How do you grate your coconut soap?

[Siloe89]

Hello,

I make 100% coconut soap and grate it. I use an electric kitchen grater, but I am affraid of breaking it, as the soap is very hard.

What graters do you use for your soap?

I also wonder what grater allows you to make those nice flakes. My soap does not resemble flakes at all.

Thanks for tips!

 

[artemis]

What is your purpose? Is this for laundry? For rebatching?

When I grate mine for laundry, I use the grater attachment for my KitchenAid. I just got a mini food processor; if my powder isn't fine enough, I wait until it's dry and then pulse it a few times in the food processor.

A lot of people here seem to use a "salad shooter" purchased at yard sales and thrift shops.

 

[Ford Prefect]

What is your purpose? Is this for laundry? For rebatching?

When I grate mine for laundry, I use the grater attachment for my KitchenAid. I just got a mini food processor; if my powder isn't fine enough, I wait until it's dry and then pulse it a few times in the food processor.

A lot of people here seem to use a "salad shooter" purchased at yard sales and thrift shops.

Very useful info, Thank you!

 

[Obsidian]

I use a hand held cheese grater. I'm always afraid coconut soap it too hard for a salad shooter.
Not sure what you mean by flakes, my greatest soap is usually powdery

 

[DeeAnna]

Are you letting the soap cure before grating it? If so, you need to grate the soap sooner. You want the soap to be like firm cheddar cheese -- not rock hard (but not soft and sticky either). The timing depends on your particular soap. I usually grate my soap at 12-24 hours, but others wait a little longer.

If you grate as soon as I do, you may want to wear gloves when handling the soap, because the soap may still have a bit of active lye at that point.

Some people use a "salad shooter" but I use my food processor with the grater disk.

 

[Dahila]

I grate it as soon as it is hard enough to take it out, then use regular grater, then I cure it on trays for three weeks less or more. Then it goes to my old food processor and I make a powder......

 

[Kamahido]

I use something like this to grate mine. Makes it resemble mozzarella cheese. Easier to do within 8 hours of the original pour.

 

[dixiedragon]

I grate mine in a food processor. You can often get them for cheap at estate sales - generally people at estate sales are looking for cool vintage type items, not basic household items. I got mine for $5.

I also like a salad shooter for rebatching, but for laundry you need finer bits.

 

[MorpheusPA]

I just grated seven pounds with a very small hand-held paddle grater like the below. I strongly advise a pyramid grater like Kamahido posted above, or a food processor to turn it into small shards. For coconut soap, I'd do that as soon as it has the consistency of a hard cheese or a little more.

Mine was half lard, half tallow for laundry soap, grated less than 24 hours after making the stuff. After a month of curing time, I'll send it through the food processor to reduce the little soap squiggles to a fine powder.