How do you melt your buckets of palm?

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

froggybean37

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2013
Messages
162
Reaction score
132
Hi all! I'm at the point where I'm going through about a 35 lb bucket of palm a week and having to melt it out is seriously time consuming. As it is now, I scoop it out into a Pyrex 2 quart and then melt in the microwave. I add the melted stuff into a different clean bucket, then mix and pour out into smaller plastic containers for use when I make a batch.

I've seen people talk about the homogenized/mixed Palm Oil you can just scoop out, but I like knowing my palm is sustainably and ethically harvested and I haven't been able to find any of the homogenized stuff that is part of the RSPO.

What do you do with your big buckets?
 
I have seen here several times that it is not necessary to heat because the different variants are so similar that it doesn't matter.

I won't try to name who said it for fear of getting it wrong, but I remember it was someone respected. Perhaps they will comment here.
 
Hi all! I'm at the point where I'm going through about a 35 lb bucket of palm a week and having to melt it out is seriously time consuming. As it is now, I scoop it out into a Pyrex 2 quart and then melt in the microwave. I add the melted stuff into a different clean bucket, then mix and pour out into smaller plastic containers for use when I make a batch.

I've seen people talk about the homogenized/mixed Palm Oil you can just scoop out, but I like knowing my palm is sustainably and ethically harvested and I haven't been able to find any of the homogenized stuff that is part of the RSPO.

What do you do with your big buckets?

Well, all I would need to do is set it out side for a couple hours, and it would be melted. You could also put it in your car, as it gets much warmer in there.

Then after stirring I would portion it out into smaller containers ( I like the paint mixing buckets from Home Depot ) and let them solidify.

I do not remelt the smaller containers, I just scoop from that.

It was topofmurrayhill who said there was no need to do the melt and stir. I will see if I can find one of those posts.
 
"Palm Oil is comprised of liquid and solid oils. Because of this, it is important to fully melt and stir your palm until it is clear before using it so that it is the right mix of oils every time." The stearic acid part of the oil will settle to the bottom if the palm oil is not heated and stirred well. I suggest that you leave the bucket of plam oil in a warm place, such as a garage or a car, (where the sun shines through the glass). After it is all melted, then stir it well and divide into small portions.

https://www.brambleberry.com/palm-oil-p3210.aspx
 
I have seen here several times that it is not necessary to heat because the different variants are so similar that it doesn't matter.

I won't try to name who said it for fear of getting it wrong, but I remember it was someone respected. Perhaps they will comment here.
I am one who never melts down my 5 gallon buckets of palm. The only time it gets melted is during summer if we have a hot one. So far this summer my bucket has just started melting. I will also mention I have never had a problem with not melting it

Edited after reading Isg's post. Palm has a very small percentage of stearic but is high in palmitic, shea on the other hand is very high in stearic but I know of no one that mentions melting down Shea before using. I just scoop from different areas of the bucket, I really think what I sometimes see is palmitic separating out not stearic. Palm only contains around 5% stearic whereas Shea is around 20 - 50%. But I have certainly been wrong before
 
Last edited:
Here are 3 posts from TOMH that discuss his thoughts on melting palm and mixing it.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=569202&postcount=3
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=592331&postcount=15
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=610852&postcount=17


As he points out, heating over and over again actually shortens the life span of the oil.

As lazy as I am, I will take the solution requiring the least amount of work. :)

Is there anyone on this forum who has had a bad experience when they have just scooped it out, without melting and stirring?
 
As lazy as I am, I will take the solution requiring the least amount of work. :)

Is there anyone on this forum who has had a bad experience when they have just scooped it out, without melting and stirring?
Not me. I do melt all my solid oils completely when I get them in my soaping bucket. I melt all the solid oils then add in room temp liquid oils to help cool it down.
 
Well, all I would need to do is set it out side for a couple hours, and it would be melted. You could also put it in your car, as it gets much warmer in there.

Then after stirring I would portion it out into smaller containers ( I like the paint mixing buckets from Home Depot ) and let them solidify.

I do not remelt the smaller containers, I just scoop from that.

It was topofmurrayhill who said there was no need to do the melt and stir. I will see if I can find one of those posts.

I actually live in Northern Canada, so setting it outside results in it getting harder not softer hahaha
 
I actually live in Northern Canada, so setting it outside results in it getting harder not softer hahaha

In the winter, but I have been in Calgary in July - it gets warm enough there.

Anyway - if that does not work, try wrapping a heating pad around the bucket, or setting it in a sink of hot water.
 
I've drawn a hot bath and then set the bucket in there to melt. I now get the homogenized palm oil so I don't have to think about it. I have noticed with some of my hard oils, I am far far far more likely to get the crackling when I'm at the bottom of the bucket, so I do the work but it is a pain.
 
Back
Top