Master batching oil for soap

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I have read a little about master batching oil but only now feel confident enough to experiment with a test batch.

I plan to use one of my frequently used formulas and for my test batch make up 80oz. For the total weight of the combined oils.

My question is: If I melt all the soft and hard oils and Shea butter and mix it well with my stick blender in my master batch container, will I have to melt all of the master batch again when I am ready to use only part of it? Or, as it has already been melted and blended, can I simply scoop out the the correct portion when I am ready to make soap? Will the hard and soft oils be homogenized well enough?
 
It might well depend on the oils - palm is a particularly bad oil for staying evenly distributed.

If you have a normal batch size, you might be better putting the mixed oils in to containers with the amount you need rather than one big pot
 
It might well depend on the oils - palm is a particularly bad oil for staying evenly distributed.

If you have a normal batch size, you might be better putting the mixed oils in to containers with the amount you need rather than one big pot


EG thanks for your thoughts. I do use Palm oil. I have already done as you suggested making individual amounts and put them in separate containers. But my goal is to learn master batching.

Is it then your opinion I should melt all the oil each time I need to measure out from it, or if I do not use Palm oil my no melt idea would work?
 
Master batching just means pre-mixing oils. If that is one pot with a mix of all the oils that you scoops from, or a number of pots with a mix of all the oils, it's still master batching. You're not taking individual oils to mix each time you make soap, as you pre mixed it.

For some people, the big pot works best, for others, having an x kilo block of oil mix, where x is the batch oil weight, works best
 
It might well depend on the oils - palm is a particularly bad oil for staying evenly distributed.

If you have a normal batch size, you might be better putting the mixed oils in to containers with the amount you need rather than one big pot


EG thanks for your thoughts. I do use Palm oil. I have already done as you suggested making individual amounts and put them in separate containers. But my goal is to learn master batching.

Is it then your opinion I should melt all the oil each time I need to measure out from it, or if I do not use Palm oil my no melt idea would work?
 
If I used palm, and intended to master batch, I would do exactly as Craig suggested. Melt it all into one pot, then stir and scoop out pre-weighed amounts for each batch. If your "regular" sized batch is 80 oz oil every time, I would buy some of these:

http://www.homedepot.com/s/3.5+gallon+bucket?NCNI-5

With the lids, then IF they have a 2 or a 5 in the little triangle, I would melt the oils and dump in my master-batched lye water and additives and stick blend til trace. Then all you would have to do is clean them to get them ready for the next batch of oils.

This is something I had thought about doing when I was entertaining the thought of going into business making soap(very short time). It would allow one to have hired help to "make" soap without giving the recipes away.
 
I just did a 10# master batch and divided it into 2# "lots" for lack of a better term. Now, I can just grab a 2# container and go at it. My batches are usually two pounds, which is why I split it like that. Measuring once and getting 5 batches of soap out of it is going to be much better than pulling three oils, the lard and the scale out each time I want to make soap. I've also master batched a lye solution (1:1) that will be a great help, too. I prefer soaping at room temp, so these master batches will allow that with little to no waiting time.
 
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Thanks all. After reading all of the responses I can see I really did not understand what master batching meant. Makes more sense now. To some extent I was master batching in that I would measure out all my oils into individual containers for layer use. I can see how much easier it would now to measure it all in one pot, melt it, then weight it out into individual portions. Thanks for the explanations. I did not quite understand.
 
I master-batched some oil over the winter, and I use palm and shea along with soft oils. It would thicken up on me, into almost a pudding like texture, when stored in my basement. I just kept it in the utility room where my furnace, water heater and washer dryer are. That would keep it warm enough that I could just give it a good mix and pour off what I wanted.

In the summer, it is warm enough down there that is is no problem with the solid oils going thick.
 

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