hands is great, and I love knitting socks for some bizarre reason. Pictures and patterns may also be posted along with any creations I make!

* Science things: I lecture physics at a university and I really love all things sciency so expect random posts about new technologies, latest gadgets and references to sci-fi and anime.

* Cooking things: Cooking is something I really enjoy doing. Being able to make a meal out of a few little ingredients is such a great thing to do and I love sharing recipes. So expect food posts, pictures and recipes as well!

* The random blog posts: these will just be random, for the times when I just need to have an opinion on something or share an experience.

So I think that about sums everything up on the introduction front, so Happy New Year to all and welcome to 2015!