🍻🤎Bubblin’ Beer Bar

🤍This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a small commission — just enough to keep the soap kettle warm — at no extra cost to you.

📓Journal Entry #12

There’s a special kind of quiet that settles in when you make beer soap.

Not the noisy kind of bubbles you’d expect, but a deep, steady kind. The kind that feels like a loaf of bread rising on the counter while the world slows down outside.

Bubblin’ Beer Bar always feels a little old-fashioned to me. Like something tucked inside a wooden recipe box, written in pencil, corners softened with time.

The first time I made it, I remember thinking:

“Is this really going to work?”

Beer in soap?

But that’s the beautiful about being a maker. We take something humble, a bottle from the pantry, simmer it slow, freeze it down, and turn it into a bar that lathers like velvet.

It’s rich. Creamy. Comforting.

And somehow… it feels sturdy. Like a soap that belongs in a cabin sink or next to an old enamel wash basin.

This one’s not flashy.

It’s dependable.

And maybe that’s why it’s one of my favorites 🤎

-Soapmaking Hobby 🫧🍻

🍻Recipe

Oils (50 oz total – Grandma’s Base Formula)

• 20 oz tallow (40%)

• 12.5 oz coconut oil (25%)

• 12.5 oz olive oil (25%)

• 5 oz castor oil (10%)

Lye Solution

• 19 oz beer (alcohol cooked off, cooled or frozen)

•   7 oz sodium hydroxide (NaOH)

• 2 tsp sodium lactate (optional, for harder bars)

Important: Gently simmer beer first to remove alcohol and carbonation. Cool completely before freezing.

Additives (Mixed into Melted Oils)

• 1 tbsp kaolin clay

• 1 tbsp colloidal oats or (finely ground)

Optional Color

• Cocoa powder for warm brown tones

• Titanium dioxide for a cream swirl

• Leave natural for rustic caramel color

Scent Suggestions (Optional – follow IFRA guidelines)

• Oatmeal Milk & Honey FO

• Warm Vanilla FO

• Bourbon FO

• Cedarwood + Sweet Orange EO blend

• Coffee FO for a café twist

🍻 Method (Simple & Steady)

1. Prep the beer

Simmer gently to remove alcohol and fizz. Cool completely. Freeze into cubes.

2. Make lye solution

Slowly add sodium hydroxide to frozen beer cubes. Stir carefully until dissolved. Let cool.

3. Melt oils

Melt tallow, coconut, olive, and castor oils. Stir in kaolin clay and colloidal oats. to cooled oils, stick blend till smooth.

4. Blend

When lye and oils are around 90–110°F, combine and stick blend to lightly.

5. Color & scent (optional)

Add colorants and fragrance and blend to light trace.

6. Pour & insulate lightly

Beer soap can heat up, avoid heavy insulation. I like to refrigerate overnight.

7. Cure

Unmold after 24–48 hours. Cure 4–6 weeks.

🌾 Tips from the Soap Shed

• Always cook off alcohol — skipping this can cause overheating.

•  Freeze your beer to prevent scorching and strong odors.

•  Soap cooler than usual if your recipe runs hot.

•  Beer soap often deepens in color during cure — that’s part of its rustic charm.

•  Expect a creamy, stable lather thanks to natural sugars.🍻

🍻Bubblin’ Beer Bar

🍂 Why I Love This One

Maybe it’s the transformation.

Maybe it’s the way something simple like a bottle of beer, becomes something nourishing.

Or maybe it’s the lather. Let’s be honest… it’s probably the lather.

But mostly, it’s the feeling.

Bubblin’ Beer Bar feels like:

• A wooden barrel in the corner

• A sturdy recipe tucked in an old box

• Stories told low and slow

• Work done by hand

And that’s the kind of soap I want to make.

Made slow.

Made by hand.

Made with a little bit of heart.🍻🤎

🤍(Disclosure )This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a small commission — just enough to keep the soap kettle warm — at no extra cost to you.

🔗 Tools & Supplies I Use

These are the basics I reach for every time:

• Stick blender

• Lye safe pitcher

• Stainless or enamel soap pot/bowl

• Wooden mold with silicone liner-Large Tall and Skinny  or

• Small tall and skinny

• Heat safe spatulas 

• Digital scale

• Infrared Thermometer 

• Safety goggles

• Nitrile gloves 

• Quilted mason jars for FO/EO 

• Work Apron with pockets 

• Electric Kettle -to melt hard oils in a hot water bath

• Parchment paper (if using wooden mold)

• 🍺Optional extras:

• Twine or kraft labels for a rustic sink-side look

• Wooden soap deck to help bars dry between uses

• 🍺Optional but lovely:

• Oat grinder or coffee grinder

• Soap cutter & molds

  -perfect for beginners

• Soap stamp

— Soapmaking Hobby 🫧🍺

🍺 🤎Bubblin’ Beer Bar – FAQ

🍻Why use beer in cold process soap?

Beer contains natural sugars that boost lather, creating a rich, creamy foam. When paired with a tallow base like Grandma’s formula, it produces a dense, stable, luxurious lather that feels silky and strong at the same time.

It’s not just novelty — it truly improves the bubble quality.

🍻Does the soap smell like beer?

Not in the way you might expect.

After simmering the beer to remove alcohol and carbonation — and after a full 4–6 week cure — the strong scent fades. What remains is a subtle warmth, sometimes slightly malty or sweet, depending on the beer used.

Most of the finished scent comes from your fragrance or essential oil choice.

🍻Do I have to cook the alcohol out first?

Yes, I always do. But some let the beer sit out overnight and get flat. I can’t speak for that since I’ve never tried it myself. I like the boil and freeze method.

Alcohol and carbonation can cause overheating, separation, or even a soap volcano. Gently simmer the beer to remove alcohol and fizz before cooling and freezing it for your lye solution.

Slow and steady makes for calm soapmaking 🍻

🍻Why freeze the beer before mixing with lye?

Freezing helps prevent scorching and overheating when sodium hydroxide is added.

Beer contains sugars, and sugars heat up quickly during saponification. Frozen cubes help control that reaction and keep your batch smooth.

🍻What type of beer works best?

You can experiment, but darker beers like stouts, porters, and ambers tend to produce deeper color and richer warmth.

Lighter beers will still boost lather but may produce a lighter tan bar.

Avoid heavily flavored or sugary beers.

🍻Will beer soap overheat?

It can. Because of the sugar content, beer soap may heat more than a standard water batch. To avoid overheating:

• Soap at lower temperatures (around 90–100°F)

• Avoid heavy insulation

• I like to refrigerate my loaf overnight 

• Watch your mold during the first few hours

🍻Is beer soap good for skin?

When properly cured, beer soap is gentle and conditioning, especially in a tallow-based recipe like this one.

The sugars help with lather, while the base oils provide cleansing and conditioning balance.

As always, allow a full 4–6 week cure for best performance.

🍻Can I substitute water instead of beer?

You can — but then it won’t be Bubblin’ Beer Bar 🤎

Using water will produce a lovely bar, but you’ll miss the enhanced creamy lather that beer brings to the recipe.

🍻Why does my beer soap turn darker during cure?

Totally normal.

The natural sugars in beer caramelize during the lye reaction, which deepens the color. Expect warm tan, toffee, or caramel tones, especially with darker beers.

It’s part of its rustic charm.

🍻Is beer soap safe to use?

Yes — once fully saponified and cured.

There is no alcohol remaining in the finished bar. The lye reaction converts the oils into soap, and the alcohol has already been cooked off beforehand.

After cure, it’s just good, honest handmade soap.

 Slightly More Rustic.

-Soapmaking Hobby 🍻🫧

Bubblin’ Beer Bar

🤎 From Grandma’s Soap Shed

Every soap in this collection uses the same dependable base formula so hobby soapmakers can learn how different ingredients affect lather, texture, cure time, and design.

Start with the foundation recipe, then explore the collection as you build confidence with scents, additives, and rustic soap styles.

There’s always room on the curing rack for one more batch…

🌾 Cozy Farmhouse Classics

✨ Oatmeal & Honey

Soft, comforting, and skin-loving with a warm farmhouse sweetness.

👉 Read the full recipe

✨ Lavender Woods

A calm, woodsy classic with peaceful herbal notes.

👉 Read the full recipe

✨ Lavender & Chamomile

Gentle floral comfort, like a quiet evening cup of tea.

👉 Read the full recipe

From My Little Soap Corner 🤍
I make each bar in a cozy little 4x12 foot workshop, just a simple setup and a love for soapmaking. Some of the backgrounds and scenes you see are AI-created or enhanced to reflect the warm, rustic feel I imagine for my soap shed. I love creating handmade soap and digital soap-making journals and scenes. This journal is little storytelling nostalgia. Join me in a world of soap-making imagination.       - Heather 🌼🫧