Stainless Steel Soap Pot

[lillybella]

I do not have a stainless steel pot for soap making yet.

Can I melt my oils in a crock pot, shut it off & remove it to the counter & then pour my lye water into the oils & work from there?

Will this work?

Any other suggestions?

 

[snappyllama]

You can do that - the residual heat from the crock pot might speed up your recipe. You can also use plastic (2 or 5 at the bottom) for soaping. I got painters buckets from home depot.

When buying stainless steel, take a magnet with you to verify that it is indeed stainless.

 

[Dorymae]

Sure it will work! You could also melt your oils in a pan, any pan - then pour it into a plastic bowl. You can mix your soap in that bowl. Anything plastic or stainless steel or ceramic (like your crock) should be fine. ( although I did read something about certain cheap plastics cracking . . .) I use plastic to mix my soap, but I melt my oils in a pan on the stove.

 

[lillybella]

What about the stick blender? I'm not sure if the inside of mine is stainless steel.

DoryMae do you use a double boiler or put the pan right on the stove?

How about the white buckets butters come in?

 

[snappyllama]

Most/maybe all stick blenders are stainless. What kind do you have?

Reusing plastic buckets should be fine. Just check on the bottom for a 2 or 5.

 

[Dorymae]

I do mine right on the stove, but I use to use a double boiler.... now I just watch it and stir. The trick is do not leave, do not turn around. Stay right there and as soon as it is almost melted (there are still some small chunks floating around) turn off the heat and remove it from the burner.

If you can't stand right over it the whole time use a double boiler.

For the stick blender. . . I own 4 or 5 and only one has a stainless steel shaft. I use that one for things that get very very hot. (see the post on making CP liquid soap paste with glycerin) For making regular soap the plastic shaft SB is fine, you won't use it until the temperature has gone down a bit anyway (120 or so is soaping hot to me, I usually soap at room temp or a bit higher unless the recipe is fickle.)

I think the white buckets would work fine after you are done with the butters. You can get really cheap containers at lowes or home depot in the paint section if you want to get different sizes.

 

[Susie]

Not all of the plastic tubs come with 2 or 5 on the bottom. You must check.

I use my crock pot for almost all of my liquid soap paste(it is larger, and I need it to be in there for dilution anyway) and it works fine.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I put my oils on a low heat, with all of the oils in there (including liquid ones) to help with the melting without burning. Then I pour it out in to another pot.

Even when I HP, I melt my oils in another pot and add them to my slow cooker - otherwise I find the slow cooker is far too hot at the start of the process, especially as I tend to soap hotter and will often have a volcano on my hands.

 

[Obsidian]

I use a large plastic bowl with a handle to mix my soap in and I melt the oils in the same bowl in the microwave. I used to use a pan on the stove but all that really did was give me a extra step and make more dishes to clean.

 

[yadonm]

I put my solid oils in quart canning jars and then just melt what I need in my microwave. I soap at room temp,

 

[xraygrl]

I use these plastic mixing bowls from Dollar tree: http://www.dollartree.com/household...les-2-frac12-qt-/500c526c529p185884/index.pro

I saw several videos on YouTube in which people were using those mixing bowls and asked here and was told they were from Dollar tree. That is what I use now, and I LOVE them. I am just a hobbyist and I make small batches so these are perfect for the size batches I make now.

I melt my hard oils in those mixing bowls on 50% power in the microwave on short bursts (30 seconds, then stir, 30 seconds, stir) till they are mostly melted, then I just stir till the rest melts. Even when I am doing hp, I don't melt my oils in my crockpot.

 

[shunt2011]

I use the same mixing bowls as xraygrl. However, I look for the ones with the handles attached on the outside not once continuous container as I've found my soap batter spills out the back if it's a bit too much of a batch. They last quite a long time but do start to crack after awhile. But for 1.00 who cares. I have a bunch of them.

 

[Susie]

I live in the deep south, so we have about 8-9 months of temperatures warm enough to run the air conditioner, and I use the heat transfer method of soaping. That is, I use the hot NaOH/water to melt the solid oils and then just add the liquid oils. Only a few times this winter have I had to melt the solid oils before soaping because my house is too cool. I melt them in the microwave in a Pyrex measuring cup, then pour them into the crock pot or stainless steel bain marie.

 

[lillybella]

These are such fabulous tips & suggestions!
Thank you all so much!
I think I like the handles No dollar store here, tho :sad:

 

[dixiedragon]

I have soaped right in my crockpot. I got one for $4 at Salvation Army, b/c I didn't want to risk a soap spill ruining a fancier crockpot. One thing to keep in mind if you want to soap in your crockpot is to be sure that your batch (oils plus water) will fit.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Fit is not only 'is it big enough' but also think about it being small enough - if it is too big, your batter will be shallow in the bottom of it and you won't be able to get your stick blender deep enough in to really mix properly and safely.

 

[IrishLass]

When buying stainless steel, take a magnet with you to verify that it is indeed stainless.

Interestingly, I found out the hard way that that is not always the case. It depends on the amount of iron that was used to make the stainless steel as to whether a magnet will stick to it or not.

Here's a really good article that explains why magnets will (or will not) stick to some stainless steels and not others: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-dont-magnets-work-on/

For what it's worth, I cannot get a magnet of any size/strength to stick to my own trusty stainless steel soaping pot that I've been using for successfully and safely for 9 years. Nor will any magnets stick to my trusty stainless steel popcorn pot, or any of my trusty stainless steel strainers/sieves.

It's a fun experiment to go around the house and see what stainless steel surfaces will attract a magnet and which ones won't, and how strongly or weakly the magnets stick. With my stainless steel sink, for example, magnets won't stick as strong to it as they do to my refrigerator.

IrishLass

 

[HerbalEarthling]

I got a large stainless steel pot from goodwill for under $5. Most of them don't have lids which is fine since I never find a need for one. Use it to melt my oils, pull it off the heat before the lye is done cooling, and then SB lye mixture right into it. Things got a lot easier once I got that pot.

 

[snappyllama]

Thank Irishlass, I'll remember that the next time I'm out looking!

 

[lillybella]

and then SB lye mixture right into it

Opps! What does SB mean?