Masterbatch with PKO

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Not sure I am understanding your question? Why would you worry about issues with PKO? PKO is not the same as Palm oil and is not a replacement for Palm if you are thinking of stearic issues, it is a replacement for CO. I use PKO/CO split in all my soaps. I also use Palm in all my vegan soaps and do not melt down my 5-gallon pails of palm or my 50lb cubes of palm shortening.
 
Not sure I am understanding your question? Why would you worry about issues with PKO? PKO is not the same as Palm oil and is not a replacement for Palm if you are thinking of stearic issues, it is a replacement for CO. I use PKO/CO split in all my soaps. I also use Palm in all my vegan soaps and do not melt down my 5-gallon pails of palm or my 50lb cubes of palm shortening.
Maybe I should have asked if anyone masterbaches their oils with PKO flakes being one of the oils. I’d read somewhere that it can separate out and sink/stick to the bottom of the MB bucket. I use a paint mixer before use but wondered if anyone found it to be too problematic to bother with.
 
Does anyone masterbatch and/or have issues with PKO? Only 3%, but I’m concerned about it separating out.
All the time and at a much higher rate than 3% - it is one of my main soaping oils and I use it in my masterbatched oils. Not sure what you mean by "separate out". If your masterbatch is solid at room temp, just keep stirring every few minutes until it becomes too solid to do so before letting it rest.

My masterbatch gets just above the slushy point in winter and slushy or liquid in warmer weather, so what I do is make my masterbatch as usual, stir well before letting it rest then before soaping I just make sure and stir it well before portioning out the batch size I'm going to be soaping.
 
Maybe I should have asked if anyone masterbaches their oils with PKO flakes being one of the oils. I’d read somewhere that it can separate out and sink/stick to the bottom of the MB bucket. I use a paint mixer before use but wondered if anyone found it to be too problematic to bother with.

I MB with Olive, Coconut, Palm and Castor Oils and Cocoa and Shea Butters. The convenience far outweighs the maybe 10 minutes it takes me to hook up my commercial paint stirrer to the drill, stir my oil/butter mixture (pancake batter in the Spring/Summer, cornbread batter in the Fall/Winter), stop and use a long-handle scraper/spatula to go around the sides and bottoms, stir again, clean both and put way. And yes, the stearic acid is heavier so it will sink, but I've been MBing for six months now and haven't had any problems. Else-wise, I will spend 30 minutes or more just getting out all my ingredients, measuring (twice), melting, and then putting it all away.

The convenience of MBing has been a boom for me. I work full-time with an hour long commute and before MBing, I only made soap on the weekends. And not a lot of soap, because with my husband being disabled, I do the majority of his chores. With MBing...I can come home from work, look at my spreadsheet (it lists each mold and how much oil/butter and lye solution I need for it) and I can can make a couple of loaves of soap while supper is cooking. On the weekend, I can fill every mold I own (and I have quite a few) in a couple of hours.
 
I started MB’ing last year also-similar to your formula Gecko. TOTAL GAME CHANGER! I MB my NaOH also (Angels singing). My MB is a slurry 10 out of 12 months so I know the stearic has dropped out and coated the bottom of the bucket a little already. What I don’t know is if I add pko to my next MB will there be problems like it too much dropout and not enough re-incorporation with a simple stir. I thought I’d poll the group to see if anyone found MB’ing with pko flakes problematic. I’m trying to clear out of my cabinet-for all of the new stuff 🤪

All the time and at a much higher rate than 3% - it is one of my main soaping oils and I use it in my masterbatched oils. Not sure what you mean by "separate out". If your masterbatch is solid at room temp, just keep stirring every few minutes until it becomes too solid to do so before letting it rest.

My masterbatch gets just above the slushy point in winter and slushy or liquid in warmer weather, so what I do is make my masterbatch as usual, stir well before letting it rest then before soaping I just make sure and stir it well before portioning out the batch size I'm going to be soaping.
Nice! I got a paint stirrer for my drill. I have found, though, that if I don’t leave the drill on the kitchen counter next to the coffee maker I’ll just swirl things up with the whisk and get right to the fun part. Probably because I’m still in pajamas/wfh business casual. I see you’ve been doing this a long time so I won’t worry too much as long as I take stirring more seriously. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Thanks
 
Nice! I got a paint stirrer for my drill. I have found, though, that if I don’t leave the drill on the kitchen counter next to the coffee maker I’ll just swirl things up with the whisk and get right to the fun part. Probably because I’m still in pajamas/wfh business casual. I see you’ve been doing this a long time so I won’t worry too much as long as I take stirring more seriously. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Thanks
Yep, I've been soaping since 2003, took me forever to take the masterbatch plunge, probably been doing that about 8 years? IDK I'd have to look it up.
But in the winter with it's pretty slushy with solid chunks I also use a paint stir attachment to my drill. Easy peasy soapy squeezy. LOL
 
I started MB’ing last year also-similar to your formula Gecko. TOTAL GAME CHANGER! I MB my NaOH also (Angels singing). My MB is a slurry 10 out of 12 months so I know the stearic has dropped out and coated the bottom of the bucket a little already. What I don’t know is if I add pko to my next MB will there be problems like it too much dropout and not enough re-incorporation with a simple stir. I thought I’d poll the group to see if anyone found MB’ing with pko flakes problematic. I’m trying to clear out of my cabinet-for all of the new stuff 🤪

What you could try is to make a small MB and see what happens. I find that the paint stirrer does a better job than I could hope to do and a rubber spatula around the sides and across the bottom takes care of the rest.
 
@cmzaha @TheGecko and @jcandleattic do any of you add ROE to your master batched oils, or store them in a cool location like a fridge or cold garage?
No ROE, but I keep the masterbatch in my basement (where I actually make soap) and we rarely turn on the heat in the winter, or AC in the summer, but the basement keeps pretty steady at around an ambient temp of 68-70 degrees all year long.

I don't use ROE because I can go through a 200lb masterbatch in about 2 months or less, so IMO it's not needed. But I also live in a very cool dry climate, so I think that helps with the oils to not go rancid sooner.
I masterbatch that much and it will all fit perfectly in 8 - 5 gallon buckets that I stack 4 high in the corner of the room.
 

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