Soap Making

This is just meant to be a brief overview. Please read additional information about soap making before proceeding on your own. Please be very careful since lye is dangerous and can splatter and burn.

Ancient Roman legend says that at Mount Sapo, where animals were sacrificed, rain washed a mixture of animal fat and ashes down into the river below where it was discovered to be useful for washing. Whatever the truth of this legend, the name of the product in almost every language derives in part from Sapo: savon (French), soap (English), sapone (Italian), zeep (Dutch), seife (German).

The first literary reference to soap was by the Greek physician Galen, who recommended it for bathing and maintenance of health in the second century AD. Actual soapmaking predates this account. A complete soap manufactory was uncovered in the ruins at Pompeii, enveloped in 79 AD by the eruption of Vesuvius.

Soapmakers guilds began to spring up in Europe during the seventh century. By the eighth century soap was being manufactured in Italy and throughout the Iberian peninsula using the ready supply of olive oil. Historical documentation shows that the English began soapcrafting during the twelfth century. By the thirteenth century soap had made its way to France.

Soap making can be a great hobby. There are many books on soapmaking. Check out your library and they should have a couple. I recommend looking at a book in addition to reading this. Soapmaking can be dangerous. Don't use your soapmaking tools for anything else. Lye is nasty stuff!

Basicly soap is fat and lye and water.

You can use almost any type of fat. Different types have different results. I have used beef fat, Crisco and olive oil (Crisco and olive oil are so much easier!) Lye can be found with the drain cleaners. I think the brand I usually get is Red Devil. It is in a plastic can about the size of a coke can and is red, white and blue. Bottled water is better if your tap water is hard.

You can add scents or dyes right before you put your soap into the molds. Sometimes scents and dyes change their characteristics when they hit the soap. Experiment in small batches. You can add ground cinnamon (abrasive and smells nice and gives a brownish color) or other spices to your soap. Any dry thing you add should be mixed in a little oil or fat before you add it so that you are adding a liquid.

Supplies:
Lye proof pot big enough for your batch of soap. Mine is glass but you can use enameled, stoneware or stainless steel.
Disposable lye proof container - I use an old spaghetti sauce jar. You could also use another lye proof pot
Rubber gloves and goggles
Measuring cups & spoons
Lye proof spoon - stainless steel or wood
2 thermometers that record in the 80-120 range
molds
Vinegar - If you spill lye crystals or lye water on your skin (or anything else) pour on the vinegar and then use cold water to stop the burning. Lye is nasty stuff!
DON'T USE ANY OF YOUR TOOLS FOR ANYTHING ELSE

Add lye to water not the other way around. Do this outside if possible and away from where children or animals can get to it. When you combine lye and water they generate heat (lots of it! 150 degrees). Don't hold the jar in your hand while doing this. Stir until the lye crystals are dissolved. Put the thermometer in and wait until it drops to 95 - 98 degrees before you mix it with the fat.

To use beef fat, deer fat, pork fat or anything else (Chicken fat is not supposed to work very well. I haven't tried it) you have to render it. You can buy fat at a butcher shop or sometimes at the grocery store if they cut their own meat. Put the best parts of the fat (no meat, sinew or tumors) in the pot and slowly heat it. I have always used a stove but I have been told that you can use a microwave. This is not the best smell in the world - open windows or your whole house will smell like this!  The fat pieces will melt and leave "cracklins" floating on the top. Scoop these out. Someone told me that birds like these. Add more fat. Scoop more cracklins. Do this until you are done with your fat. It is best to render all of your fat at once even if you won't be using it all that day. Rendered fat stores better and it is a messy job to do more than once!  Strain the liquid fat to remove any small pieces. The first time I rendered fat I let it get too hot and it turned out brown and had an odor. You can store rendered fat in a covered container.

If you want to use Crisco, just scoop out the appropriate amount and you are ready to go! Olive oil can also be used straight from the container.

 This is a good recipe, though there are many, many different ones.  The important part is getting the fat and the lye water in proper proportion.

12 oz Olive Oil
31 oz Crisco
6 oz Lye
16 oz Water

When the fat is 95 - 98 degrees, slowly add the lye mixture that is also 95 - 98 degrees. Stir constantly until it is well mixed. When you pick the spoon up out of the mixture it should make a "ribbon" of soap on the top. Some days it is 5 minutes, some days it is 20 minutes. If it is a 20 minute day and you don't want to stir that long, once you have it mixed well you can put your lye proof pot in a bowl of ice and continue to stir - especially the sides where it will get cold quickly. Pour into greased molds, cover with a blanket and let sit for 24 hours. After 24 hours turn out soap and leave in a dry, airy place for 2 weeks. I used a food dehydrator when I was desperate to have my soap dry quickly and it took about 3 days. When it is done drying you can rinse it off to remove any chalky residue, rough edges or unmixed lye or fat.

Make sure that children and animals can't get to any of the soap in any of it's stages.

For molds I have used Tupperware hamburger patty storage containers (a little too big), Pringles cans (very nice size - cut the tube of soap with stainless steel or plastic), and candy molds (very nice for those little decorative soaps). Smaller molds take less time to set and dry. In period a mold would have been a large wooden box with removable dividers.