I love to learn how to do new things. In fact, I learn how to do new things often, just for the challenge, figure it out, and then never do them again. I think I like the learning process and the challenge of trying something new more than anything. Just a note, I did not take pictures of the process as I was worried I’d forget something, so I just have pictures of finishing up.

We purchase our beef from a local source. When we have it butchered, they always ask if we want the bones for broth and the fat. I’ve always gotten some of the bones, but never the fat until this last time. I decided I wanted to try rendering the fat to get beef tallow.

I read all about it and was able to successfully render most of the fat (I still have one package I need to do). But once I had it rendered I wasn’t sure what to do with it. My daughters use beef tallow facial moisturizer and love it, so I thought maybe that would be fun to learn. But I have also always been interested in learning to make soap.

When I was younger I read old westerns and they occasionally mentioned rendering fat, boiling ashes to make lye, and making soap. I thought that sounded like an interesting process to learn. I did learned about rendering lye from several YouTube videos, and decided I’d buy lye, at least to begin with.

Lye rendered from wood ash is hard to measure the intensity. Each type of wood creates ash with differing amounts of lye. While I’m not totally opposed to learning about the wood we burn and the lye it creates, I wanted to be successful making soap, not lye. So I decided to save the lye making for a different learning activity. It also needs to be made outside, so I though it best for a summer activity.

I purchased a couple of books on soap making as well as watched a number of YouTube tutorials. I purchased the necessary equipment and it arrived earlier this week. I then went searching for lye. Lye is a hazardous material, and consequently, it’s hard to get it shipped to Alaska, so I had to find a local source.

I learned that drain cleaners are mostly Lye, and you can buy one brand that is 100% lye or sodium hydroxide. You have to use the 100% lye, and it’s best if its in dry form. I found Roebic drain cleaner at Lowes and it’s 100% lye in small granules. I did find a couple of places online that recommended this particular brand as well.

Friday was the day. I didn’t have to go to work with my husband, so I had time to figure it out. The process was actually much quicker than I thought. I did spend about an hour at it, but that was mostly because I wanted to be thoroughly versed in the process before I actually began combining the oils and lye.

The biggest thing everyone talked about was getting the oils to lye ration correct. This makes a difference in how hard the bars of soap are, or if they set up at all. I found several online calculators where you enter the oils you’re using, the percentage you want for each oil, and how much total soap you wanted to make (I made 2 pounds), Then it calculated out my recipe and gave me all the measurements in grams and ounces (for whichever your scale uses).

I measured out my oils. For this batch I kept it simple using Tallow, Olive Oil, and Caster Oil. On several of the videos, they said this was a good combination for a beginner. I also did not scent my soap as I just wanted something very basic and didn’t want to have to remember when to pour it in as I didn’t totally know what trace and saponification and all the other things associated with soap making really were going to look like in real time.

I then started on the processes, making sure my oils stayed melted and combining the water and lye outside. This was quite a stinky process and next time I will combine the water and lye further away from my house. I was on a cover porch and it filled the area with fumes. Lesson learned!

Once the lye was cooled to about 130 degrees and I had my oils heated to about 130 degrees, I prepared to combine the two. This was the most nerve racking process for some reason. But I’m happy to say it was a lot easier than I had anticipated. I combined the two and then used my stick blender to whip it all together. This process took less than a minute. I was very surprised.

From there it was just a matter of filling my molds. I chose to use silicon molds already in bars, 6 oval molds and 6 rectangle molds. I used the silicon because I had read about and heard many stories from the videos of people not being able to get the soap out of the molds.

I got the molds filled, and they were at a soft set by the time I got them mostly level. This process really didn’t take a long time once I actually got started. I left them in the molds until they started to pull away easily from the sides. This happened much quicker than I had anticipated as well.

I had read that I should leave it for anywhere from 12-48 hours in the molds. But maybe because these were individual bars they just went quicker? Maybe I had the wrong lye to oil ration? I don’t know, but 6 hours later I moved them further back on my counter and they released on the sides. I decided to try unmolding one just to see, and it came out perfectly!

I know I’ve said it a couple of times, but this really was a super simple process. I have more tallow, and many more recipes for everything from bar soap to shampoo bars to facial moisturizers and lotions. I am so excited to try some of the other recipes and try adding a bit of scent and maybe some other add-ins.

They are now sitting on my counter on a wire rack drying. I’ll know in about 5 weeks how well they actually turned out (lather, hardness, etc.). But, so far I am pleasantly surprised by the whole process and am excited to make some more! Now, what to learn next…

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