Post by Admin on Jun 30, 2005 5:50:00 GMT 10
Hand milling your homemade soap will make it harder and thus it will last longer in the water then your regular homemade soaps. Basic homemade soap is sort of soft even after drying it. It will on occasion curl, turn funny colors around the edges, and disappears really fast when left at the bottom of the tub. Hand milled soaps are a lot harder and hold their shape and color longer. Hand milled soaps allow one to use all kinds of creativity in the processing of these bars. The addition of pureed fruits or vegetables, herbs, grains, scents and colors is so much easier to add into the milled soaps because the temperature is much lower then the original soap making process.
Hand milling of your basic soap recipe is really quite easy to do, perhaps easier then your original homemade soap recipe. In fact it doesn't seem logical to add liquid to an already soft soap to harden it, but it works.
You will need to grate up one pound of your favorite basic homemade soap. For beauty soaps use a castile type, or use the straight lard/lye type for a hard cleaning milled soap. Use an old box type grater to grate your soap, don't try to use your food processor, for some unknown reason it just burns them up. It is really quite easy to use the box grater and doesn't take any time at all to grate up a pound of soap.
Take your one pound of grated soap and put it in a two quart sauce pan made of stainless steel or enamel. Then add twelve ounces of rain water to the pot and stir. If you don't have access to rain water, well water or store bought spring water will work. Set this over a low flame and cook this very slowly, stiring often so that it doesn't scorch on the bottom. It should take about twenty minutes more or less to reach a nice steamy temperature of 160 degrees. The melted soap and water should be the consistency of a cake batter. Some extra water can be added if needed but if you are adding liquid additives, like honey or milk, you may not want add any extra water.
Remove the pan from the stove once you have reached the desired temperature. Now you can add grains like cornmeal, oatmeal or bran. Sand and pumice can also be added to help scrub that dirt. With heavy additives like these, make sure that you stir very thoroughly, or your soap will come out streaked, unless you like it like this. Herbs, flowers, spices, scented oils and colorants can alter an otherwise boring plain soap to a thing of beauty. After stirring in all of your additives, you are ready to pour your hand milled soap into your soap molds.
Make sure you have greased up your soap molds and have made room in your freezer. The freezer will help make removal to the soap from the the soap molds a lot easier. Pour the soap into the greased molds and tap on a flat hard surface to release any air bubbles that may get trapped. Let this set up a bit, perhaps an hour or two, it will be easier to move to the freezer. Leave them in the freezer for about an hour, then remove. You don't have to use a freezer, but it sure makes it a lot easier to remove the soaps from the molds.
After removing the soaps from their molds, you will need to dry and cure the hand milled soaps thoroughly. Set the soaps on trays and turn them often, this might take a month or so. When they feel firm and dry enough to handle, you will need to trim your soaps so that they will look pretty. You can use a veggie peeler or a sharp knife, then dry them some more. If you take a piece of cheese cloth and drape it over the drying soap it will help keep some of the dust off. Drying is very important, if the soap isn't dried and cured properly, it can spoil. There is nothing more disappointing then getting out a spoiled bar of soap that you worked so hard to create. Make sure that the room that you are drying the soap in has good ventilation. Running a fan on a hot 80 degree day can finish the curing procress quickly. When all is dried, store the soap in a cool dry place. A wrapped bar of homemade soap is as much of a joy to give as it is to receive.
Hand milling of your basic soap recipe is really quite easy to do, perhaps easier then your original homemade soap recipe. In fact it doesn't seem logical to add liquid to an already soft soap to harden it, but it works.
You will need to grate up one pound of your favorite basic homemade soap. For beauty soaps use a castile type, or use the straight lard/lye type for a hard cleaning milled soap. Use an old box type grater to grate your soap, don't try to use your food processor, for some unknown reason it just burns them up. It is really quite easy to use the box grater and doesn't take any time at all to grate up a pound of soap.
Take your one pound of grated soap and put it in a two quart sauce pan made of stainless steel or enamel. Then add twelve ounces of rain water to the pot and stir. If you don't have access to rain water, well water or store bought spring water will work. Set this over a low flame and cook this very slowly, stiring often so that it doesn't scorch on the bottom. It should take about twenty minutes more or less to reach a nice steamy temperature of 160 degrees. The melted soap and water should be the consistency of a cake batter. Some extra water can be added if needed but if you are adding liquid additives, like honey or milk, you may not want add any extra water.
Remove the pan from the stove once you have reached the desired temperature. Now you can add grains like cornmeal, oatmeal or bran. Sand and pumice can also be added to help scrub that dirt. With heavy additives like these, make sure that you stir very thoroughly, or your soap will come out streaked, unless you like it like this. Herbs, flowers, spices, scented oils and colorants can alter an otherwise boring plain soap to a thing of beauty. After stirring in all of your additives, you are ready to pour your hand milled soap into your soap molds.
Make sure you have greased up your soap molds and have made room in your freezer. The freezer will help make removal to the soap from the the soap molds a lot easier. Pour the soap into the greased molds and tap on a flat hard surface to release any air bubbles that may get trapped. Let this set up a bit, perhaps an hour or two, it will be easier to move to the freezer. Leave them in the freezer for about an hour, then remove. You don't have to use a freezer, but it sure makes it a lot easier to remove the soaps from the molds.
After removing the soaps from their molds, you will need to dry and cure the hand milled soaps thoroughly. Set the soaps on trays and turn them often, this might take a month or so. When they feel firm and dry enough to handle, you will need to trim your soaps so that they will look pretty. You can use a veggie peeler or a sharp knife, then dry them some more. If you take a piece of cheese cloth and drape it over the drying soap it will help keep some of the dust off. Drying is very important, if the soap isn't dried and cured properly, it can spoil. There is nothing more disappointing then getting out a spoiled bar of soap that you worked so hard to create. Make sure that the room that you are drying the soap in has good ventilation. Running a fan on a hot 80 degree day can finish the curing procress quickly. When all is dried, store the soap in a cool dry place. A wrapped bar of homemade soap is as much of a joy to give as it is to receive.
