Teach Soap

I've made cold process from just about everything imaginable from, soy milk, chocolate milk, coconut water, dead sea mud, pine tar, liquid aloe, beer, wine, coke, ginger ale, gatorade and just about any other liquid you can find on a grocery shelf. There's a small local soft serve ice cream shop here in the mountains that is only open for 3 months a year so I take in as much as I can while they're open. Just got back from having dessert and was curious if anyone ever tried making soap out of melted vanilla ice cream.

I'd be able to calculate the % of fat from the nutritional values but since this is a small neighborhood place, it's unlikely the would know. Come to think of it, they probably don't even have a business license.

Anyone ever used melted ice cream to make soap before?

That's an interesting idea. I'd make a small batch, replace 1/4 of the water with melted ice cream and see what happens.

It's worth a try, but if it has any additives like guar gum, it could make your soap seize. Ice cream also has a lot of sugar, which could make your soap overheat.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks for the advice fellow soapers. Wasn't aware that guar gum would increase the chance of seizing. Picked up a quart of generic vanilla at the corner store on the way home today. It does contain guar gum but it's far down on the list. It does however, contain coconut oil, palm oil and other soapmaking ingredients that I recognized. Have some thawing now. Going to do a 1.5 pound batch and try 1/4 completely melted ice cream and the rest iced water. Was thinking of decreasing to 3% superfat to compensate for the fats in the ice cream. Dragon's blood should do the trick for the evening. Will post tomorrow to let you know how it turns out.

I would not do a 3% superfat unless you know for sure it's a full fat ice cream, made with cream. I don't know which brand you have, but generic ice creams usually have a vanilla flavor. Most flavors do not come through in soap.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Soapbuddy: The first ingredient on the list is cream but the next one is skim milk.

It's my understanding with reading FDA regulations that the list of ingredients will name the ingredient with the highest % of mass/volume first, and the ingredient with the least amount last on the list.

It's listed as having 11 grams of fat to 6 oz serving (not sure who only eats 6oz of ice cream at a sitting). In the recipe I'm making, and doing some quick stoichiometric math, I came up with a 1.104% fat increase. My standard recipe uses a 7.27% superfat.

Knowing this, what would you recommend for a superfat percentage?

Knowing this, I would still go with a 7% superfat. I normally do 7-8% with no problems. I have done a coconut oil with a 20% superfat.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Well, it blended nice and mixed with no problem. Reached a moderate trace with an immersion blender after about 2 5-second bursts. As anticipated, the lye turned the ice cream a nice tan color. Mixed in some FO & poured last night around 10 pm. Checked it about midnight and it was at a full gel. This morning: nice & firm and without an oily film. Thanks for the advice soapbuddy. I increased my superfat to 7.27%.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Soapbuddy: I'm typically not one to ask of someones recipes because to me, experimenting is 1/2 the fun. But I must admit that your comment of the 20% superfat with coconut oil threw me. You said it turned out fine and curiosity is getting the best of me. I've found the more I superfat over 10%, the less lather it produces.....and anything over 50% coconut oil tends to be drying for the skin. Could you elaborate a little please on your recipe and how the soap acted?

100% Coconut oil soap is kind of a 'rule breaker' soap! It's the only soap I've heard of with that high of a superfat. We have a tutorial on it here; http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body- ... tra-swirl/

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I have found that with my 100% Coconut Oil soap it needs to cure a little longer than the standard 4 weeks. I find it drying after 4 weeks, but after 3-6 months it is absolutely amazing!