Working with beer in soap can be a bit daunting…but it doesn’t have to be!
We’ll be using two design techniques…an in the pot swirl and layering.
Pumpkin Beer Soap Recipe
Coconut Oil – 10 oz.
Shea Butter – 4 oz.
Olive Oil – 12 oz.
Rice Bran Oil – 6 oz.
Lye – 4.5 oz.
Beer – 9 oz. (boiled and flat)
Charcoal – 1 teaspoon
White mica – 2 teaspoons
Fragrance or Essential Oil – 1-2 oz.
Mold – This soap fits in a 10″ Silicone Mold from Bramble Berry (affiliate link http://www.brambleberry.com/10-Silicone-Loaf-Mold–P5199.aspx?bb=5).
Safety Warning: This recipe is for soapmakers who have a basic knowledge of the soapmaking process and know the correct safety procedures to use when handling lye. If you are new to soapmaking, visit lovinsoap.com or soapqueen.com for more detailed beginner instructions. Be sure to wear safety goggles and gloves while soaping.
Prepare the Beer
If you add lye to beer fresh out of the bottle, it will foam up and over. This can be very dangerous if you aren’t prepared for it.
Never add lye to fresh beer.
To flatten the beer and get rid of the alcohol, you can boil your beer. This also helps to reduce the water to have a more concentrated beer additive.
Step 1 – Pour double the amount of beer needed into a large pot. Notice how much head-room I have? This helps to ensure that if the beer does boil up quickly, there is room for it to expand. When that happens you can just pick the pot up and it will go back down. Turn the heat down.
Step 2 – Boil for about 10 minutes.
WARNING: Do not leave the beer. Beer starts to boil all of the sudden and can rise out of the container. Stand over it while you boil. Turn the heat down as low as you can while boiling.
Reduce to 50-75%. You don’t have to be exact.
Step 3 – Pour into a container and put into the fridge overnight.
Let’s Make Soap
Step 1 – Weigh out the lye into a container. Set aside.
Step 2 – Weigh out the beer into another container.
Step 3 – Place the beer into a bigger container before you sprinkle in the lye. Sometimes even when boiled and flat, adding lye to beer can still cause a reaction. This way, if the beer foams out of the container, the bigger container will catch it. Better safe than sorry!
Step 4 – Sprinkle the lye into the beer while stirring gently.
Step 5 – Set aside to cool. Whew! No reaction.
Step 6 – Weigh the coconut oil and shea butter into a container and melt.
Step 7 – Add the liquid oils to the melted oils. This helps to drop the temp. Add your fragrance or essential oil to the oils.
Step 8 – Wait for the oils and lye solution to drop to 90F. You can put the lye solution in the fridge or in an ice bath to drop the temp.
Step 9 – Once temps have dropped to 90F or below, pour the lye into the oils.
Step 10 – Stick blend until emulsion has been reached.
Above is a nice emulsion. The soap is consistent in color with no oils streaks.
Step 11 – Divide the soap into three containers. 1/2 into the big container and 1/4 into each smaller container.
Step 12 – Add white mica to the big container and charcoal to one of the smaller containers.
Mix them up using your stickblender. Don’t mix long, though, or you will speed up trace. We want the soap to remain nice and fluid.
In The Pot Swirl
Step 13 – Pour the black soap into the white soap in three spots.
Step 14 – Using a spatula, swirl the soap once. Stick your spatula into the mixture and move in a circle to swirl. Don’t over-mix it.
Layering
Step 15 – Pour half of this mixture into the mold.
Step 16 – Pour the uncolored soap over this layer.
Step 17 – Pour the rest of the-in-the pot swirled soap over this layer.
Step 18 – Let the soap sit overnight to saponify. Unmold and cut the next day. Cure for a minimum of four weeks.
By combining these two design techniques we ended up with one really cool soap! Don’t be afraid to mix and match design techniques.
Happy Beer Soaping & Swirling!
-Amanda Gail
I made the soap. Smelled good, was easy went to cut the next day and my soap was already so hard it wouldn’t even cut into pieces. Had quite a bit of crumbling.
Just wanted to post that I use your recipes 98% of the time! Never fails – in CP or HP. I also always use ice cubes when mixing lye solution. I detest the lye fumes!. I freeze beer, ocean water (filtered of course), rose water, regular distilled water, and next comes Moonshine! Funny how some customers turn their nose up when they see “Beer” on the label. I have to explain that the sugar in beer provides great lather. Thanks for the recipes (just ordered my 2nd book from you 🙂
When you use charcoal powder in soap, does it cause to form a black leather or blacken the bathroom tiles…?
Is camphor the same as menthol crystals when making soap?
I was surprised to see you adding the essential oils before reaching a light trace. Is there a recommended temperature range to hit before adding the fragrance instead of waiting for trace?
Making beer soap is so much fun! What an awesome idea to use pumpkin beer for our current fall season. The soap looks great! =)
Greetings! Did you weigh the beer by weight or by volume? I’ve been wanting to make beer soap for awhile and I was told to weigh the beer by volume. What do you think? Also, if I wanted to add pumpkin purée to the recipe, how much would you suggest? Thank you so much!
Hello! I weigh the beer by weight using a scale.
You could take 2 ounces away from the beer and use pumpkin instead. Just mix it all together. You could even freeze the pumpkin and add to beer. They lye will melt it.
Hi Amanda.
Where’s the pumpkin in this recipe? Do you use pumpkin beer or is it just the color you get in that middle layer?
Hi Jo Anne! It was a pumpkin beer. You could use half beer and half pumpkin… 🙂 That might be fun to do!
Hello Amanda, I am about to be a new soapmaker and your blog has been of immense help. I’d like to know, when you say lye, you’re talking about solid sodium hydroxide or a solution of it? Thank you very much. Cheers!
Yes Ayelen, she is referring to solid sodium hydroxide.
This makes me want to CP. I’ve been HPing for over a year but I have to try out a version of this also! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome! I was just thinking of that design. It’s as if you read my mind. Wow. I have been wanting to make that design for quite while now! Except I was going to copy a picture I saw somewhere and do the swirl in the “center layer” only, but I love how you did the swirl for the top and bottom layers! So cool. Thank you again Amanda!
How cool is that?!?! Glad that it is helpful! 🙂 🙂