doing the soap dishes

[BlackDog]

What's the best way to get soap dishes *really* clean?

I'm the type of gal who likes to let wipe out my dishes with a paper towel when done soaping, let them sit for a couple days to saponify any leftover, and then wash them out using any soap left in them, and THEN wash them again with dish soap.

However, all my bowls, cups, spatulas, mold dividers, etc, ALWAYS still have an oily film left on them. I'm not using excessive super fat - 5% unless I'm doing salt bars. But it's basically impossible to get off! What can I do better?

 

[Gerry]

I just throw everything into the dishwasher and press the "pots and pans" mode button. They come out squeaky clean, plus I'm very lazy. Haha!

 

[toxikon]

I don't have a dishwasher and follow a similar strategy to you.

1. Leave one side of sink empty, place all soapy stuff in there for 24 hours to saponify.

2. Soak soapy stuff with hot water and dish-soap for 3 hours or overnight if I'm lazy.

3. Drain, refill with hot water and dish soap and vinegar.

4. Drain again, wash with scrubby pad with dish-soap.

It's kind of an annoying process, but I find I need to do the double-soak or I get that oily residue. The vinegar soak seems to help a lot.

 

[Catastrophe]

I exclusively use Dawn (a LOT of it) and that seems to take care of it on the first try *most* of the time. I don't prewash, all I do is when I'm done soaping, I leave everything at least 12 hours, usually 24-36 hours, and then I put it in a sink of hot water/Dawn where it soaks for....10 min to 10 hours. If the water isn't still warm, I'll drain and refill, but otherwise, I douse my sponge or washcloth in Dawn and wash them. I rarely put soap stuff in the dishwasher, when I soaped many years ago and washed in the dishwasher, DH would complain about tasting my FOs on our regular dishes, despite them not being washed in the same load.

 

[Marshall]

I just scrape any remaining batter or oils out with a silicon spatula, wipe everything out with a paper towel and wash them in hot soapy water just like doing the dinner dishes. (no dishwasher here either)

All of my soapy equipment is washed, dried and put away within 30 min of pouring.

 

[BlackDog]

Unfortunately I am not lucky enough to have a dishwasher! That is an interesting tidbit about "tasting the FOs" though. The vinegar is a great idea; I use it to clean all sorts of stuff but for whatever reason I never thought about using it on soap dishes. I think I will try that on my dishes from yesterday! Thanks!

 

[45parallelsoapco]

I also use Dawn dish soap to clean up. First i clean as much out of my bowls and equipment as possible. i fill one side of my sink with everything, squirt in the dawn (into bowls too) and put in super hot water. let it soak for awhile, then wash and rinse with more super hot water. everything comes out squeaky clean.

 

[cmzaha]

I have a dishwasher but no way with the amount of soap I make would I wash my soaping items in it just to much residual oil. But I also do not wash them in my sink, due to cranky plumbing. I fill a 5 gallon bucket with commercial grade detergent for washing my buckets and containers after wiping out well with paper towels and old rags. As for the rags I let them sit several days to make sure the residue has saponified and put them in the washer with hot water and borateem. I hate soapy containers sitting around, in fact everthing is washed between batches. I do admit my soaping buckets that are several years old to have a little oily feel but they are clean and going to make more soap

 

[shunt2011]

I wash everything when I'm done with it. I wipe residue with paper towel or a rag then wash in hot soapy water. I used commercial Dawn and have zero issues with greasy or oily utensils or soaping bowls.

 

[Galaxy]

I also wash everything right after pouring. I rinse out any batter I couldn't scrape out, then wash with a drop or two of dish soap and put it on a rack to dry.

 

[Steve85569]

I made soap today. I will wash the dishes in a couple days. I like to wait until I can wash the dishes with the residue on the dishes.

Note:
All of my soap making dishes and tools are used ONLY for soap. I may use food grade tools but they are kept in their very own place. No exceptions. Ever.

 

[Arimara]

I don't mix my soaping equipment with cooking equipment. I'd reconsider that if I did NOT use EOs or FOs and I had stainless steel bowls and/or pitchers. I also clean according to how I make soap. If I make it in my crockpot, CP or HP, I let it saponify before I wash. It cuts down on paper towel usage mostly. If I use fragrance and/or use a plastic pitcher, I wait a few days. My SB attachment I always leave alone for a day or two before washing.