Bearlin Acres Farm-Soap Making

Caustic Humor: The story of Cold-Processed Soap

First start with good fats and oils. All the fats are rendered well. The oils used are food grade. We mix the lye in large heavy plastic containers outside in a well ventilated area using common sense safety precautions. Label your containers. Keep the lye in a locked area away from children and animals at all times while mixing and cooling. Wear goggles and gloves. Keep vinegar and water on hand for quick rinses of lye off body parts.

I limit the size of the batches to 45 lbs. This gets divided into smaller batches according to color, scent and natural additives like oatmeal. Once the soaps harden I set the bars on wax paper-covered newspaper to dry in stacks for a week, then pack them into orchard baskets to cure in the summer shed.

I do nothing as far as packaging the soaps since wrappers conceal the natural look. Once cured, the bars are kept in sealed bins to preserve the scents better.

Some of my favorite websites for recipes will be posted here eventually. Check back or run a search on "soap making recipes" using any good search engine. The basic ingredients are fat, water and lye. As long as you keep the correct weight (technically mass) ratios of Fat:Water:Lye you should have few problems. I try to keep my ratios as follows:

Fat: Lye 7.5: 1

Fat: Water 2.6: 1

Water: Lye 2.8: 1

That makes the general batch recipe 4882 grams water + 1723 grams lye + 12838 g fat. Or in English Measurements 1.33 gallons water + 3.8 lbs lye + 28.3 lbs fat. Make the lye solution carefully! I use a five gallon heavy plastic bucket as the container and an old axe handle to stir. When adding the lye to water, work in good ventilation only. Keep your face and body parts AWAY from the bucket. Breathe ONLY when you are not over the bucket. The fumes are hazardous. The solution will heat up drastically and may boil. Add the lye gradually, allowing each addition to dissolve with stirring. Let this sit in a restricted space to cool to near luke warm. Feel the outside of the bucket after an hour.

Keep fats warm and liquid until the lye solution has cooled. All ingredients should be at 38 degrees Celsius (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit) when mixing the lye solution with the fats. Pour the lye in small amounts into the liquid fats with lots of stirring. If you pour fat into the lye you'll get a two-layered mess since the density of the fat is less than that of the lye solution. The fat will sit on top and make mixing that much more difficult.

Stir till you see traces. Add scents and colors at this point. Pour into prepared molds or plastic-lined boxes. DO NOT use metal molds since lye (and uncured soap) will eat metal.

Frozen goat milk can replace water in this recipe and works quite well. Our Nubians give milk w/ 6.5% milk fat so the soaps are creamier than those made only with water.

Translucent Soaps

Our translucent soaps are made from standard melt and pour blocks with some unique additions. This "soap making" process is much safer for children. They can do all but the microwave heating with supervision and like to share in the business. Molds we use are intended for holiday candy and are of animals and other kid things.

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