Welcome. I'm a Staff Accountant with a CPA office. I'm also a Virgo.
- I've thought about master batching the oils, but not sure what I would store the master batch in that I could easily warm up.
I have a big ole 5-gallon white plastic bucket...food-grade of course. I master batch 640 oz of oils/butters in 160 oz lots. 640 oz doesn't fill the bucket...maybe 2/3s...I still wanted to be able to lift it on my own. I'm getting one of those wheeled buckets stands...partly for convenience, partly to make it a little taller. So why 'lots'? 5 lbs of oil/butter is what my 'melting' pot will hold at one time and I know I can move it off the stove without worrying about spilling it. And I make one full 'lot' at a time in case for any reason I have to stop what I'm doing, I know exactly where I left off.
My exact routine is: measure and start melting the Cocoa Butter on medium heat. Measure and add Palm Oil, measure and add Coconut Oil, measure and add Shea Butter...turn off heat. Measure Castor Oil, tare scale and measure Olive Oil; add those to bucket. Add melted oils/butters. Repeat.
Now you could wrap a heating pad around the bucket to keep the oils melted...I thought about it, but it's a waste of electricity. See...even though my recipe is 60% hard oils, they don't resolidify. Even as cold as my house has been, it's been a thick slurry. During the summer it was a thin batter. Because I use Palm Oil, I bought a commercial paint stirrer for about five bucks and I love it. I run it around the bottom of the bucket for a couple of minutes at a medium speed and it stirs up everything without added in a bunch of air. Then I have a ladle that holds approximately 4 oz of liquid.
This you will love. I have a spreadsheet that lists every mold I own and on it, I list how much oil/butter and how much Lye Solution I need for each one and since I have more than one of any mold, I have listed how much I need if I use multiples of any mold.
So after stirring my oils/butters, I grab my bowl/container, look to see how many ounces of oil/butter I need and divide by four and that tells me how many ladlefuls to add off the bat. Then I put the bowl on my scale and add/subtract. Pop the bowl in the microwave at 20-30 seconds per pound depending on the time of the year. While the oils are remelting, I measure out my MB'd Lye Solution and add in my Sodium Lactate. And since I use Kaolin Clay, I disperse what I need in a tablespoon of water. Time to make soap.
I also make Goat Milk Soap with a slightly different recipe and have a bucket for it. I also have some 1-gallon buckets, so when the 5-gallon ones get low enough, I transfer the contents and then wash and sanitize the big ones and start over again.
- Would love to know other efficiency hacks, like can I master batch my mica powders?
Unless you are making large quantities of same soap every day, IMHO it is a waste of time (and potentially money). Speaking for myself, I have over 50 different Micas...some I use more often than others, and I have several that I bought a year ago and haven't even used yet. Had I MB'd them, odds are good that I would have to toss them as they would have been dispersed in Sweet Almond Oil and it only has a year shelf life. When I started out I dispersed all my colorants, but rarely disperse these days as I generally only make one and two color soaps. Occasionally I get a little 'wild' and will throw in a third color, but even then, I will just toss in the mica dry and whisk it in (I like to check for color before grabbing the stick blender). I will disperse clays, oxides and pigments unless I want a 'speckled' look. And I also ways have a bottle of dispersed TD on hand.
ETA:
- I'm also struggling with soda ash, even though I'm doing all the suggestions, but my problem may be that I have 91% alcohol since 99% is hard to find.
A lot of us do...it's a complete mystery to me. I mean, I understand the science behind it but it's pretty hit or miss. I made two soaps out of the same batter, same colorant, same mold...different scents. The one I sprayed with IPA ashed, the one I forget to spray didn't. First time I made my Orange Soap, it came out perfect. Second time the ask was so bad that I had to throw out all the sample and use the rest for home. There are just so many variables...oils, butters, waxes, water, scent, colorant, additives, gel or no gel, frig, freezer, heating pad, covered, not covered, IPA no IPA, plastic wrap, cardboard and the list goes on an on.
I use one container to measure solid oils, taring in-between -- and that's where my bravery ends. I measure liquids into separate containers. If I could, I'd use one container for my essential oils but due to the small amounts I use one container, taring in-between each essential oil. Inevitably I overpour -- ulp, 1 gram over! Now the whole thing is ruined! -- and spend the rest of the evening in angst and agitation.
