Teach Soap

Are there any special benefits that wine/beer add to soap or is just used for "label appeal"?

As long as you take normal safety precautions and are very careful when mixing the lye water with the oils, a glass of wine can add to the enjoyment of making soap! Feel free to roll your eyes at me, but it's what came to mind when I saw your question. I actually have never made soap with beer or wine, mainly because I wouldn't want to go to work smelling like it after washing with it.

I'm sure one of the other Soapers can better (much, much better) answer your question.

Jill

The soap doesn't actually smell like alcohol LOL So don't worry, you wouldn't smell like a drunk

I notice more bigger bubbles with wine & beer soap than with my regular recipe. I'm assuming it's the sugar.

Some scent does come through in the final soap. Or at least it does when I use cheaper beer & wine instead of the fancy stuff. Not an alcohol type scent though.

When I make beer soaps, I leave the beer out for a few days to go flat & then boil it for about 20 minutes or so. With wine soap, I boil it for about 20 minutes or so. It's supposed to boil the alcohol out. I honestly have no idea if it's a myth or not, but I do know that the one time I didn't boil the beer, my soap seized horribly.

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Genny

Boiling does reduce the alcohol content I microwave my beer until boiling and then put it in the freezer for an hour. I'm too impatient to wait for it to go flat, lol. Never had a problem with this method. The guys like "beer" soap just for the novelty of it - but I think it feels more bubbly/lathery and can smell some of the hops.

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~*~ Jennifer ~*~

Sorry, but I think I'd still rather drink the wine!

Hi. I am new to the forum (this is my first post) but I did make a wine soap. It was a disaster! I missed the part about boiling out the alcohol. When i added my lye to the wine, I got a psychedelic color scheme.
It first turned bright lime green, then teal, a few more changes then ended up a beautiful deep red. When I added the lye mixture to the oils and fats it took about 2 minutes before it seized. Then of course it toasted my stick blender. I had to dig it out of my bucket and pat it into the molds. The next day I scooped it out and put it in the crock pot with some water - super low temp and "rebatched it" - it is curing but very soft. It has been about 4 weeks. Beer soap was a snap - I just let the beer get flat and used my normal recipe. My next batch of wine soap won't be anytime soon.

Anne

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Contented goats give special milk; it's mostly cream and smooth as silk

Little Moon -- Welcome to the forums! Thanks for the input on your wine soap. I've never made beer soap either. Love to see pictures (there's a forum thread for that). Stick around -- these forums are really fun and very helpful.

Jill

I tried it last year, hoping for a Valentine's Day soap. The soap itself turned out fine, but it got the worst ash of any soap I've ever made. It was also beige--I didn't color, because I was trying to figure out the base recipe. Red wine will not stay red, in other words, like so many red things at come into contact with lye!

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

I thought I had my game on tonight and tried a beer soap. I used flat chilled beer. This was also my first time using castor oil. And my first time using BB ginger lime fragrance oil (which according to their website can accelerate trace). The batch seized. I had planned far enough ahead to have the oven preheated, so I smushed it into the mold and it is gelling now. I can only imagine that when I pull it out in the morning it will have air pockets in it. We'll see. This isn't even my first soaping disaster this weekend.

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Michelle

Reminder to Self: "Cut No Soap Before It's Time!"

So sorry for your small disaster there Bubbles! Sometimes the gremlins come and that is that.

Whenever I do beer soap I not only allow it to go flat for days (I don't care for beer so this is not an issue for me!) and then I freeze it. I use a slurry to make my soap and I have never had an issue with it or with ash. I have never boiled it first, I am wondering if that is just to get it flat???

As for wine soap, I make it every year for a wine festival that I have space at. Because the wine fragrance doesn't come through as I would like, I use a wine FO (or I use an EO blend I made, mixed with the BB champagne FO, which was really, really good!) along with adding in the wine. I also freeze the wine and use it as part of my liquid, about 2/3 of it, and add in cold water for the rest. I do cook it before I freeze it, but I have never boiled it, just simmered for a few hours.

And welcome Little Moon!

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

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Michelle

Reminder to Self: "Cut No Soap Before It's Time!"

Wine needs to be boiled to evaporate out the alcohol. Then used very cold.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Well Michelle, as I said, I don't care for beer, so I don't drink it or know much about it. I only know that I just let mine sit for days and go flat, then freeze it and use it in a slurry for my soap. Other than stinking when the lye hits it, I like it! Lol

As for the wine, well I do have a glass or two of that, which makes soaping so much more fun! Lol But I have never boiled it. I cook it for hours, so obviously I cook it long enough since I have not ever had an issue with soaping it. But boiling certainly would cut the time down I guess. Still, when I do wine soap, it is like an event and I rather enjoy my process, so maybe I will save boiling for when I am in a hurry and don't want to have a nice afternoon of wine and soap! Lol

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

The alcohol in wine and beer has a lower boiling point than water (173°F vs. 212°F), so it vaporizes before the water in the mixture actually begins to boil. That's why simmering works for Tammy and boiling works for Irena.

I know this stuff because when I'm not making soap, I moonlight as a high school chemistry teacher. And by the way, this is how making moonshine works, too.

Right about now I could use some of that moonshine! Gotta go clean up the mess for another showing on the house . . .

Jill