Pot Tippers or any suggestions

[Marebear]

I am having trouble making enough soap for my markets. I had previously made 51 bars in a 13 qt pail and divided the batch into 3 molds of 17 bars. I have had to cut back to 34 bars divided into 2 molds of 17 bars. I am 80+ and have shoulder and back arthritis. I started looking at pot tippers but they are way too large for my needs. Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

 

[TheGecko]

Yes...hire someone part-time to help. There are a lot of responsible high school kids that could use jobs.

 

[artemis]

When I read this out loud, Pax (16 yrs) said, "yeah! I would do a job like that!"

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

Would there be any liability issues hiring someone to help?

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I am 80+ and have shoulder and back arthritis.

I hear ya! Same here.

These days I make all my bar soaps in four WSP 1501 silicone molds. Each mold holds 40 - 44 oz. soap depending on the recipe. I use 30-32 oz oils per batch. Each loaf makes 8 bars at 5 +/- oz each.

I melt my oils in a stainless steel pot ahead of time. I (carefully) divide the oils between 4 buckets with lids that I saved from MMS to store until I'm ready to soap. I do not master batch lye. I can make 1 - 4 loaves at a time depending on what I need.

This particular batch is ZNSC Tea Tree Castile.
2 loaves to ship uncut to a customer.
2 loaves for personal use and gifting, hence the small rounds.

HTH

 

[TheGecko]

Would there be any liability issues hiring someone to help?

Taxes and insurance and you would need to check with the state with regards to hiring a minor. In my state, there are limitations to hiring a minor (a lot more than when I was one), but they can be an excellent source of part-time labor for that very reason.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Another suggestion is to simply make more smaller batches. I once made a very large batch of soap and then divided it into different molds...I said never again, it was just too exhausting and stressful. What I do instead is a I Master Batch around 40lbs Oils/Butters and a couple of gallons of Ready-to-Use Lye Solution, and then I make one batch of soap at a time. I just line up the molds on the counter...I put the colorant and scent containers in each one, I weigh out my oils/butter and Lye Solution. While the oils are heating up, I prepare my colorant and scent and then make/pour the soap. I then clean out the bucket and make the next batch. I'm in my early 60s and have back issues...doing it this way is easier on my back (I also have comfy mats) and a lot less stressful and when I'm done...clean up is a breeze.

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

Taxes and insurance and you would need to check with the state with regards to hiring a minor. In my state, there are limitations to hiring a minor

Hiring teenagers for odd jobs (not as employees) could work well. I was thinking more of the concern for being sued if there was an accident with the lye. Another thread points out that person needs to be concerned about adults injuring themselves in a class or just from watching a demonstration and suing. Wouldn’t having a teenager working under one’s supervision and having a lye accident lead to a serious lawsuit?

That pot tipper isn’t sounding expensive by comparison. If the tippers @Marebear has seen are too big, are there alternatives? Could someone, say from one of the Etsy workshops, customize something that would work? Or maybe something from a restaurant supply store like this one for a five gallon bucket?

 

[Marebear]

Hiring a teenager can have it's own set of problems. Liability insurance is one. Right now teenage labor is hard to find. Every place that hires younger workers has a sign out and there don't seem to be a lot of takers. I will stick with the smaller batches and my customers will have to wait for their orders. I wish the soap equipment companies would consider the smaller companies instead of the big ones. They might be missing a whole other market.

 

[Marebear]

Thank you for the tips SentimentallyYours.

 

[Ephemerella]

17 bars in one mold sounds awfully heavy. Just a thought, but maybe just scale back to smaller molds and smaller batches?

While I have larger molds, I use these quite often: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q71VFBM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'm not kind nor gentle with my equipment, and they've held up well for me.

The advert says these are 42oz capacity, but I can say with authority they hold my entire oil+water+lye+additives+fragrance batch of 55oz.

I get 8 bars per mold, but my bars are generous, almost 7oz at cut. For a more standard 5oz bar when cut, you could get 11 from one mold.

I make 4 batches at a time, and I don't masterbatch.

 

[Ford]

Place your mold on a lower surface than your bucket/mixing vessel. When it's time to pour. So, you're tipping to pour. Not lifting to pour.