Bad to use cooking pot for soap?

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I only own one large stainless steel pot, I think it's a 3 gallon. I use it to make cheese and also for large batches of food like chili, soup, etc.

Can I use this pot for a batch of cp soap, then clean it well and return it to service as a cooking pot?

Thanks so much!
 
It's probably fine since the FO won't absorb into the metal.

Many do it, some don't.

Personal choice.
 
It probably would be ok, but I personally wouldn't. I like to keep my soap stuff separate. Just don't want to take the chance.

Stainless steel mixing bowls are cheap at wal mart. You can get a gigantic one for like 4.97.
 
ilovedoxies said:
It probably would be ok, but I personally wouldn't. I like to keep my soap stuff separate. Just don't want to take the chance.

Stainless steel mixing bowls are cheap at wal mart. You can get a gigantic one for like 4.97.
Thanks, but don't I need to heat and cook the soap on the stove. I don't think mixing bowls are designed for use on the stove...or are they?
 
Tufted Titmouse said:
Thanks, but don't I need to heat and cook the soap on the stove. I don't think mixing bowls are designed for use on the stove...or are they?

If you are making cold process soap, you don't need to "cook" the soap. It isn't necessary, either, to heat the oils on the stove; you can melt your solid oils in the microwave (well, unless, I suppose, you were making a humongous batch in which case fitting the container inside might be difficult...).

To answer the original question, I mix soap in various stainless steel cooking pots, wash them in the sink, then run them through the dishwasher. I occasionally do turn the stove on if, for whatever reason, my oil is cooler than I want it to be and I need to heat it up a touch.
 
Stainless steel is non-reactive and does not absorb anything so if you can clean it really really well and then run it through the dishwasher, you should be completely ok. I like to use big stainless steel bowls or plastic ones because I feel I get a better mix of the oils and lye with the rounded bottom of the bowl. I heat my oils in a double boiler on the stove. I bought a nice sturdy one from Bed, Bath and Beyond with a coupon and it was about 10 bucks. I only use it for my oils. I like the control of heat I get with the double boiler. I make a lot of soap with lard as one of the main oils and I don't like to use high heat with that oil as the higher heat brings out the "piggy" smell. The hot water sitting under the top pan gently melts the oils.This method works really well for me. I don't like to melt in the microwave.
 
Personally, I would NEVER eat something out of the same pot I had made cp soap (with lye) in. Regardless of how clean you think it is, lye is a dangerous and toxic chemical and not something to mess around with.

I would just go to Wally World and buy a cheap Enamel pot (less than $20) to play it safe...

Oh, I would also like to mention -- a "Presto" electric pot is the best investment that I have made. Although I can't use it with my lye - I melt all of my oils in it and it makes it so much easier!

Cheers! Rachelle
 
itsmeroro said:
Personally, I would NEVER eat something out of the same pot I had made cp soap (with lye) in. Regardless of how clean you think it is, lye is a dangerous and toxic chemical and not something to mess around with.
considering lye is a) water soluble and b) consumed by the soaping reaction c) clearly gone from a clean pot, and d) used in the processing and production of many foods, it's the one thing I don't worry about.

FOs and colorants - those concern me more.
 
Make it special

Why not honour your Soap making equipment and self by having dedicated equipment you are both worth it..
:lol:
I am allergic to food tasting like soap even if it is in my own mind.
I have a 20 litre plastic bucket from pottery days .You can but them at hardwares. If I have too I use a dedicated pot for the hard oils but sometimes just put the bucket of oils in a solar heating set up on my balcony in summer.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
If you retain seperate equipment it will help other people to respect your creating more also.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
I put my stainless bowls on the stove, but I only turn my burner to like 1 or 2 until the oils are melted and it is removed quickly.

I bought a little bowl at walmart for 3.97 to put my lye mixture in. I like the stainless because it conducts cold and heat best. It doesn't take long for it to cool down in an ice bath.

I don't recommend using wooden spoons in your lye mixture. Over time the lye will eat up your spoon. Learned this one from experience...
 
It will be fine. If you think about it, when the soap saponifies...it's just soap. I let my pot sit til the next day, then I fill it with hot water wash and rinse.
 
Well, I clearly haven't died from lye poisoning yet :wink: Those lye fumes coming out of my kitchen sink are probably way more toxic...
:roll: These day all our veggies & meat are so full of bad stuff, like pesticedes & antibiotics I really couldn't care less about eating out of a well scrubbed pan I made soap in :wink:
Personally, if I intended to sell my soap I would buy everything seperate (already doing that piece by piece). I'd hate getting food thingies in my soap :lol:
 
Giving it a go

I thought I had better come back on this one as despite the fact that I say it's best to have your own seperate equipment. :lol: that is for in the long run.
As the good soapers above, all of them, say, you wont die from multi using your pots that you already have and I would'nt like to think you waited ,and waited , and waited :cry: till you have everything just perfect and then did your soap making. :shock:
I like to aim for the best scenario ,but yes , you gotta just jump right in and start swimming when the inspiration is running high.( :wink: testing the depth of the water first tho )
:lol: :lol: :lol:
By the way how did you pick that really great name of Tufted Titmouse?
 
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