Massive Crock Pots

[ZandarKoad]

I was wondering what's the largest crock pot you guys think would work with making liquid soap. I've never made it before, only CP to date. I was looking at this 18 quart unit. Do you think it would work?

 

[lsg]

I doubt that I would use one with that volume. I am thinking of buying an 8.5-9 quart capacity though, for making larger batches of M&P soap.

 

[Genny]

18 quarts would be really big.

 

[VanessaP]

18qt would be very unwieldy to lift and pour, especially if it was fuller and ladles just make a massive mess. I have a 6qt Hamilton Beach that has Warm, Low and High from Kohls.com for $19 for my 5lb HP batches. I find it also harder to pour more precisely. If it were me trying to do large quantities, I'd get the 18qt, but I would put my paste + diluting water into quart canning jars and use the 18qt as a hot water bath to help with dilution. With my 80% olive oil & 20% cocoa butter soap, I did a 2:1 water to paste dilution and that was about right (before scenting) and for only 7oz of paste, i got about 20-21 fl oz of soap which was about 2/3 of the jar. I like using the jars because its very easy to test dilution ratios and plus its dilution right in its sequestering container, all in one.

 

[jcandleattic]

18qt!! :shock: That's huge!!
I use a 6qt and it's perfect for my size batches of gls... 18qt would be massive and too big unless you are making production soaps. Which if you haven't even started making them yet, you aren't doing yet.

 

[ZandarKoad]

Yeah, production soaps are the objective. We want to give away pretty much all of it. But I'll probably start with a 8 quart or something, until I nail down the recipe.

 

[melstan775]

18 qts is 4 gallons and two quarts. So depending in how much you want to do at once. If your liquid soaps are 8 oz, that's 16 bottles in one gallon, a gallon being 128 oz. I don't know though if milk and water jugs are measured in volume or weight. if its weight a gallon of milk weighs about eight pounds. How much does soap weigh? either way that's a lot of soap at once. . Please post pics of what that looks like.

 

[LovelyMalia]

Just an FYI - that link on Amazon IS NOT a crockpot. Its a roaster oven - I have one - it heats up much more and much quicker than a crockpot. I wouldn't use it for anything soap related because that thing would definitely burn it.

 

[whitetiger_0603]

Just go for a 5 quart crock. I make about 7-8 pounds of paste in that. Which equates to a gallon. Throw in dilution and you can go up to a gallon and a half to 2 gallons of soap. Unless you plan on doing bulk. At the same time, I would think the larger the batch the more room for error as far as anything after paste cooking goes.

 

[Lindy]

I have a 6 quart crockpot and it's too heavy for me to pour. Ladles are my friend. I actually have 2 of them because of my cream soap activities... I like it for LS as well because I can make my paste in it and then dilute, all in the same pot....

 

[Mr_Dove]

I say go for it. If temp is an issue you can build a device called a crock-o-stat which will allow you to control the voltage and temperature of your roaster. It's super easy to make. Just google crock-o-stat.

edit: I just read the description of the roaster and it appears that the temperature controls are quite good compared to a crock with only warm-medium-high.

 

[lsg]

Here is another option, but it is an expensive one:

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/nemco-6103a-11-qt-countertop-cooker-warmer-120v-1250w/5916103A.html

 

[robynsoaphouse]

That is one huge crock pot. I have six regular size crock pots and have them all cooking liquid paste at once. The paste cooks faster and they are easy to carry from one end of the room to the other.

 

[ahutchins9]

Kinda off topic since I make my LS on the stove but this 80% OO 20% Cocoa Butter soap sounded interesting so I decided to try some today. Instead I did 70% OO, 20% CB, 5% Castor, 5% CO ( for bubbles ). Used the glycerin method and dissolved my KOH in 3 parts glycerin 1 part Water. Once it started coming together it never went through "trace" went straight to Taffy but not all of the oil got mixed in. Thought I was going to break my spoon trying to stir it up. What caused this? Ive made LS before using the glycerin but never with that high of an amount with a butter before. I have never had a CP soap seize on me but in my mind this is what it would look like if it did. I eventually got it all broken up and mixed in the rest of the oil. Hope it turns out and I didn't kill my stick blender

 

[Robert]

I was wondering what's the largest crock pot you guys think would work with making liquid soap. I've never made it before, only CP to date. I was looking at this 18 quart unit. Do you think it would work?

I doubt there'd be any upper limit on size that would work. Why not find out what kind of reactor the largest makers of kettle process soap use? Then you know there's no technical barrier to anything smaller.

Once you get up to a certain size, the heating would be needed only at the beginning, and then the rxn would generate enough heat that the jacket would wind up cooling the mixture.

 

[Stakie]

I actually have no idea how big my crockpot is. Though I am sure it's not very big. I make about a 3.5 lb loaf with it. I would rather get multiple smaller crockpots than one big one though.

 

[shunt2011]

Also you would have trouble with the lye reacting with the pan in a roaster oven. I would not use it. Get a 6 quart crockpot. Should be adequate enough. Good Luck!