HP: to stir, or not to stir?

I've made one batch of HP by accident because I forgot to add an oil so I dumped it into a pot and stirred to "applesauce" then stirred to "mashed potatoes" and stirred to prevent dry patches and stirred some more because that's what I read to do (longest run-on sentence ever)!! The soap turned out fluffy. Does that make sense? It's like it got aerated and isn't as dense as I wanted it. So tomorrow I'm making my first purposeful HP and am wondering if I stir less or not much at all.. Will that make a harder HP? How much stirring is too much?

I only stir when the pot is overflowing or close to overflowing. Also occasionally I will have a batch quadruple in size & appear to be finished in what seems like seconds, if I zap test it I find it not finished. When the batch teases me like that I spend the next hour stirring back down occasionally so it really does cook.
Personally I would not HP if I had to stir each batch throughout. Way too much work for me & more than my fibromyalgia can handle. Why work harder than you have to?

jcatblum said:

I only stir when the pot is overflowing or close to overflowing. Also occasionally I will have a batch quadruple in size & appear to be finished in what seems like seconds, if I zap test it I find it not finished. When the batch teases me like that I spend the next hour stirring back down occasionally so it really does cook.
Personally I would not HP if I had to stir each batch throughout. Way too much work for me & more than my fibromyalgia can handle. Why work harder than you have to?

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Ya, I'd rather stir as little as possible! So does the finished soap turn out fluffy for lack of a better word? Is it the nature of HP soap to be a bit aerated?

TVivian said:

Ya, I'd rather stir as little as possible! So does the finished soap turn out fluffy for lack of a better word? Is it the nature of HP soap to be a bit aerated?

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It probably became aerated because it dried out with all the stirring, and the result was aeration. It would probably settle down once you molded it and banged it several times hard on the ground. I had one batch get frothy on me and it turned out to be nice soap. It's only happened that one time so I don't have much experience with this specific problem. It's worth a shot.

Frothy is the perfect description! There were no air pockets and I did bang and slam the mold. I didn't like that texture it almost seems like the soap would float although I didn't try it to se if it would.

I made a batch of HP shampoo bars a couple days ago. I'm still new to HP so I have a tendency to over stir and this time I took a wire wisk to it to break up the chunks. It whipped up more then it should have, enough it barely fit in the mold. It did settle as it cooled and had no air pockets but it definitely had a weirder then normal texture.
I usually use a silicone spatula and fold the batter over instead of stirring. Think I'll stick to that method.

For me If I do full water the product is lighter. Water reduction gives a loaf that seems more dense & more rustic.

Ok. I will try a little less water and will fold instead of stir! Thank you!! I'm excited to see the difference in how the fragrance behaves now that I've made so much CP and am annoyed at how much the fragrance fades.

I tend to stir throughout the process, but only because it seems to help keep the soap from climbing out of the pot. It happened only once but that was enough for me.

When I hp'd I had no idea what I was doing and for the first one I did not stir a lot. My mom witnessed the soap trying to escape from the crock pot when she walked by and slapped it back into submission. Then I came back to my soap I mixed it for a little while longer becore putting it into the mold.
Second batch I had it at med trace before I turned the crock pot on high. I noticed it getting pretty solid and did nothing for the next 30 mins except for the fine bubbleing on the sides. Well I took the stick blender to that. This batch turned out very dry and clumpy. Even after scooping it out with my hands and kneading it into my mold, banging it and punching it (to remove air bubbles of course ).

After cutting the first bar it was more dense on the bottom but towards the top it was breaking off in chunks. I may have pushed it down once it was cool causing this.
Second bar when cut started chipping.

When cured, both bars chipped when I was finishing the edges to make them look nice.

I am very new to soap making but I hope my experience helps you.

Thanks Kryse13!!

Ok one more question if anyone wants to chime in.. Do you super fat your recipe and also add some oils after the cook? Or do you 0% super fat the recipe and then add oils after cook?

I superfat my recipe & usually SF after the cook is competed. I do 6% Shea on most batches. I put my FO & powdered goats milk in with the melted shea.

Anytime I don't SF after the cook I feel the bar is much more drying on my skin.

TVivian said:

Thanks Kryse13!!

Ok one more question if anyone wants to chime in.. Do you super fat your recipe and also add some oils after the cook? Or do you 0% super fat the recipe and then add oils after cook?

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Your welcome! Hope I'm not rambling too much

I also did both. Batch #1 was superfatted at 6% from the beginning. Batch #2 I cooked at a 0% SF then added my SF oil in after with my fragrance.

I superfat at 1%, then after the cook SF again with specific oils i want to use. You can do 0% with the calc of course, but i'm just not comfortable with that.

That said, i won't do water discount at all. I go for the full 3:1. That, along with 1% sodium lactate will make the batter really fluid, up to where i can pour to the mold and avoid the 'rustic' look.

Edited: i stir. Esp when i saw the soap starting to rise.

If you have any sodium lactate, use that too. It really does a great job of making the HP more fluid. I've heard powdered milk added at trace will help too but I can't attest to that.

I also don't water discount, I don't want to risk the soap drying out too much. For winter, I've been leaving my SF the safe and adding a bit of avocado oil after the cook, about 2%. In hind site, I should have lowered my SF to 5 or so then made up the rest after the cook.

I can't resist stirring when hot processing in the crockpot.

I don't stir. My best HP bars come from pouring the mixture into the crockpot or stainless steel pot (for the oven) and leaving it be until it has completely gelled. I stir when I add my superfat and fragrance oil. I don't usually water discount. I have done water discount with HP and my bars look more rustic because the soap is dry, too dry for my taste. I find that less stirring keeps the soap more fluid.

Ok thanks SO much everyone! Looks like I'll have to resist the urge to stir! I do have SL and am planning on using it. I think then, for this batch I won't water discount, but sounds like there's about to be lots of trial and error haha!

Hi! I was reading this thread and was hoping for some answers...how to you superfat afterwards? Calculate recipe with all the oils you want but wait and add one after trace? Is there a trick to it? Also what does sodium lactate do?

My reply disappeared when I submitted it! Grr. LOL

I stir mine, but not constant. I will fold the sides in, then leave it for about 10min the check again. This seems to work fine for MOST of mine, most of my recipes are well-behaved, and I use full water and keep the lid on until it's almost done. I have overstirred before and gotten the 'fluffy' texture too.

I forgot I was doing a milk & honey soap last night when hubby was assisting, and I set my timer and went to sit for 10min, and hubby yells that it's escaping! Yikes! Got it stirred down, and I always have parchment under the pot to catch drips from the utensils, so we just scraped the soap from the outside of the pot onto it, and picked it up and dumped it back in. Whew! Hubby says, well that was exciting! (Mental note- always keep parchment under the crockpot)

I use full water, SF at 1% and then add 6-8% after the cook, usually a combo of shea or avocado with jojoba. I add the sodium lactate after my SF and scents are mixed in, right before I pour.

Something to remember when doing a SF after the cook is some oils have totally different SAP values. If you're wanting to be more exact on it, there's a formula or there's a simpler way that's less exact.