Stick blender making lots of bubbles

I bought a $20 Hamilton Beach hand blender and have mixed 2 batches with it. Both wound up with lots and lots of itty bitty bubbles in the batter. I knocked the air out of the bell when submerging it and before pulsing it. But after each pulse its full of air again! Gahh! I'm only pulsing for a few seconds at a time, this just doesn't seem right to be getting so many bubbles. Is it the blender? Should I exchange it? Or is it my technique/lack of technique?

you would have to explain the technique that you use. i went and looked at the bell of it online (if its the same one ) , the bell is somewhat similar to my Oster hand blender . you may have to lean your blender a little more when you tap it to burp the air out. and lean it when entering your oil giving room for air to escape . hope it helps some. i really do not want to say buy another blender , if anything i would just get some oil and practice burping . if one of the vets on here have any ideas i would like to learn as well .

I've been tilting the whole soap pot as far as possible without spilling while knocking air out. I think air is being pulled in through the shaft when the blade is spinning. Air is getting into the bell without me lifting it out of the soap.

Using it in some plain oil is a good idea! I was thinking wow this could get expensive and really disappointing to have to make a new batch of soap every time lol Thanks!

I had this happen this week. I think because I should have let the batch thicken a little before adding lye water? But it's never been a problem before so I don't know what happened and I believe I have stick blended early on before. It seems like if it's not one thing tripping me up it's another.:-x

My Hamilton Beach blender used to do that too. I upgraded to a Cuisinart and I cannot believe how much better it is. Like tons better.

I agree on the Cuisinart stick blender, it's the best!

How far above the bell is the level of the oil?

I have that SB and just bought a second one. A Cuisinart is on my list of stuff to buy but its not imperative to do so - I'm certainly not going to remake a batch because of air bubbles. Unless it looks like Hershey's Air Delight LOL Our soap is handmade, I don't mind a few air bubbles But yes, the higher my level of oils compared to the bell, the fewer bubbles I get during blending. I tilt my pot to the side, tip my blender to the side so its as close to sideways as I can get it - making sure one of the holes is facing up, then fully submerge then burp it. I try to keep my pot small enough that I have at least 1 to 2 inches of batter above the bell.

Here's the answer to your bubble problems.... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkqzjnivFFI[/ame]

TRXFLYER said:

Here's the answer to your bubble problems.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkqzjnivFFI

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now that is the best penny solution to a $20 problem if i ever saw one !!! good looking out @ TRXFLYER // i will be sure to give my SB the upgrade
thanks again for this timely post

I have the same problem- it seems the blender is sucking air, tiny air bubbles. I have learned to solve the problem by pouring over a spatula to help eliminate the air bubbles in the soap. It really works and I don't want to spend the extra on a blender until it actually dies! Good Luck!

Alright, well I think I have an answer after much experimenting and a trip to WalMart to exchange for a new blender...

The Hamilton Beach, I filled a pitcher of water and immersed it to it's deepest allowed point. Knocked all the air out (keeping it immersed this whole time), pulsed it a few times then when I tilted it sideways (still immersed), BIG bubbles came out, way more than what could have been trapped from just not knocking them all free the first time. So I kept it immersed, pulsed a few more times and *more* BIG bubbles. Not cool. I even looked up youTube videos to make sure I wasn't missing some obvious key piece of information on how to operate a stick blender (lol). Definitely not user error here (yay!). The only explanation I can come up with is that the force generated by the whirling blade was pushing the soap out faster than more could flow in which created a vacuum and pulled air in through the shaft, like blowing on a straw. I probably pulled out every pot, pan and bowl in the kitchen and filled it with blended water to see if maybe it wasn't also a combination of the container I was using for soap.

Luckily WalMart will take anything back in any condition. I exchanged it for a GE blender and no problems at all! I really like the idea to drill holes in the top of the bell so that's on my Honey-Do List now. Ohmigosh I also didn't realize when I made a previous post that it sounded like I was throwing out bubble-filled batches, haha no way! Soap is soap! My lavender orange batch with beautiful hanger swirls (5th try is the charm in my case) may have a really ugly case of what looks like soap acne but it'll still work and smell great. I just meant that I didn't want to continue making ugly batches.

Thanks everyone!

Has anyone tried the trick of drilling holes? The only stick blenders I have been able to find have metal bells, and we are afraid drilling the holes will deform the shape of the bell.

Cuisinart Stick Blender was mentioned and if anyone is interested Costco has them for $19.99 (regular price is $29.99, but they are offering a $10. immediate rebate at the register). Just saw them today.

Mine was $14 at Rural King Gotta love that crazy farm supply store! It's a Hamilton Beech too.

Well, hubby decided to go ahead and give the holes a try and they did fine, did not deform the bell at all. Have not gotten to try it yet. That will come today.

Ruthie said:

Well, hubby decided to go ahead and give the holes a try and they did fine, did not deform the bell at all. Have not gotten to try it yet. That will come today.

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How did it work out?

My stick blender make alot of bubble holes in my soap and I stop using.

Now, I always use the traditional way of doing. I will just use the normal egg beater and mix for 10min. After resting for 5 min, I will use the battery operated hand mixer to mix for another 10min. Though take a longer time, but my soaps usually come out well.

TRXFLYER said:

How did it work out?

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It really helped a lot! There were still a few bubbles, but hardly any.

I bought the hamilton beach blender for myself today, yay me. I figure if I have any trouble with it I will just drill the holes in it. $20 is really all I had for a blender. the cheaper ones online, I couldn't tell what the bell was made of. I figure this is a start, hmm?