2. If the batch is under-attenuated or under-carbed, make beer soap.
Fermentation and carbonation issues in homebrew are a great excuse to take on another unique DIY project: soap making. Cate Evans-baze, who owns Let It Be Naturals in Colorado, crafts a line of beer soap using beer from local breweries.
“Here’s my story about beer soap,” she says. Beer soap making requires the cold-process method. “You can basically take any recipe that you like and simply replace the water with beer,” says Evans-baze.
Start the beer-soap process with cold, flat beer. “I usually put my beer in a large glass bowl in the refrigerator for three or more days,” says Evans-baze. “Every time I open the fridge, I stir the beer to help with the process of losing carbonation. Some people decide to boil their beer for a bit and then either put it in ice cube trays or back in the refrigerator for another day. Bottom line: the beer must be flat, and it must be cold.”
The beer must be cold because the next step, adding the lye or alkaline solution, can be tricky. “Even with water, the lye gets crazy, crazy hot, but the beer takes [the temperature] to a whole new level.”
This lye mixture can have a funky smell, says Evans-baze. You can counteract that smell with the use of essential oils and other ingredients. “There are an endless number of things you can throw in the recipe,” she explains. “I’ve added coriander, lemon peel, crushed hops, ground-up barley, and amazing essential oils that complement the beer.”
THE FIX FOR THE NEXT HOMEBREW
Be sure that fermentation is complete before bottling. At bottling, make sure that you’ve added the right amount of priming sugar to your beer and that you still have a healthy yeast population. For high-gravity beers that spent a long time in the fermentor, you may need to add fresh yeast to the bottles before conditioning. Let bottles sit at fermentation temperature or room temperature for at least two to three weeks.