Soap Making

Rebel.Rose.Rabbitry":24a5mxt8 said:

Schipperkesue":24a5mxt8 said:

I remove the fat and render it, feed the cracklings to the dogs and I am saving the tallow to make a batch of soap.

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Yes please a tutorial With list of all that's needed to do and steps please! That would be so cool, I don't get a lot of fat but it would be better than letting it get chucked to wast or feed the rat population that's surfaced and stealing from the dog :angry:

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I like using the fat for soap also,-- but, I like to include at least 1/2 beef, or mutton tallow, [to make a good ,hard, long lasting, bar of soap], as just rabbit fat is just a little too soft a bar for my liking.

I haven't made soap in ages and always used lard or shortning. That is interesting about the half beef/mutton. I may have enough earlier than I thought!

Makes me nervous to think about writing a tutorial...but I will try when the time comes. <br /><br /> __________ Tue Dec 23, 2014 12:18 am __________ <br /><br /> Oh...does any one know where I could find some rabbit-shaped soap molds? :lol:

https://www.etsy.com/market/rabbit_soap_mold

I especially like these ones: https://www.etsy.com/listing/189547358/ ... ref=market

Since rabbits aren't "supposed" to have fat...rabbit tallow almost sounds like a mythical ingredient.

If you post a how-to, I'll definitely be trying it.

Tallow Soap:

64 oz tallow
24 fluid oz distilled water [I use tap water with no problem]
8.5 oz lye

render the tallow, and remove "cracklins" strain through fine cheese cloth [or what ever strainer you have] --don't get burned, let the tallow cool until it is less then 200 degrees , but not thickening yet, pour the hot lye water mix into the fat, stir slowly until it is getting thick and milky looking, when it is getting stiff, but still pourable ,-pour into your mold, [I use cat food boxes, ] I pour it in the box [with newspaper in the bottom] about 2 inches thick, then when it is almost set I cut it into bars with a knife-

**pour the lye into the water to mix them,-- NEVER pour water into the lye , -stir slowly as you mix the lye into the water, [do not hold your head over the pot as you do this] --Never use aluminum

OMG, those molds are perfect!

Michael, I was taught to try to have the lye and tallow at as close to the same temperature as possible. Do you find this to be important? As well, a slow pour of lye into tallow... Is it important?

Soaping can be fun and it's great to know your using an all natural soap. A few words of caution.

1)Always weigh your measurements. Never use liquid measures or measure by volume as lye will settle and throw off your measures and comes in different forms (ie bead/flake).

2)Use rubber gloves (gloves for washing dishes are great) and goggles when working with lye and raw soap. Don't be afraid but be cautious. Lye is Sodium Hydroxide and it CAN BURN. I've received small lye burns from a raw soap splatter while stirring and I definitely wouldn't want a larger one.

3)Use only stainless steel or nonporous ceramics (crockpot bowl) to mix soap. Aluminium with react with the lye and could be dangerous. If you do use anything plastic reserve it for making soap. It might be possible for lye to leach into plastic and contaminate food. I don't worry about stainless steel and my crockpot although some recommend reserving all your soap making utensils for soap only.

4)Don't substitute one fat/oil for another. They saponify at different rates and you could end up with a lye heavy soap. Use a soap calculator http://soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp Is the one that I use. It includes just about any fat you can think of including rabbit fat.

5)Your soap must "cure" before use. Although most soaps can be safely used after about a 24 hr cure time they won't be really nice until 6-8 weeks after you make the soap. The cure time allows the saponification process to complete and lets the soap dry making a harder bar. <br /><br /> __________ Tue Dec 23, 2014 9:04 am __________ <br /><br />

Schipperkesue":290qugmn said:

OMG, those molds are perfect!

Michael, I was taught to try to have the lye and tallow at as close to the same temperature as possible. Do you find this to be important? As well, a slow pour of lye into tallow... Is it important?

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Yes, having the temps close is important if you are cold processing in order to get a proper trace. I believe around 120F is what is recommended but I'd have to check for sure. I usually hot process so it's not as critical to have temps close.

Lye and raw soap can BURN. So always be careful and poor slowly.

There is a ton of information about making soap on the internet. Making soap is like learning to cook (with a bit of chemistry) you need to follow a good "recipe" (after being checked through a soap calc) and get a "feel" for what your doing.

Schipperkesue":g2yln9ug said:

OMG, those molds are perfect!

Michael, I was taught to try to have the lye and tallow at as close to the same temperature as possible. Do you find this to be important? As well, a slow pour of lye into tallow... Is it important?

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it is better to have them close to the same temp, but-- it is very important not to add lye water to hot [over 200 deg]tallow as it may boil up and splash on you and you will get burnt. if the mixtures are too hot [over 120 - to 140 deg] you will have to stir longer and faster to keep the ingredients mixed together, while it cools enough to start thickening.
and yes slow pour of everything is best.

I just looked it up to make sure I was giving correct info. Most soapers seem to recommend around 120 degrees for both lye solution and oils/fats before mixing. The trick is to let the lye solution cool before adding it to the oils and getting the temps as close as possible. This will also give you a bit of time after trace to add color or scents if you desire. The hotter the temps the faster it will thicken which can make adding things difficult if it gets really thick really quick plus temps over about 140 can burn off your essential oils which, as expensive as they are, is definitely something to avoid.


I highly recommend the soap queens blog. She has some really awesome free resources. Not just for soaps.

Her begginers soap tutorial.

http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body- ... d-process/

I generally make "basic lye soap" I use what ever fat I have arround, this last batch was venison, Mutton, Beef, and Rabbit, I sometimes add crushed cloves, but that is about as fancy as I get, -- when you want to make anything fancier [like above comment] you should definitely follow a proven recipe. I have yet to have a batch fail, but I suppose it is possible. [I like rabbit fat as it is almost like adding glycerin]

That looks like wonderful soap. I have been wanting to try some Tallow but I can't seem to find any around here and with calf prices being so high my inlaws aren't butchering a calf anytime soon. The grocery store butcher shops all say they use all they get. The one real butcher shop we have in the area said they could order me a 50lb cube for $.86/ lb which isn't to bad but I'm not sure I want to try to use up 50lbs of tallow lol. I guess I would have really good french fries for a very long time. I have re-purposed bacon grease in soap. I was surprised at how well it turned out.

I've had a couple of batches fail but it was due to my own stupidity. I tried making milk soap via hot process when I first started out. The soap was usable but it had a very strong scorched milk scent :lol: . Then I tried to use an aluminium bread pan as a mold (not good at all!!!). I did get some interesting photos of separation on that one :lol:

Beef Tallow has the highest saponification value (.143) of the fats you used so by substituting those fats you in effect lowering your superfat percentage (percentage of unsaponified oils).

For Example if you take 64oz oils 40% beef tallow 40% sheep tallow and 20% rabbit fat and keep your lye amount the same you decrease you superfat by 1%. Your recipe has a high superfat value to start so your still in the safe zone. However, if you were to take your recipe and do something like 40% tallow 40% canola oil 20% rabbit fat you would end up with a superfat of 4% which while still safe to use is under the 5% that is the general rule of thumb. The more vegetable oils added the lower the superfat. 50% olive oil 50% soybean oil (one of the very first soaps I made because that is what I had on hand) would give you a superfat of just 2%. Which, while probably safe, is playing with fire. Any accidental variation could make it lye heavy. Canola oil would make things even worse.

I just use what ever I have on hand, but do not use any vegetable oils, -except I made a batch using palm oil once, because I mostly had soft fats , like pork, chicken, and rabbit to work with, so I added 2 gal of palm oil, to 2 gal of "other animal fats" and it worked great. - I just save all the extra fat from what ever meat we are cooking or processing , and put it in labeled ziploc bags in the freezer, - then I get the local butcher to call me when they have an excess [usually from mutton or beef, and I get it free ] --then, when I have a lot-- I make soap. I have about 20 lbs of bar soap in the dungeon still, so soap will not be a high priority anytime soon.

How do you make lye or where do you buy it? I've never seen any kits or supplies for soap (except for re-pouring here already made soap).

I order mine over the internet. Sometimes you can find it locally in the drain cleaners. Just make sure it is 100% sodium hydroxide (usually 99.9% or something like that). Try ace hardware that is where I bought mine for my first try. It will be more expensive though. If ordering over the internet be sure you figure shipping into the cost because it won't be cheap.

http://www.brambleberry.com/Sodium-Hydr ... P3037.aspx
http://www.bulkapothecary.com/sodium-hydroxide-lye.html

Bulk apothecary lye is cheaper but it is pelleted and tends to have a bit of static cling. Works great other than that.

I haven't bought the flaked soduim hydroxide from brambleberry but I've used their flaked potassium hydroxide (for liquid soap) and been very pleased. No static in the flakes.

If you are really really adventurous you can make your own lye from wood ash. However, I haven't tried (although I may one day). I highly recommend you become comfortable working with lye and soap before trying the wood ash approach. Going the wood ash route requires you to boil down the caustic liquid and involves floating an egg to make sure the lye water ratio is correct. Sounds very exact doesn't it? :lol:

michaels4gardens have you ever tried making your own lye?

alforddm":2825lrrp said:

I have re-purposed bacon grease in soap. I was surprised at how well it turned out.

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. I save up bacon grease and use it to make all-purpose soap. I'll blend other fats for "fancier" bars, but use just the leftover bacon fat unmixed for a "waste not want not" bar. There are many recipes on the internet if people are interested. This link is very simple and makes the process simple if someone is new to soap making. http://littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/2008 ... ory-i.html

alforddm":2825lrrp said:

I tried making milk soap via hot process when I first started out. The soap was usable but it had a very strong scorched milk scent .

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. For what it's worth: If I have milk I want to use up I freeze it. When I add it to the lye, I make sure it is still slushy and has lots of ice chunks. It doesn't overheat and scorch that way. (If my kids have milk left in their cup that they didn't drink before sneaking out, I pour it into ice cube trays and then put the frozen cubes in a ziplock bag. They're ready for soap making then!)

For what it's worth: If I have milk I want to use up I freeze it. When I add it to the lye, I make sure it is still slushy and has lots of ice chunks. It doesn't overheat and scorch that way.

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Yep, that is what I did the next time I made it and it worked much better. I've got frozen milk in the fridge right now. Been meaning to make some more just haven't gotten around to it. This next time I'm going to put it in the fridge so that it doesn't gel as well and see how I like it.

Any tips on how to get air bubbles out of the soap? This is what seems to happen when I try to cold process. Hot process it doesn't matter as much because it has a different texture anyway or I'm making liquid soap.

alforddm":37o6lxfp said:

I order mine over the internet. Sometimes you can find it locally in the drain cleaners. Just make sure it is 100% sodium hydroxide (usually 99.9% or something like that). Try ace hardware that is where I bought mine for my first try. It will be more expensive though. If ordering over the internet be sure you figure shipping into the cost because it won't be cheap.

http://www.brambleberry.com/Sodium-Hydr ... P3037.aspx
http://www.bulkapothecary.com/sodium-hydroxide-lye.html

Bulk apothecary lye is cheaper but it is pelleted and tends to have a bit of static cling. Works great other than that.

I haven't bought the flaked soduim hydroxide from brambleberry but I've used their flaked potassium hydroxide (for liquid soap) and been very pleased. No static in the flakes.

If you are really really adventurous you can make your own lye from wood ash. However, I haven't tried (although I may one day). I highly recommend you become comfortable working with lye and soap before trying the wood ash approach. Going the wood ash route requires you to boil down the caustic liquid and involves floating an egg to make sure the lye water ratio is correct. Sounds very exact doesn't it? :lol:

michaels4gardens have you ever tried making your own lye?

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I made lye from hardwood ash, you put the ash in a plastic 50 gal barrel [after it has cooled] with a plastic hose bib in the bottom of the side, you put about 3 inches of pea gravel in the bottom of the barrel with plastic window screen covering the inside of the spigot, then again over the gravel, [ make sure the gravel is covering the inside of the spigot.] after the barrel is full of ash, you fill it with water, and let it sit for a week or 3, then you drain the liquid from the barrel, and "cook it down" by letting it slowly simmer until a raw egg will not sink in the liquid, -- then you make soap, -- but you better just use Beef fat if you want any kind of hard bar soap, as homemade lye doesn't work as well as store bought lye.

and ,-I bought my Lye beads from http://www.essentialdepot.com or 1-8668402495 [right now yo ucan get 32 lbs for $40. ] plus a bunch of shipping

alforddm":197lvfh2 said:

Any tips on how to get air bubbles out of the soap? This is what seems to happen when I try to cold process. Hot process it doesn't matter as much because it has a different texture anyway or I'm making liquid soap.

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Do you smack your mold or container on the table top to get any trapped bubbles to come to the top? That can help. If you are using a stick blender to bring it to trace, I've read where people recommend "burping" it when you put it in the soap mixture. Basically tilt the stick blender so any air that is trapped under the blade comes to the top and isn't blended in. Some people smack the mixing container on the counter before blending as well so air is knocked to the surface. I sometimes do this and sometimes forget because I haven't been making fancy soaps lately and I don't care as much, especially if I'm grinding it up for laundry soap powder.

Your soap is so pretty-such earthy colors, which I love. The marbled colors look nice. I found myself imaging the scent of it as I looked at it. Hope the tips above work for you because you really do a nice job!

but you better just use Beef fat if you want any kind of hard bar soap, as homemade lye doesn't work as well as store bought lye.

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I believe this is because lye made with woodash is potassium hydroxide rather than sodium hydroxide. Potassium hydroxide is what is used for liquid soap.

__________ Thu Dec 25, 2014 6:41 pm __________

Your soap is so pretty-such earthy colors, which I love. The marbled colors look nice.

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Thank you! I used a combination of citronella, eucalyptus, and tea tree essential oils. My daughter swears it works as intended and keeps the mosquitos away. She was getting eaten alive at track practice but after she started using this soap they hardly touched her. I need to make another batch soon so it will be ready for spring.

I'll try the tilting the stick beater and see if that helps. I did wack the mold on the counter. It was pretty thick by the time I got the colors and essential oils added which probably didn't help. <br /><br /> __________ Tue Feb 03, 2015 1:14 pm __________ <br /><br /> Sorry to bring this back up to the top but I wasn't sure where else to put it.

michaels4gardens,

I just finished rendering my first bit of tallow ever! Dad butchered a calf and I asked him to save the fat for me. I did about a 1/3 of what he gave me and it made 2 quarts and almost a pint of rendered tallow so pretty pleased. So, my question is...Do you wash the fats after you render them? I did strain it through a coffee filter and it looks wonderful and doesn't smell strong. Should I still wash it?

Do you use any of the fats you render for cooking?

Thanks so much!

Wait what? I'm sorry, little late getting to the conversation but am I seeing you can make soap from rabbit fat?

mystang89":3ll1rcwf said:

Wait what? I'm sorry, little late getting to the conversation but am I seeing you can make soap from rabbit fat?

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Yes, you can make soap from any fat or vegetable oil. Different fats and oils will bring different properties to your soap.

You just have to process quite a few rabbits to have enough for a batch of soap.