Soap making, part 1

Making Soap, Part One - the mixing and pouring part

I learned to make soap when I sponsored a Junior Achivement group in Guatemala. We made really soft soap then (so soft it had to be packaged in tubs), but the kids made money with it. The technique you see here is improved through years of trial and error and makes really excellent bar soap.
I kind of have a peculiar way of doing it but unlike most soapmaking I've read about, this is really foolproof if you use quality ingredients and follow the directions. I've never had a batch turn out bad doing it this way.

In this first stage we are going to make a giant slab of unscented soap. In the next stage we will scent it, form it into bars and package it.

I make up my formulas so they're heavy in emollients and about 5% superfatted, meaning that after all the lye molecules have attached to fat molecules there are still additional fat molecules to soften skin. Here's a typical recipe:
150 g. beeswax
1200 g. Olive Oil
800 g. Coconut oil
600 g. Palm oil
600 g. Palm kernel oil
200 g. Cocoa butter
200 g. Lanolin
200 g. Castor Oil
225 g. Sweet Almond oil
1 oz/28,000 I.U. vitamin E oil (don't count this in lye calculation)
1700 ml water
565 g. lye (NaOH)
You can make up your own formula and calculate the amount of lye to use. Play around with the proportions and use different stuff. If you're coloring it with ultramarine or other mineral pigment, add that during this stage too. If you're using organic coloring agents, like turmeric, carrot powder, green tea, etc., save it for the next stage. The extremely high pH of the lye in this stage will turn it brown - most of that color will come back later though.

The amount of lye to use is specific to the amount and type of oil used. Each oil has its own SAP value, the amount of lye it takes to make soap out of, or saponify it. I used to have an Excel spreadsheet I made to calculate SAP values but now I just go online to Pine Meadows and use their lye calculator. It's easy and accurate.


Use an electronic balance that measures in grams. That is nearly three times as accurate as measuring in tenths of an ounce. I use a My Weigh that costs about $30 - $45.


Weigh out and melt the beeswax first since it requires pretty high temperature to melt. If you had it all mixed together you would ruin some of the other ingredients like lanolin by the time you got it hot enough to melt the wax.
Olive oil takes heat pretty well too so I gradually add that to the melted wax. It will partially re-solidify with each addition of cold oil but just stir it until it re-melts.


After that the rest of the oils and waxes can be added - except the vitamin E.
Heat gradually.
It should take about an hour to melt the whole thing. While it's melting, get the other stuff ready.



I use cold (refrigerated) water to dissolve the lye in. It is going to heat up. This way it heats up less and makes less fumes. Measure the water into a Pyrex pitcher in a cold water bath.



The fun, dangerous, tricky part with the lye.
This is what makes soapmaking an extreme sport and earns soapmakers their daring reputation for living life on the edge.
Put on your rubber gloves now. Wear glasses or goggles. Long sleeves. If you happen to own a lab coat, put it on. Or an old shirt. Keep a bottle of vinegar handy. If you should get a bit of lye on your skin, go over to the sink and pour vinegar on it.
Open a window and turn on an exhaust vent. This is going to make fumes that are irritating to inhale. Tell everybody in the house what you are about to do so there are no interruptions to deal with. Put the cats outside because this process is about to get enormously fascinating to them for some reason. No multitasking during this part. Pay lots of attention when you're working with lye.


Weigh out the lye into a plastic containter then take it over to the cold water. Start stirring the water and pour in the lye. Keep stirring until the lye is dissolved, about 2 minutes. The mixture will heat up. Keep your face out of the fumes. When you're finished stirring, rinse off the stirrer - don't just set it down.



Pour the oil into a mixing bucket and start checking the temperature of both the oil and the lye as they cool down. Use a meat thermometer. You are looking for them both to come into the 100 - 120 degree Fahrenheit range at the same time. They don't have to be precisely the same temperature - despite what the experts tell you. They're wrong and I'm right on this.


Meanwhile start getting your soap mold and insulator ready.
Line your mold with plastic sheeting (the kind you get from Home Depot to cover the doors and windows against t3rr0r!st attacks). Tape the corners to hold it in place. The mold I use is a food container about 10 by 16 inches and 3 inches deep. Cut another piece of plastic film to cover the soap once it's poured. These can be washed and re-used.


Your insulator is a box or trunk containing two plastic trash bags, each about half filled with foam peanuts like you get when you mail-order something. Lay one in the bottom. Form a nest in it using the soap mold.



Get your mixing area ready. I spread out plastic sheeting on the floor and pull up a chair. Set the mixing container with the oil on it and get an electric hand mixer plugged in. Make sure it reaches the bucket. Get your vitamin E ready - it will go in at the end of the mixing. Get comfortable - this will take from 20 to 40 minutes of mixing.


When both the oil and the lye are between 100 - 120 degrees F, start the mixer going in the oil on high speed. Pour the lye into the oil in a steady stream - it should take about a minute to pour all the lye in. Keep mixing the oil for at least the next 20 minutes or so, until it is thick like pudding - not just where you can draw a trace on the surface but where you can pile it up. It does not hurt to over mix it - again, I differ with the experts on this. But again I'm right.

Add the vitamin E and mix for another 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides and mix it all in. The vitamin E is going in at the end because it is not only good for skin, it also keeps any unbound oil (remember this is superfatted soap) from going rancid. There's less unbound oil at the end of the mixing so the Vitamin E can be more effective on it.

Then pour the soap into the mold and spread it out even with a spatula. Lay the smaller piece of plastic sheeting directly on top of it and smooth out the bubbles. This will keep it from forming a crust.

Set the soap in the insulation nest and cover with the other bag of styrofoam peanuts. Close the lid and don't open it again for 48 hours. It is going to heat up and accelerate the saponification process then cool down on its own. You want to let it go through this without letting the heat out. That heat makes molecules move around. The more they move around the more likely fat and lye molecules are to find each other and the more thorough the saponification is.
Keep your gloves on while you clean the bucket and utensils you just used. The stuff is not soap yet - just emulsified oil and lye. So it's still real caustic.


After at least 48 hours (you can even leave it in there a week or two if you want), take the soap out, peel off the plastic sheeting, and cut it into smaller chunks. Place them in a box with some air circulation (like a file storage box) so they can dry out for a few more weeks. The saponification process is still going on, but at a much slower rate now. It's 95 - 98% done but that 2 - 5% free lye has not found its fat molecule to latch onto yet so it will still be caustic. Give it a few more weeks to finish off. You don't want to use soap until at least 2 months after it's made so be patient.

We'll come back and finish the soap after it's aged a few weeks.