Thanks AF. I'll give that a try. Maybe I get a little too aggressive with the stick blender and should do more spooning. I get really tense when I soap because everything happens sooo fast.
Do you do room temp?
I learned on room temp CP soaping. That's the way I have always done it. I like to add swirls to my soap, but my problem is that the mixture thickens too fast. By the time I get my colors mixed, the main batch has to be scooped out. And I do move along quick when I mix the color.
I use 33%...
I work on diesels and found that coffee is too course, even with a fine grind. Cornmeal gets soggy and won't be gritty. For me fine pumice isn't gritty enough and I recently made some with medium grit pumice and that seems about right.
I get a little nuts when it comes to dirty hands...
You could always get some crock pot liners at the grocery store. However I wouldn't be affraid to hot process soap and eat out of it too. Dishes get washed in soap and it is sure to come out nice & clean. I use eatin dishes all the time for soaping.
You sure can resize to fit your mold. One easy calculator for doing that is
http://recipes.herbalsoapsbyrj.com/calc ... -calc1.php
That one will resize and also has different units of measurements. I think Soapcalc will also let you resize, but it works on entering your percentages of...
I've been usin 100% coconut oil at 5% and it has worked pretty well. Except I added coffee grounds to mine for grease cutting. It's hard on the arms but ok for hands. Also has pumice & walnut shells in it, but they aren't noticeable as far as grit goes. The only thing it hasn't worked well...
I make soap in my stainless cook ware all the time. It's the only time it gets cleaned :lol: It is perfectly OK to do that, after all, it is soap. I've also made it in a plastic ice cream pail.
Sometimes I'll make HP at 170 or so, in the oven. Especially my hand soap. 100% coconut oil at 5% superfat with coffee, pumice & walnut shells for grit. I soap it at about 38-40% water and beat it with a hand mixer to make it fluffy so the bar isn't as dense. It cleans real good but I do keep...
One thing that when I do HP, I tend to mix it a lot when I add my fragrance. It whips a little air into it so it floats and isn't quite as dense as CP.