How to Make Triple Milled or Hand Milled Soap
Hand-milled soap is soap that has had a two-part cooking process. It starts with an already-made basic soap that is then melted and combined with other ingredients, such as cocoa butter, almond oils or other essential oils and moisturizers. Hand-milling soaps can also correct mistakes made in the basic soap, such as drying crooked.
Things You'll Need
- 12 oz. basic soap
- 7 oz. water
- Grater
- Large pot
- Wooden spoon
- 1 oz. cocoa butter
- 1 oz. sweet almond oil
- 1 oz. lanolin
- 1 oz. glycerin
- Small saucepan
- Soap molds
- Rubber spatula
- Butcher paper
Instructions
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1
Grate basic soap into a large pot. Add 7 oz. water, and melt together slowly over medium heat. Stir the mixture gently with a wooden spoon; try not to make bubbles. This process can take 20 minutes to an hour.
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2
Melt cocoa butter in the saucepan over low heat. Add almond oil, lanolin and glycerin. Mix until soft. Add this mixture to the melted basic soap and water and stir until slightly thickened. Don't let the mixture get too hot; between 150 degrees F and 160 degrees F is ideal. Adjust heat if necessary.
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3
Pour the mixture into soap molds. Smooth the tops with a rubber spatula. Allow to cool until a skin forms on the surface. When the skin has formed, transfer the molds to the freezer and keep there for one to two hours.
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4
Spread butcher paper on the counter. Turn the molds over the butcher paper and give the bottoms a tap to release the soap from the molds. Move the soap to a secure place and allow to cure for two to four weeks.
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Tips & Warnings
See the resources section for a basic soap recipe. When melting soap and water together, stir only enough to keep the soap from sticking; do not allow the mixture to boil.
If you are grating soap that was just made and is still soft, use rubber gloves; the lye in basic soap could burn your hands. Do not grate the soap over newspaper; it will pick up the newspaper ink.
References
Resources
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Comments
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beejay45
Jan 19, 2010
The process you describe is called rebatching, not milling. This is a common mistake, probably made because both processes start with shaving or grating existing soap. However, milled soap is run between stainless steel rollers under high pressure to ensure a hard bar of uniform texture and density. You can see that melting and adding ingredients, then pouring into molds, yields an entirely different product.
