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Beer Shampoo
Any of you guys with experience of beer shampoo? I already make the coffee one, so I’m thinking, what the hell …
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17 Replies
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There was a beer shampoo marketed in the UK for many years under the brand name Linco (previously Lin-co-Lin). Originally a British owned manufacturer taken over by US based Church & Dwight and then discontinued due to poor sales.
The original shampoo did actually contain about 5% of real beer but I feel that later versions had just a beer or hop based fragrance (the Church & Dwight version was very different to the original).
There is currently Anelco beer shampoo available in the UK. This is a fairly conventional formulation with added wheat germ and hops extracts.
Anelco INCI LOI:
Aqua (Water),Sodium, Laureth Sulfate,Glycol Stearate, Cocamidopropyl
Betaine, Sodium Chloride, Laureth-4, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis(Sweet
Almond)Oil, Triticum Vulgare(Wheat Germ)Extract, Polyquaternium-10,
Parfum(Fragrance),Cocamide Mea, Glycol Distearate, Humulus
Lupulus(Hops)Extract, Laureth-10,Magnesium Nitrate,There are several small home producers of this type of product in the UK.
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Thanks. I am thinking of using a lot more than 5%! Maybe 50% beer.
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I have made a few of these projects. I homebrew beer so it has always been an interest.
In the US at least these beer shampoos pose several issues. Of course with the alcohol taxes, you do have to either pay up or get your foot in the door with a brewery and either use the wort of the beer before it is carbonated. Then as the volumes get larger, shipping beer gets to become expensive.
Usually, I have found that Beer soaps are more successful. In shampoos and conditioners, many lines have found it easier to use a malt extract and a hops fragrance. The Hops fragrance is hard to emulate and keep persistent. I would recommend using a CO2 Hops extract much like available through Melco.
Test your preservation! It takes some care.
Ultimately my lines reached the US National level and they were in all the Whole Foods in the US. They didn’t go much farther. They were seen as gimmicky. We did see some good business in making smaller lots specifically for the craft brewers themselves to sell through their e-commerce sites.
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Thanks for that. I am in Mexico so the ATF doesn’t worry me. I’ll try the same preservative as in the coffee shampoo, I’m using 0.4% benzoate and 0.4% sorbate at pH5 and it is working fine.
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Remember the beer is based on malt which may present some preservation challeneges. We tried a similar preservative to yours and it failed challenge testing.
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Good point, I will maybe add some methyl parabens.
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I can’t say too much, but you are definitely moving in the proper direction.
Also, this might be review, but look into the raw materials first and decide what is best.
Wort is the malt after it has been sparged and allowed to soak in the water. It has not been acted upon by the yeast and fermented well. Some lines are looking to promote the benefits of the malt extract and feel this is the proper material.
Hops are often added at this point as well. Sometimes they are dry hopped continuously as whole leaf products or added as extracts.
After the yeast has been allowed to convert the malt sugars and produce alcohol (won’t belabor this, we all know fermentation I hope). At this point it contains alcohol (generall 4.5-6.5% ABV although with certain yeast strains they can go higher). At this point it is not carbonated. This was the material most lines used as it was difficult to flatten the product in prodcution.
In R&D I simply opened the beer and allowed it to “flatten” under refrigeration for 48-72 hours.
One big hurdle we had was that the aromoa of the natural hops is VERY subtle and fades quickly. Hence the reason for the Hops CO2 extracts which could be used to heighten and extend the hops fragrance.
Marketing wise IPA’s (very hoppy) were preferred in Shampoos and darker beers (Porters and Stouts) were preferred in Conditioners. There is a subcategory of Stouts, an Oatmeal Stout which had some additional perceived marketing benefits as well.
Decarbonate! Otherwise you will have stability issues. Augment the fragrance. The native fragrance will break your heart in the longrun.
One of the stresses on the profit margin was shipping beer and it’s empty water components. Hence the reason some lines went with malt extracts and Hops fragrance.
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OK thanks! Just bought some beer and will leave it to go flat. I can just imagine the amount of foam if I try to make a shampoo with fresh beer! Probably would foam me out of the lab. I will begin looking for a fragrance to add. The coffee shampoo was great with no added fragrance, fortunately (and lasted to the end).
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I think you will need to do more than let the beer stand and go flat - a lot of CO2 can (and will) remain dissolved without extra encouragement to dissipate e.g vigorous stirring and/or heat.
Regarding fragrance, what market are you aiming for? I think that a predominately “hop” odour will be too restricting and only appeal to a beer connoisseur.
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Interesting article on this product posted in my feed today
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Made the first test batch this morning (just 1.2Kg) and so far so good. I used 70% beer (Indio, a Mexican brand). The non-pearled colour is attractive, I think I prefer it to the pearled version. Had no viscosity issues at all, unlike the coffee one. I did need to heat the beer up to 70C in the microwave to de-foam it.
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First coffee, now beer…if you start making a pizza shampoo, I’m moving to Mexico. <span>:smiley:</span>
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I am open to suggestions. How about a coconut milk shampoo?
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@Belassi Fingers crossed for edible shampoo with the option of bear, coffee, coconut milk, pasta, chow mein, tacos, etc.
On a serious note, think it’s quite innovative and much more sensible than the SNAKE OIL in hair products
All the best. -
“coconut milk shampoo”; now a thing
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Edible shampoo, can’t see that somehow!
I have been experimenting with hemp protein but without success so far. The unprocessed powder won’t dissolve or disperse but ends up sinking to the bottom. First attempt at hydrolysis was not very productive. -
LOL.
> First attempt at hydrolysis was not very productive.
I read (in passing, I haven’t studied it yet) that pea protein is processed using acids.Not sure how you are getting your “protein” base, but if the material is primarily plant I would expect a fair amount of cellulose to be present.
I note in passing, something interesting:
“Cellulase is used for commercial food processing in coffee. It performs hydrolysis of cellulose during drying of beans.” (wiki:cellulase).
I think the byproduct, is simple sugars (which for coffee, and beer, makes sense to do!). There are also more exotic enzymatic reagents that may yield something preferable to sugar.
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