Monday, December 16, 2013

OMH!

Oatmeal Milk and Honey
 
 
 
This is one of my favorite soaps.
 
 
I love making goat milk soaps.  But, when you make milk soaps, you have to freeze your soaps before adding the lye or you will scorch your milk.  I also recommend an ice water bath to keep your milk/lye cold to avoid scorching your milk as well.
 
Remember...safety first!!  ALWAYS WEAR GLOVES AND GOGGLES!!  And keep your skin covered.  Accidents can and do happen.
 
 
This is the lye I like to use. It is a food grade bead lye. It dissolves easily and is easy to use.



 
 
When I run out, I go to a local hardware store and buy this.
 
 
This is after my first addition of lye.  You can see the little round beads. You have to add the lye slowly with milk soap  in order to keep it white.  If you add the lye too quickly, your milk will get too hot and scorch, and will turn yellow - orange, and have a bad smell, like ammonia.

 
This is after all the lye has been added.

 
My milk/lye mixture is starting to thicken and is like a thin pudding
 

 
 
My oatmeal.  I don't measure it, I just kind of eyeball it.  I put it in the blender and turn this into a fine meal.
 
 
My oatmeal will be added later.



 
What's Oatmeal Milk and Honey soap without raw honey.
 
 
My oils are heated in a bowl over a sauce pan to melt my solid oils

 
 
Then poured into the pitcher.   You want the oils to cool and the milk/lye to warm up to room temperature.

 
This is my milk/lye mixture. See how thick it is?  Saponifation has started and is turning the fat in the milk into soap.
 
 
Milk added to oils.

 
Now to stick blend.

 
 
Once this reaches light trace, add the honey....
 
 
Then add the oatmeal and incorporate with the stick blender

 
Wen I make this soap, I like to line my mold with bubble wrap

 
After the soap is poured

 
I cover with more bubble wrap

 
This soap wants to gel...especially with the honey in it, and I don't want it to gel.  I usually stick it in the freezer. Instead if taking up the space, I decided to stick it in the snow instead,   When I picked this mold up, I was surprised at how hot it had gotten already.

 
 
I will keep this outside until I get out of work tomorrow afternoon, then cut it.

this is the beef fat I ground up last night, put in the pot.  I added 4 cups of water, and put the heat on medium
 
 
 
 
 
Once I saw this, I turn it to low.  and let it simmer

 
Mixing on occasion
 
 

 
 
....for most of the day. If you have the heat too high, you will scorch the fat. With will not make for good soap.

 
By now, most of the water is evaporated...

 
And you can strain the fat.  I usually use cheese cloth for this but realized a little too late that I didn't have any, so I had to use my regular strainer.
 
This is what is left that you will throw away.

 
You can see the bits on the bottom of the bowl.

 
 
This is what is thrown away.

 
 
 
After you clean the pot, you pour the fat back into the pot with more water, and let this simmer more.  You do not want to let all the water evaporate. Pour it back into the bowl and let cool (I put it out on the snow)
 
I will show you tomorrow what it looks like when it is done.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

 
 
Today, I went to the grocery store and picked up some beef fat scraps that they are going to throw out.  I use this to render down for tallow to use in my soap. The tallow makes soap very hard and white.  I also make a laundry bar that is half lard, half tallow
 that I grate down and make laundry detergent.
 
 
 
 
This is what the beef fat looks like in the package. I know, it does look pretty gross.
 
 
I chop it up and put it in my blender or you can also use a food processor or meat grinder. I want to get a meat grinder for this process as it will be less messy.

 
 
What doesn't chop up you can cut into very small pieces with a knife.
 
When I chop it up, I remove all the meat from the fat, and my dog gets a bit of a treat.

 
This is my minced beef fat.  It is in a gallon sized ziplock bag.


 
This is the meat scraps I took off the fat, which will be added to my dogs dinner for a few days. 




My minced fat is now in the refrigerator,   I will do the rendering tomorrow.
Welcome to Soap Of Solomon.

I started making soap when none of the products on the market helped my daughters very dry skin. I tend to stick with soap made with raw, organic goat milk rather than water. The goat milk makes a very creamy soap.  Where some soap makers use 1/2 water. 1/2 goat milk, I use 100% goat milk.

I am also making quality body butters and solid lotions, made with natural shea and cocoa butters. 

I am planning on opening the store on February 1, 2014.

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