How to Make Laundry Soap from Rendered Tallow
Author: Sinclair A. Sheers Published on: September 5, 2001

In my last article, I described how to render tallow so you can use it to make soap. This recipe calls for four pounds, 64 ounces, of rendered tallow. If you want to use more or less tallow, go to http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc.html and enter the correct amount into the lye calculator.

I have two different recipes. One recipe uses nothing but tallow for the oil. The other recipe adds palm oil. The palm oil makes the soap harder and hastens trace. I usually add half as much palm oil as tallow. If you have a different amount of tallow, or want to use a different amount of palm oil, please run it through the lye calculator.

Here are my two recipes.

Pure Tallow Soap
64 oz tallow
24 fluid oz distilled water
8.5 oz lye

Tallow and Palm Oil Soap
32 oz palm oil
64 oz tallow
36 fluid oz distilled water
12.8 oz lye

Equipment for both recipes
large stainless steel pot
two heavy plastic pitchers
safety goggles
neoprene gloves
heavy apron
stick blender
soap molds
saran wrap

For both recipes, heat the tallow (and palm oil) in the stainless steel pot on the stove until liquid. Remove from heat. Measure the water into one pitcher. Don your goggles, neoprene gloves, and apron. Measure the lye into another pitcher. Pour the lye into the water and stir until the liquid is clear. Pour this mixture into the melted oil and mix it with the stick blender until it reaches trace. If you are not sure what reaching trace looks like, review my article on how to make cold process soap at http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/7683... When your soap reaches trace, pour it into molds, cover it with saran wrap, and leave it. After 24 hours, remove it from the molds and let the bars sit in a well-ventilated area. Now you can do the happy soap dance !!!

Since this is going to be laundry soap, we have made it using the cold process method instead of the hot process method. Each bar of soap contains water, but it's going to be mixed with more water to make laundry soap. You can always let these bars cure for 6-8 weeks until the water evaporates out. Then you can use them as soap if you want instead of turning them into laundry soap.

Now you have made bars of soap, here's how to make laundry soap from them.

Equipment
4 oz soap, preferably made from tallow
2 gallons water
a large pot
1/2 cup Borax (20 mule team)
1 or 2 tsp fragrance oil
a large storage container with a wide mouth

First, chop the soap into small pieces. Put the pieces into the water in the pot on the stove. Boil and stir the mixture until the soap has dissolved, about 20 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in the Borax. Add the fragrance oil if you like. I use a minty scent like Candy Cane from http://www.soapcrafters.com/. Pour the mixture into the storage container. When the mixture cools, it will solidify into a gel. Use about 1/2 cup of this gel with every load of wash.