Here is a little visual tour of the soapmaking process:
Rendering fat: I get beef trimmings from the butcher chop them into smaller pieces and cook them for a few hours until the fat breaks down. This is not really something you want to do in the house.....to much stinky stuff and grease in the air.
Removing the solids from the rendered fat......
Straining the rendered fat through layers of cheesecloth to remove all debris......into a bowl that can be place in the refrigerator
Straining through cheesecloth. The bowl of rendered fat still has some water in it.....so it has to be chilled. I put it in the freezer for a couple of hours before turning it out to separate the fat from the "jelly"......the rendered fat should be white at that time.
The "jellied" part is just scraped into the trash can and then I wash off the tallow.....and cut it up in chunks to put in the freezer for later use if I am not going to make soap right away.
All ingredients have to be weighed on scales. This is lye being weighed.
Mixing lye with water......always add water to lye.....NOT lye to water.....it gets very hot......up to 200+ degrees so be careful. Always use a wooden spoon.....never a metal spoon when working with lye.
I have my rendered fat and lye/water mixture both at 110 degrees....both have to be the same temperature before you can mix them. Here I am adding my water/lye mix to my measured fat.........stirring constantly.....
This little tool is a soapmaking miracle.....takes a lot less time than stirring with a wooden spoon. You must stir your batch until it reaches "trace".......which is sort of what fudge looks like when you are making it....it is shinny and has trailing in it when you stir it.
Seeing the trailing in the mixture.......now it is time to add color and essential oils for scent......
Pouring into wooden mold..........almost home free!!
After putting the soap into the mold it must be kept warm for 48 hours....I do check on it occasionally. I wrap it in blankets or as with this batch an old piece of styrofoam....it goes thru a heat before setting up....after I turn it out of the mold, I cut it into bars. Then stack them to cure for 4 weeks. It takes that long for the fat to absorb all of the lye in the product.
Once this is complete, you can cut them up into bar size pieces..