Need a HUGE favor from any experienced soaper .....

[SunRiseArts]

Who has done soap by hand without a stick blender?
When I tried to make my cells for the challenge, I tried to do the small portion by hand. Could not do it.....:headbanging:
I am curious to know (with pictures), how the batter would look if I did not have a stick blender?
I know is a lot work, but if anyone in the near future, does not have to be soon, makes soap this way, can you post pics? Thanks.
Seems like an impossible task to me.

 

[cherrycoke216]

This was my attempt made yesterday. Hand stir second batch. The first one FO accelerate on me. I took picture using cellphone. My DC lens was broken cause nephew screwed it. It's got sort of oil puddle on top. Looks like the bottom is slowly becoming soap but the top is flowing. I'm thinking about CPOP it. But oven process might do wonky,too.

It was a 40% lye concentration, but some lye stick at the bottom of the beaker. So I added more water. It's around 39.5% lye concentration.

Did you start a batch or just asking for advice?

ETA: this is 100% soft oil recipe just for the cell top. So I don't have to melt anything. I added cetyl alcohol for some bar hardening effect. Easier to work with than stearic acid. No EO or FO.
And my lye solution is made right before pouring in oil. So it's really hot.
And the batter looks watery thin. Really thin. ( 100% soft oil ). So it's really flowing everywhere. Should pulse the stickblender for like 3-10 seconds like others mentioned. Because its fluidity I can't make the visual effects I desired. Duh...I pour some more and the beautiful in the pot swirl / Clyde slide ( soap language, tribute to Clyde of Vibrant soap on YouTube and Instagram) / dirty pour ( new acrylic art language learned. ) is ruined. I'm mad at myself now. :headbanging:
ETA 2:
https://candletech.com/bath-body/soap-making-basics/cold-process-soap-making/

You can do this the old fashioned way too, stir with a spoon and not a stick blender. However, this could take quite a while. If you do want to hand stir, you can stir for 5-10 minutes, stop for a while, then stir again. You don’t need to constantly hover over the pot.
Quoted from above site.

 

[earlene]

No pictures, but yes, I have made soap without a SB. Some recipes trace too quickly to use a SB, so I have done it a couple of times. To me the batter looks the same.

 

[Soapprentice]

I do not use SB for any recipe except for 100% coconut oil. The batter looks the same with and without to me..

 

[bumbleklutz]

I hand stir all of mine. I use a whisk. I feel like it gives me better control of trace than a stick blender. The batter looks the same.

 

[cherrycoke216]

Ok my second try of cell is officially botched. I put it in oven 190 Fahrenheit for 5 minutes and the oil is bubbling hot. I think the swirl is gone... :headbanging: :headbanging:
Might as well try it a third time using crisco. At least it saponified sooner. So I'll know if it's okay to use before I sleep.


ETA: I think most the challenger is using a little bit of saved batter from the same batch of base. Just don't put EO or FO in the cell part of soap batter. Less chance to accelerate or seize. Maybe this will work better. Coz too small a batch the lye calculation will be easily screwed. ( most of us don't have scale that weights decimal like 0.1gram ) mine only weights 0.5g.

 

[kchaystack]

ETA: I think most the challenger is using a little bit of saved batter from the same batch of base. Just don't put EO or FO in the cell part of soap batter. Less chance to accelerate or seize. Maybe this will work better. Coz too small a batch the lye calculation will be easily screwed. ( most of us don't have scale that weights decimal like 0.1gram ) mine only weights 0.5g.

That is exactly what I did. Mix just to emulsion, separate off the cell batter, scent the base and pour it in the slab. Then I colored the cell batter, left it unfragranced and poured the cells. I did not CPOP the cells - but in hindsight I should have. It tool a week for them to harden up enough to get off the freezer paper.

The fluid pour on top of the base that I set the cells into was again part of a 1lb batch - maybe a quarter of it, that I made after the base and cells were set up. It was also unscented.

 

[Saponista]

I have made laundry soap with just a balloon whisk but the 100% coconut heats up so fast that the reaction doesn't need as much mixing. I tried with my regular soap recipe as I thought it might be fun for the students at my soapmaking workshops, but after an hour of trying I gave in and stick blended!

 

[dixiedragon]

I don't have any pics, but you could keep the soap on the stove on low heat and keep stirring. One of the dangers of hand stirring is that the soap cools before you have stirred enough and you can get false trace.

I've got one of these somewhere in a box...it's very useful and I wish I could find it:
http://www.hewitonline.com/Stainless_steel_Double_Boiler_p/eq-220-000.htm

This one is in the UK but I think I got mine and BB&B. I've used a stick blender on a 1 lb batch in this little guy.

 

[SunRiseArts]

Thank you all! Cherrycoke, I am asking out of curiosity. I am always wanting to learn everything ... lol,

I tried one time, and had false trace, and my soap did not sponficy, so I gave up, and always use a blender, but what if we did not have electricity? I think about this things .... silly, I know.

 

[Soapprentice]

Thank you all! Cherrycoke, I am asking out of curiosity. I am always wanting to learn everything ... lol,

I tried one time, and had false trace, and my soap did not sponficy, so I gave up, and always use a blender, but what if we did not have electricity? I think about this things .... silly, I know.

I'm lucky in that sense.. there is no way we get false trace, well, may be it would if i use beeswax.. it is so hot here the oils never solidify and Shea Butter almost melts at room temp. It's 42C here right now that too

 

[Steve85569]

I finished up the high water high lye castile recipe with a whisk. Burned out my stick blender and it wasn't at trace yet. It worked....

 

[Soapprentice]

I finished up the high water high lye castile recipe with a whisk. Burned out my stick blender and it wasn't at trace yet. It worked....

Hey Steve, I read so much about this high lye Castile, could you please direct me to where I can find more about it?
Sorry for hijacking the thread

 

[cherrycoke216]

Hey Steve, I read so much about this high lye Castile, could you please direct me to where I can find more about it?

Sorry for hijacking the thread

Not Steve, but here you go:

www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=42922
It's a monster thread, enjoy!!!

 

[cherrycoke216]

That is exactly what I did. Mix just to emulsion, separate off the cell batter, scent the base and pour it in the slab. Then I colored the cell batter, left it unfragranced and poured the cells. I did not CPOP the cells - but in hindsight I should have. It tool a week for them to harden up enough to get off the freezer paper.



The fluid pour on top of the base that I set the cells into was again part of a 1lb batch - maybe a quarter of it, that I made after the base and cells were set up. It was also unscented.

Thanks KC, I'll give it another go!

In the video, you change your original base ( with sky blue silicone mold ) and replace with a new base ( freezer or parchment paper ). You separate the second batch into two, the white and the colorful fluid acrylic pour. Is that correct?

 

[Soapprentice]

Not Steve, but here you go:

www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=42922
It's a monster thread, enjoy!!!

Thank you cherrycoke..

 

[earlene]

Re: CPOPing the cells, that's what I did and they came out fine. But my oven was only at about 144 Degrees Farenheit, so maybe that was the difference. I started mixing colors at emulsion and began pouring right away. The swirls remain intact just as when I poured them. They are very thin wafers, not at all thick like they would have been if I hadn't started mixing colors until reaching trace. As it was though, the base did thicken up quite a bit before I was done pouring it, which was also multiple colors, so it took a long time before I was done with it. But it turned out fine as well.

For this recipe I did use my SB for 2 VERY SHORT pulses at the start. Short like just one or two seconds. Then only a whisk. I don't think this recipe would ever reach false trace unless I soaped in a walk-in freezer. It's a dual lye Castile with 50% pomace and 50% regular OO.

 

[cherrycoke216]

Re: CPOPing the cells, that's what I did and they came out fine. But my oven was only at about 144 Degrees Farenheit, so maybe that was the difference. I started mixing colors at emulsion and began pouring right away. The swirls remain intact just as when I poured them. They are very thin wafers, not at all thick like they would have been if I hadn't started mixing colors until reaching trace. As it was though, the base did thicken up quite a bit before I was done pouring it, which was also multiple colors, so it took a long time before I was done with it. But it turned out fine as well.

For this recipe I did use my SB for 2 VERY SHORT pulses at the start. Short like just one or two seconds. Then only a whisk. I don't think this recipe would ever reach false trace unless I soaped in a walk-in freezer. It's a dual lye Castile with 50% pomace and 50% regular OO.

Earlene, since this is 100% olive oil batch, how are you manage to cut it before deadline? Though I know pomace trace faster, and you can do a 40% lye concentration, & CPOP to make it saponified quicker. But will it be dent by finger or wire cutter easily, or smudge the swirls?
Thanks in advance.

 

[SunRiseArts]

Steve next time you do, can you post pictures? I understand the basics, and thank you everyone, but I still messed up, my soap never harden .....

 

[kchaystack]

Thanks KC, I'll give it another go!

In the video, you change your original base ( with sky blue silicone mold ) and replace with a new base ( freezer or parchment paper ). You separate the second batch into two, the white and the colorful fluid acrylic pour. Is that correct?

Yes, but that was not the original plan.

See, it took so long for me to be able to remove my cells, that I was worried that the original bas I poured would not let the swirl layer adhere to it and seperate.

So I poured another base after my cells were ready so the base would still be soft and there would be less of a risk of separation. OF COURSE the second base I used a new FO, and it riced and accelerated like poop thru a goose . So the top was not smooth. That is why I poured the white - it was unscented so it filled in the crevices and smoothed the top.

So for that video I made 4 batches of soap. 0.0 I should have only had to do 2. One for the base and the cells, then one for the swirl.