Friday, January 6, 2012

Left Over Holiday Alcohol: Pinot Noir

We opened a new Pinot Noir for the holiday party and didn't like it, got half bottle of left over.  Since I've never soap red wine before, it's a good chance to do it without feeling bad wasting a good bottle of wine.  This one exercised my creative brain quit a lot, for I have a hard time planning for color scheme and scent.   The red wine turned lye solution into dark red brown!  I have no idea if it will cure with that color or not, I didn't want to take the chance.  I colored majority of the pot with merlot red mica and small portions in purple and black (activated charcoal).  Gosh it's hard to get purple with such a dark colored batter to start with!  And the soap stink for a few days, hard to describe the scent.  I guess that's how 'burned' fermented grape juice smells like... LOL
I used my new cube silicone mold I bought from Bramble Berry for this Pinot batch.  And even with the heavy trace, it still took 3 days before I can unmold those cubes out.  And that's with more than 12 hours of refrigeration.  I have never had this kind of difficulty with a silicone mold before, this one pushed me to the edge.  I don't know if I'll ever try to use that mold again!
By the way, these Pinot Cubes are scented with Black Raspberry Vanilla!

16 comments:

  1. I find silicone moulds are very hard to demould from ... I gave away the one I had and went back to good old wood and lining, it was worth the hassle.

    Great soap and I love all your soaping adventures with different ingredients!

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  2. I forgot to mention, the sud from red wine is amazing! Still, don't know if I'll ever try again, the smell of it really is a turn off for me!

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  3. I love the colors, hopefully as it cures the smell will diminish!

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  4. I should clarify, the stink went away after 3 days, thank God! Or I would have to throw that all away as I really cannot stand that smell.

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  5. Those bars look huge!! I've never soaped with wine, either, and I'm not sure I want to. But I'm glad that they came out all right in the end (and they look beautiful, too!)

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  6. Qué jabón más estupendo, no he hecho ningún jabón con vino, así que tomo nota de lo que comentas.
    Saludos y hasta pronto.

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  7. Love your experiemnts. So glad I am not the only goofball soaper who can't stick with one recipe. These would be great in a wine shop!

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  9. All in all another beautiful soap! The colors are absolutely perfecto. Take those to Napa Tout de suite!

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  10. That must have been SOME party!! LOL! I'd say they turned out pretty great in the end - glad to hear the wine smell is going away. :) I love Black Raspberry Vanilla!

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  11. Thank you ladies! That was some experiment!
    @tenth avenue, yeah these cubes are big, each weights 6 oz!!!

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  12. Very nice soap, I like the cube look although I believe they would be too difficult to handle in the shower. I hate sillicone! Even when I gel, it is really difficult to unnmold the soap without any damage to bars. I am using it now only for the embeds. Wooden molds are the best!

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  13. I just found your blog through lovin soap. Excellent read!!! Hubby and I got a bottle of red wine from a friend but we don't drink and your post has given me the idea to make some soap from it. Do I need to treat the wine like I would treat beer? Or do I need to mix it in an ice bath? Your post is the first I've come across that soaps with wine. And it sounds like a great way not to waste the bottle we got! Thank you!

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  14. @Deborah, welcome to my blog! To answer your questions, yes you will have to treat the wine like beer to cook off all the alcohol content first then mix in the lye in an ice bath. It will stink, but that will go away in few days. Try it, the sugar content of the red wine makes the soap really sudsy!

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