# share your favorite tallow-based soap recipe!



## cathleenc

I made a bunch of soap using the recipe from Millers Soap (at end of this post) It's a bit harsh on our hands! 

I love harder soaps that last longer around kids - but want something that isn't going to be so hard on winter-chapped hands. 

Anyone have a recipe they want to share? or help me figure out how to 'mellow' this to be more gentle?

thanks,
Cathy

Tallow Blend Soap (Kathy Miller)
44 oz. beef tallow 
20 oz. olive oil 
20 oz. coconut oil 
12 oz. lye crystals 
32 oz. cold water 
Temps 110-115

If I were rendering tallow from scratch again like I used to, this would be my recipe of choice. You can make soap with straight tallow or a blend of tallow and lard, but for the best of all worlds, adding coconut for sudsing and olive for its mildness does a lot for a tallow soap. If you want your bars a bit softer for cutting or are going to be using a fragrance oil with unpredictable results, you can increase the water by two ounces.


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## halfpint

You might try adding a couple ounces of shea butter and or cocoa butter to your soap. I would probably use about 6-10oz in your recipe. Plug your numbers into a lye calculator to determine the amount of lye to use.

Dawn


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## lathermaker

What kind of scale are you using? To be accurate it needs to be digital and weigh to .1 oz.

I ran that formula through my lye calc and it comes up as being only 4% superfatted, that doesn't give you much room for error. For winter weather I like to make mine about 6-7%.

To mellow out this formula I would increase the olive oil to 23 oz.

Or, try this

22 Beef Tallow
22 Lard (LOVE Lard in soap)
20 Coconut
22 Olive

12 Lye
24 Water
This is my basic formula I use when testing fragrances.

hth
Karla


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## cathleenc

My digital scale is super accurate and I was meticulous about weighing and measuring - and - always a good question to ask.

thanks for both the shea/cocoa butter and olive oil increase suggestions! I really do appreciate them!


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## MullersLaneFarm

Add Safflower Oil or other oil high in Linoleic fatty acid. It has a great synergy with olive oil!


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## linn

I haven't tried tallow in soap yet, but plan on doing that soon. I have some tallow that I rendered from our last beef.


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## cathleenc

linn said:


> I haven't tried tallow in soap yet, but plan on doing that soon. I have some tallow that I rendered from our last beef.


That's what I did, too, Linn. When we get get a 1/4 side of beef each fall I organize the 'buy' and lay claim to any unwanted fat. No one else has ever wanted the fat - and I end up rendering a small steer's worth of tallow. 

I love that the fat is not going to waste, that all of the animal is being used, that we get harder soap, and that using home-rendered tallow or lard puts a whole new spin on 'local' - not paying for tropical oils that have to be shipped so far in so many containers. 

Many people we know will sneer at tallow or lard in a soap till I explain the local aspect and the animal-respect aspect. A little education goes a long way and great soap helps seal the deal. lol.


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## linn

I like using lard in my soaps. We always try to render the lard from every hog we butcher. Lard makes the best pie crust too..


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## cathleenc

I'll try lard the next time we butcher pigs - 2 little lard-type pigs currently grunting in the barn. I thought lard made soap greasy and soft? But that makes two of you in this thread stating you like lard so I'll be sure to give it a try.


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## Apryl in ND

cathleenc said:


> That's what I did, too, Linn. When we get get a 1/4 side of beef each fall I organize the 'buy' and lay claim to any unwanted fat. No one else has ever wanted the fat - and I end up rendering a small steer's worth of tallow.
> 
> I love that the fat is not going to waste, that all of the animal is being used, that we get harder soap, and that using home-rendered tallow or lard puts a whole new spin on 'local' - not paying for tropical oils that have to be shipped so far in so many containers.
> 
> Many people we know will sneer at tallow or lard in a soap till I explain the local aspect and the animal-respect aspect. A little education goes a long way and great soap helps seal the deal. lol.


I totally agree. Some people are grossed out by the idea but they just need to be educated. I plan on raising some pigs this summer and rendering my own lard too. I might try tallow from my goats also. I'm trying to build a small soap business incorporating as many things grown here on the farm as possible. My sales pitch will be, locally and sustainably grown, natural products. 

Maybe your soap is kind of harsh because of the amount of coconut oil. It's super cleansing and adds a lot of sudsing power, but is also drying. If sudsing isn't all that important to you, I'd skip the coconut oil.


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## linn

Lard actually helps make a fairly hard bar when combined with coconut oil. I usually add some of the new Crisco that contains palm, rice bran oil and a little Castor oil. This makes a great bar for me. I always run the percentages through SoapCalc several times to get the best numbers. I know SoapCalc is not infallible, but it gives me an idea of how the soap will turn out.


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## MullersLaneFarm

Lard, a greasy soft bar??? Oh my no! Make a 100% lard soap (5% SF) using a 32% water ratio to oils and be prepared to cut it within 12 hours after molding. That baby is rock hard!

Lard is another oil I won't soap without! We raise about 6 hogs a year and no one but me keeps the leaf lard. 

Concerning coconut oil being drying. I think it really depends on a person's skin type. I can use high percentages of coconut oil (combined with a liberal amount of an oil high in linoleic FA) without it being drying to my skin, but using palm oil or another oil high in palmitic FA and I'm as scaly as a crocodile.

Goat (and sheep) tallow is also absoluely lovely in soaps. I just know you're going to love it!


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## linn

Well I made a batch of soap with tallow in it today. I will let you know how it turns out. For this batch I used tallow, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, rice bran oil and castor oil. I made the mistake of adding a little honey to the lye water and it turned the solution orangish color. I added ground up oatmeal and some oatmeal, milk & honey f.o. I set the soap-filled mold outside in our gas grill as it is cooler outside. I hope to keep the batch from overheating because of the addition of the honey.


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