First time soap making.hot process-shave soap

[Danmarx]

Done! Even tho' I had the crockpot on high, the soap kept cooling and it looked gelatinous/translucent, so I wimped out, stirred in the EO's a and a bit of glycerin and put it in the two molds without incident. Just in case, following CP habit, I insulated my thin walled molds with towels in case it needs to gel some more. I'll take a look at it tomorrow.
One thing I can say, compared to CP soaps, the residue in the crockpot foamed/lathered WAY more than I am used to so I s'pose that is a good sign.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Dilbone]

Sounds like you were right where you needed to be. When I get close to the end of the cook I take a little crumble of the soap and let it cool for a few sec on the counter top then stick it to my tongue to see if it passes the "zap" test. Then I add all my stuff and scoop it out.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[Danmarx]

I confess, I've been a little defensive about my CP soaps, but after I finished I took a small fragment from the stir spoon, put it in my hand and lathered. Wow! Such thick, stable lather!
BTW, I just checked the cylinder molds. I was right to wrap them in towels. They are in full gel phase already, so they still have a ways to go. Should be ready by morning.
Thanks again to you and FloorPizza.

 

[FloorPizza]

Great to hear! Can't wait for the shave result!

I cook mine between 150-175, but I stick blend it from start to finish. It goes from emulsion to trace, to mashed potatoes, to gel, to passing zap test in ten minutes flat since I stick blend it the entire time.

Of course that time would change if I used different oils with different saponificiation rates. I'm too impatient to wait around for it to cook without coaxing it along with the stick blender.

 

[FloorPizza]

I confess, I've been a little defensive about my CP soaps, but after I finished I took a small fragment from the stir spoon, put it in my hand and lathered. Wow! Such thick, stable lather!
BTW, I just checked the cylinder molds. I was right to wrap them in towels. They are in full gel phase already, so they still have a ways to go. Should be ready by morning.
Thanks again to you and FloorPizza.

Have you shaved with it yet, by chance?

 

[Danmarx]

Have you shaved with it yet, by chance?

Yes, shaved very well. It needs to dry out or cure just a little maybe. Feels a little greasy. As y'all predicted, the lather was much thicker and more stable. I got 6 and a half 3 &1/4 by 1 &1/8 inch pucks out of the batch. When I was done I squeezed the lather into bowl. You can still see it 3 hours later.

If I had it to do over, I'd let it cook longer and blend it more after I added the EO's and glycerin. I has little rivers of glycerin, I think.

 

[FloorPizza]

Great to hear it turned out well! My soaps do seem to get better over the first few days.

 

[Jetpilot]

Yes, shaved very well. It needs to dry out or cure just a little maybe. Feels a little greasy. As y'all predicted, the lather was much thicker and more stable. I got 6 and a half 3 &1/4 by 1 &1/8 inch pucks out of the batch. When I was done I squeezed the lather into bowl. You can still see it 3 hours later.

If I had it to do over, I'd let it cook longer and blend it more after I added the EO's and glycerin. I has little rivers of glycerin, I think.
View attachment 962427

After adding glycerin and fragrance I stir like hell! Let it sit and see if I get any separation. Then I stir some more. Can’t stir enough! Nice job with your first hp batch!

 

[psfred]

It will look more uniform in a couple days.

It will also lather better in a week or so.

Great fun, you've all just about convinced me I need to make more soap!

 

[Dilbone]

My first legit soap purchase since the 3 sampler pack 4 years ago before I started making my own. The samples were Cella, MWF, and Tabac. I loved the Tabac but have been using mine exclusively for these 4 years. I am excited to have this in the rotation.
Maybe not tomorrow yet...I'm still testing the lanolin batch to get a better idea of what it is really like as it cures a bit more.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[psfred]

I have found that beef tallow really does produce better lather if used with stearic acid (either isolated or soy wax). Dense, creamy, slick, long lasting, as good as it gets.

I suppose you can get there with other fats, but why mess about with a known good thing?

I have a decade's worth of home made soap in the bathroom already, or I'd whip up a batch of soy wax and tallow soap this weekend. Might anyway, just for fun.....

 

[Dilbone]

I have found that beef tallow really does produce better lather if used with stearic acid (either isolated or soy wax). Dense, creamy, slick, long lasting, as good as it gets.

I suppose you can get there with other fats, but why mess about with a known good thing?

I have a decade's worth of home made soap in the bathroom already, or I'd whip up a batch of soy wax and tallow soap this weekend. Might anyway, just for fun.....

I may have to start rendering my own and give it a shot.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[Danmarx]

Had to try the Pringles mold. The interior is covered with a very thin aluminum-paper which concerned me. I wanted to test it so used no freezer paper liner, but a thin film of olive oil instead. About 8 hours after putting it in the mold, and after it had cooled, it just slid out easily, a 4 1/2 x 3 inch, 470 gm log ready to be cut into 4 slices. 50-50 NaOH-KOH with:
Almond Oil, 10%
Castor Oil, 15%
Coconut Oil, 20%
Palm Oil, 20%
Stearic Acid, 35%

Not sure why I don't want to use tallow... yet. The vegetable oils just seem cleaner to me (in the abstract). But I will use lanolin for my next batch.

 

[Jetpilot]

I may have to start rendering my own and give it a shot.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Tallow and rendered fat trimmings are two different things. Tallow comes from the hard fat around the kidneys called suet which is different than inter muscular fat found in cuts of meat. If the differences is important to you get it from a tallow supplier like Fannie & Flo. Good tallow will be odorless. Commercial tallow isn’t tallow anymore. It’s all kinds of rendered fat from different species of animals. If you want the good stuff you want strictly beef or mutton tallow.

 

[Jetpilot]

Had to try the Pringles mold. The interior is covered with a very thin aluminum-paper which concerned me. I wanted to test it so used no freezer paper liner, but a thin film of olive oil instead. About 8 hours after putting it in the mold, and after it had cooled, it just slid out easily, a 4 1/2 x 3 inch, 470 gm log ready to be cut into 4 slices. 50-50 NaOH-KOH with:
Almond Oil, 10%
Castor Oil, 15%
Coconut Oil, 20%
Palm Oil, 20%
Stearic Acid, 35%
View attachment 962774
Not sure why I don't want to use tallow... yet. The vegetable oils just seem cleaner to me (in the abstract). But I will use lanolin for my next batch.

Looks great!

 

[Danmarx]

Tallow and rendered fat trimmings are two different things. Tallow comes from the hard fat around the kidneys called suet which is different than inter muscular fat found in cuts of meat. If the differences is important to you get it from a tallow supplier like Fannie & Flo. Good tallow will be odorless. Commercial tallow isn’t tallow anymore. It’s all kinds of rendered fat from different species of animals. If you want the good stuff you want strictly beef or mutton tallow.

I did not know that and assumed tallow included renderings from all beef fat, so I looked and found this from soapmakingforum.com which confirms what you've written:
"Suet is organ fat from around the kidneys and is much harder than muscle fat. According to what I've read, it contains higher levels of stearins than muscle fat. Tallow is a more difficult word as it seems to be used more generically. "Tallow candles" for instance cannot be made with muscle fat because it wouldn't harden, so they should really be called "suet candles" I suppose. Plus modern rendered tallows are likely mixtures of both suet and muscle fats, to further confuse the issue. But it seems that generally the word tallow is used for muscle fat among those making the distinction.
....
So the question is: What's that all mean for soap? Has anyone experimented with the differences? What would we expect the additional stearins to do?
...it works exactly the way you described - tallow (rendered from leftovers of meat production) makes for a softer soap than suet (taken from the leaf fat)
It is noticeable.
Tallow fats soaps can get DOS quicker than suet soaps and have a much stronger "meaty" smell that is detectable in the final soap. Tallow soaps are not as white as suet soaps.
Suet soaps are harder and a lot whiter, have very little smell by comparison and generally last longer."

 

[Dilbone]

Tallow and rendered fat trimmings are two different things. Tallow comes from the hard fat around the kidneys called suet which is different than inter muscular fat found in cuts of meat. If the differences is important to you get it from a tallow supplier like Fannie & Flo. Good tallow will be odorless. Commercial tallow isn’t tallow anymore. It’s all kinds of rendered fat from different species of animals. If you want the good stuff you want strictly beef or mutton tallow.

Thanks Jetpilot, I actually knew that but assumed that most people when referring to tallow these days are referring to all beef fat and not tallow by definition. This may be a slippery slope for me to end up going to tallow...but having one more ingredient to have to order might keep me away. Haha

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[FloorPizza]

but a thin film of olive oil instead. About 8 hours after putting it in the mold, and after it had cooled, it just slid out easily,

I'm having a "why didn't I think of that?" moment here. I've just been tearing my Pring.. er... I mean molds off from around the soap, making my molds a one-use-only deal. Man, this will cut down on my Pringle's consumption.

Tallow and rendered fat trimmings are two different things

Yeah, so much this. "Tallow" producers have really taken liberty with the definition. They should be calling their products "rendered beef fat" and not tallow.

If the maker doesn't specifically say that it's rendered from suet, you're likely just getting rendered beef fat.

I may have to start rendering my own and give it a shot.

I'll most likely do the same thing. Go down to the meet department of the local grocery, and ask them to save me the Suet.

Not sure why I don't want to use tallow... yet

I'm gonna let @psfred help to persuade you:

I have found that beef tallow really does produce better lather if used with stearic acid (either isolated or soy wax). Dense, creamy, slick, long lasting, as good as it gets.

Something to get you started:

Stearic acid (or soy wax): 40%
Tallow: 35%
Coconut Oil: 25%

Super fat @ 3%-5% with your favorite butters. I do recommend butters for your SF over oils. I really like:

SF:
Shea Butter: 4%
Lanolin: 1%

It really tames the drying effect of coconut oil, yet shea (and most other butters) doesn't kill the lather as bad as a lot of the oils do in super fatting shave soap. They also give your pucks a creamier, easy-to-load consistency. Just make sure you stick blend them like a mad man when you add them at the end of the cook!

 

[FloorPizza]

I have a decade's worth of home made soap in the bathroom already, or I'd whip up a batch of soy wax and tallow soap this weekend. Might anyway, just for fun.....

Turn them into shower soaps, and get cooking!

 

[Jetpilot]

Floorpizza.... one thing about finding a supply of suet from a local butcher... butchers aren’t buthchers anymore. They get primal butchered cuts from processing plants. The processing plants have the suet. Butchers... good luck.