Basic Homemade Soap

So one of the first projects we wanted to try was to make homemade soap. I remember going to antique stores as a kid and seeing these rugged looking bars of pale yellow soap. My grandmother said that it was lye soap and that her family used to make it growing up in rural West Virginia in the 30's and 40's. My grandfather told me stories about my great grandmother making lye from water strained through wood ashes and then mixed with lard. This seemed like such a cool process...to turn ash water and fat into something that could clean your body. After doing some research, I have recreated the basic process of making lye soap and I want to share it with you if you have never done this yourself. With the right tools and ingredients, soap making is a simple and affordable homesteading project. Here's how:

**Disclaimer - Working with lye can be extremely dangerous and can cause serious injury. Proceed with caution.***

Basic Soap

This recipe produces enough soap to fill half a bread pan. 

Ingredients:

• 15 oz. Fat (you can use vegetable oil, lard, olive oil, or any other oil by itself or in combination)
• 5 oz. Distilled Water (filtered water or tap will do also)
• 2 oz Lye Crystals*

Equipment:

• Ceramic or Glass Bowl
• 2 Measuring cups (I used one 8oz and one 16oz)
• Spatula
• Spoon
• Temperature Gauge (I used a digital temp gun)
• Hand Blender (you could probably use a wisk or spoon)
• Digital Scale
• Bread Pan or other mold
• Baking Sheet
• Drying Rack
• Knife
• Towel
• Plastic Wrap

*A word about lye - The most traditional way to make lye is to strain water slowly through a bucket of ashes. This was not something I wanted to try the first time I made soap because I don't currently have ashes and to me it seems a little inexact, especially for a beginner. I purchased Roebic Crystal Drain Opener at the local tractor supply store. The container says "100% LYE". There is also a process of turning salt water into lye using electrolysis but I don't have the equipment to do that. See sources below for more information.

Instructions:

Begin by gathering all ingredients and tools. As stated above, you can use any oil you want (as far as I know) and you may also use a blend. To better replicate what my grandparents told me about making soap, I used half vegetable oil and half lard. Place your bowl on a digital scale and zero it out. Then add your oil and fats as desired until the scale reaches 15oz exactly. Exact weights are crucial for saponification to occur - more on this below. If you are using lard or any other solid fat, heat the bowl in the microwave just until the fat has melted. 

 Next measure out your water in one measuring cup and lye in the other. Be sure to weigh it out like the fat on the digital scale. Don't trust the lines on the cup. Also, make sure to wear gloves because the lye can burn the hell out of you. DO NOT LET IT TOUCH YOU!!!


Continue with caution during the next step. Very slowly, add the water to the lye crystals and stir with a spoon. This should be done outside or in a well ventilated area since this step produces caustic fumes. Adding the water to the lye will cause it to heat up very quickly. My first temperature check was about 3 minutes after adding the water and the gun read 174. You need to wait now until the lye water cools a bit. I let my lye cool to about 130 degrees.

In the meantime, heat your oil in the microwave to within 10 degrees of your cooled lye water (my water read 128 and the lye was 130). When they are nearly the same temperature, slowly add the lye water to the bowl of oil. Stir the solution with a spatula. Once all is incorporated, blend the solution with a hand blender on low speed. Be sure to keep the blender at the bottom of the bowl and tip the stick at the bottom to release any air bubbles. Begin by pulsing the blender slowly and then, if your solution is deep enough you can keep it blending, just be sure not to mix a lot of air.

After about 5 or 10 minutes of blending, the soap solution will begin to get thick. This is because saponification is taking place. I am not an expert on this so here is the definition according to chemistry.about.com:

Definition: Usually, a process by which triglycerides are reacted with sodium or potassium hydroxide to produce a glycerol and a fatty acid salt, called 'soap'.

Basically, all you need to know is that it starts to get thick. You want to get it to the "trace" stage when you can drag the spatula accross the surface and leave a small track. This reminded me of pudding that was a little thin.  See the photo below. At this point you can add essence oils, dyes, or abrasives such as ground oatmeal or pumice.

    Now you are going to pour the soap into a mold of some kind. I used a silicone bread pan. Anything should work as long as it won't leak. Cover the mold with plastic wrap and then a towel and let it sit for at least 24 hours. After that time, you can unmold the soap and cut it into bars. I used a crinkle cutter made for cutting vegetables.

You have soap!!!

But...you aren't done yet. You need to let the soap dry out for about three weeks or it won't last long in the shower or next to the sink (think about that water-logged bar that mashes easily). Our soap has been ageing for about two weeks now and feels very good. I can't wait to use it!

COSTS:
Our goal was to create a simple soap that would have been like the kind my ancestors made. You can get as fancy as you want...and spend as much as you want. Of course you have to by the products in larger quantities than it took to make this batch but if you break it down, this is the cost, including tax, for almost two pounds of soap.
Distilled water - $1.06/gallon; 5oz = 4cents
Lye - $10.89/32 ounces; 2oz = 68cents
Vegetable oil - $2.73/32 ounces; 7.5oz = 64cents
Lard - $2.18/16 ounces; 7.5oz = $1.02

Total cost per batch = $2.38

I hope you enjoyed this post. Please comment and share your soap making experiences, recipes, etc.

Thanks!