This cold process wine soap recipe is a creative way to use up that leftover wine that’s sat in the fridge too long or simply wasn’t too your liking. Like making homemade beer soap, however, you’ll need to take a few extra precautions and make sure you’re starting with icy cold wine and mixing in a sink or other contained area.
Cold Process Wine Soap Recipe
Ingredients:
12.6 oz. lard
7.2 oz. refined (76° melt point) coconut oil
5.4 oz. castor oil
5.4 oz. rice bran oil
5.4 oz. pomace olive oil
11. 8 fluid oz. cold wine
4.7 oz. lye/sodium hydroxide
2-2.25 oz. fragrance oil, optional
Soap Notes:
Water as % of oils = 33%
8% superfat
1 oz. fragrance oil per pound
Lard used as 35% of the oils in this recipe, coconut oil at 20% and castor, rice bran and olive oil at 15%.
This is a palm free cold process soap recipe but if you want a vegan soap you can substitute the lard with an equal amount of palm oil and adjust the lye to 4.8 oz. The olive and rice bran oils can easily be substituted in all or part with canola and/or grape seed oil.
(If you want to rebatch this soap after to add some extra goodies, omit the fragrance oil and add 1 oz. of fragrance when you rebatch. That recipe will follow this one.)
This cold process wine soap recipe yields 10-12 bars around 4 oz. each and fits inside my DIY wooden loaf soap mold.
Instructions:
Follow your basic cold process soapmaking instructions to make this cold process wine soap recipe. (If you’ve never made soap before there’s a great, inexpensive beginner cold process soap recipe here.)
Begin by measuring out the chilled wine of your choice in fluid ounces. I used a local white wine for my recipe. Put into a heat safe pitcher and place in the sink. Now using a digital scale weigh out the lye. Slowly pour the lye a little at a time into the wine. Stir well after each pour to dissolve. Don’t rush it. It will seem like there’s not a huge reaction however the wine will go from yellow to orange at which point mine boiled then turned a dark brownish-orange. Once you’ve added all the lye and it’s been dissolved in the wine set it aside to cool.
Continue by weighing out the soapmaking oils and combining in a stainless steel pot. Heat over medium heat until melted then remove from heat and set a side to cool.
When both the lye-water and oils have cooled to 90°-95°F you’re ready to mix them together. The wine in this recipe does seem to increase trace so if you’re using a fragrance oil you may want to mix it into the oils before adding the lye-water. If you’ll be rebatching later or want an unscented soap you don’t need to add the fragrance oil.
Slowly pour the lye-water into the soapmaking oils and mix with a stick blender until you reach trace the pour the soap into your prepared mold.
After 24 hours you can unmold your soap and cut it into bars. Allow to cure for 4-6 weeks.
A little something extra.
My dad and son love when I take my cold process soap recipes and rebatch them to add some extra love to them as they both have very dry skin in the winter. So that’s what I did for this recipe. If you want to rebatch your soap simply grate the soap with a cheese grater after unmolding the loaf and combine in a stainless steel pot or double boiler with the following.
Rebatch Wine Soap Recipe
Ingredients:
loaf of cold process wine soap, grated (recipe above)
1 oz. fragrance oil, optional (if loaf is unscented & fragrance is desired)
1 oz. pure coconut water (not from concentrate)
1.5 oz. aloe vera gel
.25 oz. beeswax
1 oz. cocoa butter
Instructions:
Combine the grated wine soap into a large pot or double boiler on the stove. Weigh out the coconut water, aloe vera gel, beeswax and cocoa butter and combine with the soap over medium-low to low heat, stirring often to avoid scorching.
Once the soap and the added ingredients have melted, add the fragrance oil if desired or omitted from the previous cold process wine soap recipe. Mix well to combine then pour into your prepared mold. (In this case I used the same mold I had used for the cold process wine soap recipe. )
Allow the soap to harden two to three days then unmold and cut the soap into bars. Allow to cure 4-6 weeks.
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, grated
, or less if starting with white soap (optional)
(or other 
*
for this soap project. The final recipe will yield six round 5 oz. soap bars.
first if desired. To create the bands around the sides of the soap you’ll need one 
