Soapmaking

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I would like to make laundry soap using tons of left over fat from frying bacon. Does anyone have a recipe for this??

Thanks,

Silvia

-- Silvia Stoddart (organic_farmer@hotmail.com), December 28, 2000

Answers

bacon greese doesnt make good soap,,, heard you have to purify it and desalt it. For my soap,, 3 lbs rendered fat,,, 1 can Red Devil lye,, 1 1/2 quartd water,, make the lye water,, and that to the melted fat,, stir,, dont use anytrhing metal,, allll wood or glass,, pour into molds as soon as you see it start to set. First time I madde it,,, didnt know what I was doing,, set up on me in the pitcher I was useing,, what a mess. Also watch the lye,, when you add it to water,, it heats up pretty good,,, so use something that can take the heat.

-- STan (sopal@net-port.com), December 28, 2000.

We use our bacon grease for frying eggs in and flavoring green beans. Usually keep it used up !

-- Darren in Idaho (darrencindy2000@yahoo.com), December 28, 2000.

None of my soap books recomend bacon grease for soap. I used mine for starting fires in the cook stove. Put a little glob on a piece of paper on top of the kindling an get the fire going fast. (or on a corn cob)

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), December 28, 2000.

Since you can't use your bacon grease anyway, maybe you can use this recipe, stolen from Gardenweb post.

Laundry Soap

1 bar heavy duty laundry soap (found in the laundry aisle)--I use Fels Naptha 1 cup washing soda (NOT baking soda--Arm and Hammer makes a product called "Super Washing Soda" that works for this--one box will make approximately 7 batches of laundry soap.) Grate the bar of soap into a sauce pan. Add enough cold water to fully cover the soap. Allow to sit for several hours to overnight.

When ready to make soap, fill a 5 gallon bucket with enough warm water to fill it to within a few inches from the top. I just set it in the tub or laundry sink to do this.

In the kitchen, turn the burner on med-high heat below the soap and water. Cook, stirring with a wisk continously until soap is melted. When soap is melted, pour the hot soap into the bucket then add washing soda. Stir well. I use one of those long paint stirring drill attachments that my husband bought for just a few dollars at a hardware store.

Allow the mixture to sit for several hours as it cools. When cool, stir again well. I use about 1 1/2 cups of this soap per large load.

The stirring tool is well worth the investment. I used to use my entire arm to stir this around. If you get a stirrer, keep it dedicated to laundry soap making to avoid having to clean it up after other, messier uses.

Other people have modified the recipe and added other ingredients depending on the results they've gotten, hard water, allergies, etc.

You can use less water and get a more concentrated version with as little as 2 gallons of total volume. It's much thicker so you might not want to put it into a bottle with a small spout--rather, use a plastic container with a lid.

You can use plain unscented soap if you'd like. If you have someone with sensitive skin, try using their brand of bar soap instead of the laundry bar soap.

You can add other ingredients to amend the basic recipe. I'd suggest trying it as it is first unless you know you'll have other problems like hard water. You might want to make a small batch first, half or divide the recipe into quarters and add other ingredients until you find results you like.

Additions that people have found helpful are: Borax (for more cleaning power) Clorox color-safe bleach Calgon Some people subsitute Kirk's Castile Soap or add Kirk's Castile to their recipe to help combat hard water

I'd suggest adding about 1 cup of the additional ingredient for starters, adding it at the same time as you add the washing soda.

-- Laura (LauraLeekis@home.com), December 28, 2000.


If you can't use it to make soap, feed it (a little at a time) to the dogs or cats. Or put it out for the birds mixed with some birdseed. A while back someone posted a recipe for laundry detergent made with ivory soap and washing soda which I like much better than the fels naptha/borax/washing soda recipe. It doesn't fade the clothes like the fels recipe does.

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), December 29, 2000.


I render bacon grease and make lye soap. You can just grate it for laundry soap. If you have made soap before, here are basics: 1c. water, 2c. lard, 10 tsp. lye.(you can add scent, too) I usually use a specific mold I have that is 7 1/2 in. sq. This makes 6 nice bars. I save my bacon grease in the frig. in a 12oz. coffee can. This totally full, then rendered, makes 2 batches of the above. DW

-- DW (djwallace@ctos.com), December 30, 2000.

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