As with any use of a liquid that has sugars in it for soap making, it is recommended to keep the temperature down by freezing it, and avoid burning the sugars. However, it was also said to boil off the alcohol… But really? How much alcohol is there really? So, I skipped that step.
Recipe:
- 4 ounces coconut oil
- 7 ounces olive oil
- 10 ounces canola
- 9 ounces lard
- 9 ounces of red wine (weighed & frozen)
- 1 ounces lye
- Fragrance or essential oil of choice
- (optional) 1/2 tsp red oxide at trace
If this is the first time you are making soap, you should read this post. (link to: https://www.madebybarb.com/2016/02/22/basic-cold-process-soap/)
Add the lye to the frozen wine slowly and keep over an ice water bath. This will keep the temperature down and prevent the sugars from burning as the heat generated from lye is quite high.
Weigh your oils and melt your solid oils first. I just add them to the same bowl with just setting the scale to zero in between.
Once the oils are well combined, add the lye mix to them. Stir and then start mixing with the immersion blender.
This mix tends to got to trace very quickly, and I mean QUICKLY! I added some red oxide for extra red colour boost, grabbed my mold. Back at the bowl, it had then turned to “soap on a stick”! That is the term for the premature solidifying of the soap mix. YIKES! Well, I read somewhere that you could save it by putting into the crock pot and hot processing it.
I broke it up into chunks and piled it into the crock pot (sorry, no pictures as I was in a bit of a panic).
I set the crock pot on low and went about my business. After about 1 hour, I was able to stir it although it was thick. Hot process soap is a more instant version of soap making where the ‘cooking’ makes the reaction occur right away.
I then plopped the thick mix into the mold with a lot of tapping to prevent air bubbles. Since it was hot processed, it is immediately sliceable once cooled. It may not be what I thought I was going to get, but it did turn out quite lovely. The fragrance is quite earthy since I only added a bit of orange oil. It does also lather quite well due to the coconut oil and and sugars of the wine.
Enjoy your homemade soap! Whichever way you make it, soap is fun and rewarding to make. Like cooking there are just so many options and recipes but each will be special in its own way.
