Charcoal & Cedar Beer Cold Process Soap Tutorial

• Baking & Spices

  • 9 5.8 oz. cocoa butter pastilles

• Oils & Vinegars

  • 24 1/2 15.9 oz. coconut oil
  • 62 1/4 40.4 oz. olive oil
  • 2 oz Cedarwood essential oil
  • 2 oz Fir needle essential oil

• Dairy

  • 4 1/2 2.9 oz. coffee butter

• Beer, Wine & Liquor

  • 21 1/2 oz Beer, Prepared

• Other

  • Activated Charcoal
  • 18 Bar birchwood mold
  • Silicone Liner for 18 Bar Mold
  • 9 oz Sodium hydroxide lye
  • Titanium Dioxide

Found on soapqueen.com

Description

Ingredients

• 18 Bar Birchwood Mold
• Silicone Liner for 18 Bar Mold
• 5.8 oz. Cocoa Butter Pastilles (8.9%)
• 15.9 oz. Coconut Oil (24.5%)
• 2.9 oz. Coffee Butter (4.5%)
• 40.4 oz. Olive Oil (62.2%)
• 9 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
• 21.5 oz. Prepared Beer
• 2 oz. Cedarwood Essential Oil
• 2 oz. Fir Needle Essential Oil
• Activated Charcoal
• Titanium Dioxide

Directions

• Remove the prepared beer from the fridge and begin to slowly add the lye to the beer. Gently stir until the lye has fully dissolved and the liquid is clear. My beer was quite cold (around 40 degrees) when I added the lye to it. As you can see below, it still got quite hot! Set aside to cool. The beer will smell unpleasant after adding the lye, but this scent will not be present in the final soap. The lye will also cause the beer to become darker. Because the stout is already quite dark, I did not try to prevent this from happening.
• Melt and combine the coconut oil, cocoa butter, coffee butter and olive oil. Once the lye water and the oils have cooled to 130 degrees or below (and are ideally within 10 degrees of each other), add the lye water to the oils and stick blend until a very thin trace. If you’d like a harder bar of soap that releases faster from the mold, you can add sodium lactate to the cooled lye water. Use 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of oils in the recipe. For this recipe, you’d add about 4 teaspoons sodium lactate.
• Pour about 600 mL of the soap batter into a separate container. To this small container, add 1 tablespoon dispersed titanium dioxide and use a whisk to blend in the colorant.
• To the large container of soap, add 2 tablespoons of dispersed activated charcoal and use a whisk to fully mix in.
• Add the essential oil blend to the soap containers proportionately, it’s okay to eyeball it! Use a whisk to fully blend in the essential oils.
• Pour all of the black soap into the mold, and tap the mold firmly on the counter to help eliminate bubbles.
• Begin to pour the cream-colored soap across the length of the mold, going back and forth. For the first few pours, don’t worry if the soap breaks through into the black. After the first few initial passes, pour more gently into the soap to ensure the cream soap is staying on top of the black. Continue to pour in the same lengthwise direction until all the cream soap has been poured.
• Insert a dowel or chopstick into the very top of the soap, and drag it back and forth in the opposite direction of the cream soap lines using a S-shaped curve. Continue this pattern down the mold, until you reach the other end.
• Clean off the dowel or chopstick, then insert it into the very top of the soap (about ¼ inch into the soap), and drag the tool in an S-shaped curve down the length of the mold. Continue this pattern until you reach the other side of the mold.
• Insert the dividers into the soap. Spritz the top of the soap with 99% isopropyl alcohol to help prevent soda ash. Allow this soap to harden in the mold for about 5 days before unmolding. Because this recipe is palm oil free and contains a lot of liquid oil, it may require more time to harden in the mold. Once ready to unmold, gently remove from the dividers and allow to cure for 4-6 weeks. Enjoy!