It’s fun to take a stroll down memory lane by looking at the archives of the Soap Queen blog (well, if you’re into soaps and crafting, that is). There are a few ways to search for posts past; if you remember the title, type it in the search bar and click “go!”. If it’s a specific type of project you’re looking for, say Melt and Pour or Soaks and Scrubs, you can click on one of the headings in the left column. If you’re looking for something by season or other key words, you can search for favorite posts by date or tag by clicking on the “Archive” tab above. Now that I’ve offered up enough ammo to keep you distracted for the rest of the week (tee hee!), let me show you what’s caught my eye recently: Honey Ale Soap! Such a great way to celebrate Octoberfest traditions by making this non-alcoholic homage to a local favorite, the micro brew. I’ve reworked this fun technique to pay homage to the *other* beery holiday of the year.
ONE: Melt 25 ounces of Honey Melt and Pour soap base in the microwave and mix in Honey Ale fragrance oil. For a colorful twist, I added some green color using a Non-Bleeding Chrome Green color block in a nod to another favorite beer holiday. I used about 4-5 medium sized shavings but what you see is what you get, so use your best judgement. New to using color blocks for melt and pour? Check out this helpful video!
TWO: Whisk the melted soap until you have frothy bubbles on top. Switch between whisking and stirring the soap. The goal is to suspend the bubbles in the soap (to look like carbonation). Stir until the soap is gelatinous and pour into the mold. Do not spritz with rubbing alcohol. We’re keeping the air bubbles this time!
THREE: Once the soap has cooled make your frosting recipe for the “foam”. Combine, 5 tablespoons of liquid soap, with 8 ounce of White Melt and Pour and .25 ounces of Honey Ale Fragrance Oil and blend on medium/high with an electric mixer (or super strength elbow grease). See this Soap Queen TV episode on Soap Cupcakes with Whipped Frosting to learn more about soap frosting.
FOUR: Once the “beer” portion of the soap is completely cool and the frosting recipe is nice and frothy, spritz the first layer of soap with rubbing alcohol and pour the soap frosting on top. No spritzing alcohol on the frosting either, you don’t want to deflate the “beer froth”! For this go around, I played with adding some fun exfoliating accents to the frothy topping.
Try out some jojoba beads, shredded loofah, or glitter!
FIVE: Once the soap has cooled, carefully release from the mold and cut into adorable cubes, rectangles, or even circles. Enjoy!
I’m oooodling with admiration, this ‘Beer’ soap is awesome :). I’m wondering, HOW do I make my soap so white in CP, HP or CPOP. I’ve been trying to make white soap, even adding TD to my batter hasn’t helped to achieve that. My recipe constitutes of PKO, Castor Oil, & Tallow. I sometimes add Shea Butter and Stearic Acid. Any suggestions pls.
Hi Victoria!
So glad you like this project :). You’re right, it can be kinda tricky to get a true white in cold process soap. I would recommend staying away from Olive Oil in your recipe (looks like you already do) or any other dark colors oils. I would recommend possibly using more Titanium Dioxide as well! I hope these tips help, it is tricky to achieve a true white, so don’t get too discouraged 🙂
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
Could you use another liquid soap base or does it need to be the Castile? Such a great ‘man’ soap!
Great question, Crystal! You can use any other liquid soap base that you want, but we found that the Natural Castile Liquid Soap Base worked the best for us. If you have any of our Liquid Soap Concentrate Base at home, you can use that as well.
Natural Castile Liquid Soap Base: https://www.brambleberry.com/Natural-Castile-Liquid-Soap-Base-P4609.aspx
Liquid Soap Concentrate Base: https://www.brambleberry.com/Liquid-Soap-Concentrate-Base-P4278.aspx
-Becky with Bramble Berry
P.S. We’ve even heard of some people using Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap for this project.
If you do the bottom layer brown, you could have hot chocolate! Or switch with a fruity fragrance for a soda float. So many possibilities with this tutorial :]
Love that idea, Ashley! And you are absolutely correct, there are hundreds of possibilities with this tutorial and we can’t wait to see what you will come up with. If you get any pictures, we’d love to see how it turned out for you. You can share them with us on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/BrambleBerry
Happy Soaping!
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Ohhhh sounds so good,i don’t know if you all have an BK Root-beer stand in your area but we do & I always chose the orange cream float & it would be cool to use BB Creamsicle Cybilla Fragrance Oil w/Color Block- Non Bleeding Tangerine Wow!Or just the orange block?? It would be cool w/a Root-beer FO 2!!! I def love the hot chocolate ideal 🙂
Ohhhh sounds so good,i don’t know if you all have an BK Root-beer stand in your area but we do & I always chose the orange cream float & it would be cool to use BB Creamsicle Cybilla Fragrance Oil w/Color Block- Non Bleeding Tangerine Wow!Or just the orange block?? It would be cool w/a Root-beer FO 2!!! I def love the hot chocolate ideal 🙂
That sounds like a fantastic idea! I bet it would look and smell amazing! I would love to see how this idea turns out on our Facebook page 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/BrambleBerry
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
That’s gorgeous, that foam looks so good! 🙂
I really thought those little emoticons were randomly selected but now I think I might be forever associated with the one sticking its tongue out! Too funny!
The foam was so much fun to make! But, I found out that you can’t whip it too much and it starts hardening up quite fast, so be prepared to move quickly. 🙂
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Cute soap! I love the frothy top.
I thought is was absolutely adorable as well! And, the addition of exfoliants or colorants really made it just pop! 🙂
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Might want to look at the wording under step four where you call this a beer soap. Using a honey ale fragrance oil hardly constitutes this as being a beer soap 🙂
Good morning, Bryan!
We call it a “beer” (quotations on purpose) soap because of the frothy beer head look and the use of the Honey Ale Fragrance Oil. Although, this would be a fun recipe to try t replicate with a cold process beer soap recipe. 🙂
-Becky with Bramble Berry