HP cook time question

Brian Suds · Jul 18, 2012

I see a lot of tutorials on youtube and website about cooking your HP soap in a crock pot, but they all have different times. SOme say 2-4 hours, some say 45min - hour. What about your methods?

Loolee · Jul 18, 2012

2-4 hours is way to long

Some people say they stir, others say they don't stir. I like to stir.

Usually, the soap goes to thick trace right away, so I cook for a little bit and I stir the edges that are soft. then I break up the hard soap (thick trace soap) in the middle and try my best to stir it. Then I let it cook for about 30-45 minutes on LOW stirring every 15 minutes or so. You'll see it get very loose and soft. stir vigorously and recombine everything. It may separate completely at some point and you'll wonder if its ruined. At that point stir it back together and pull out a little bit and let cool. Do a zap test. Once there is no zap, I pour into my mold. I've never timed it, but I don't think it takes over an hour.

sudbubblez · Jul 18, 2012

You just do it untill its done. It is not an exact science. If you're cooking at higher temperatures, its going to neutralize quicker than if cooked at lower temperatures. at 170 degrees it takes about 2 hours for most recipes.

eolian · Jul 18, 2012

I am still a soap newbie but i have discovered it depends on the crockpot. Some seem to get hotter than others. I have made about 8-10 batches so far and i now use a Rival 6qt crockpot and i have to turn mine off at 30 min and then back on again to finish the fold over or my soap gets too hot and sticks to the sides and makes those hard white flakes. My soaps take about an hour and a half to reach the Vaseline stage. After a few batches you learn how your crock cooks and its a breeze from then on.

SueSoap · Jul 18, 2012

I have a Crock Pot that has a Low setting, and this is the setting I use for my HP soap. The Low gets pretty hot. My batches of soap usually take around 2 hours.

new12soap · Jul 19, 2012

It really does depend on your recipe, the size of the batch, and your crock pot. I can't personally imagine cooking my soap for 2 hours, and I only cook it on low. I have seen people posting about hard white chunks in their soap, and I am guessing that in some of those cases the soap is overcooked. The longest I have cooked a 2 lb (weight of oils, not total) batch is about an hour, and that was a castille. Most of the time it takes about 35-45 minutes after the soap has reached thick trace. That is my experience with it, and I almost always CPHP. I do stir, and break up the solid mass in the center.

I would say use the lowest setting on your crockpot, low or keep warm, stir every so often, and keep a close eye on it. It won't take too long for you to get a "feel" for it.