Old World Soap Making: Stirring

[Lyric]

We are working toward living somewhat like the Amish [the simplistic stuff] (oh how I wish I could hang with a family of them for one week); anywho . . . I stir soap, done retired my stick blender, KitchenAid, and Vitamix :mrgreen: here is what I would like to know . . . have you ever heard tell of stirring CP lye soap with an egg beater? Chemistry is not my thing so figured I'd inquire from knowing minds like yourselves. There may be something askew with using an egg beater that I have not thought of.

You see, the other day I wound up with lye pockets in a batch and my 4-1-1 stated it could have been due to my batch cooling off during the stirring. Of course, I stirred as long as I did because I had to wait for trace, duh.

Is there anyone here still stirring soap? Any thoughts on the matter?

TIA,

Lyric

 

[Genny]

I'd think that an egg beater would incorporate a lot of air into it. So you may end up with air bubbles.

 

[Hayley]

I stir soap, i think its best with a slotted spoon, but i hope to by a stick blender when i have the money. I have used a wooden spoon but the soap has been grainy and have had too much ash on top. Thanks to this forum i now know if you want to stir by hand then a stainless steel slotted spoon is the way to go.

 

[IrishLass]

I hand stir whenever I'm working with an ornery FO. Last night was one of those times. I hand stirred with a rubber spatula. I usually like to use a stainless slotted spoon or a whisk for the more frisky FOs, but neither were handy at the moment. I must say, though, that I think I like the slotted spoon better than the whisk. The 'slots' make for smooth, thorough mixing with less chance for air bubbles.

I have one of those hand powered egg beaters with the crank and I love it. I bet it would work great for making whipped soap- the kind of soap that that floats. I've never tried making them myself, but one of these days I'll get around to it. The pictures of them on that site look so cool. I wouldn't use the beaters for my regular soap, though (too many air bubbles).


IrishLass

 

[Lyric]

Oohhh okay, ladies . . . . ss, slotted, eh. Who knew??? Um, well, yaw'll knew, LOL. Ya don't realize how much you rely on a thing, for instance electricity, until you must do without it. If I had a dime for everytime I have said to myself lately, "Well, how did they do it back in the day?"

K, I'm off to find me a stainless steel slotted spoon. We've got plenty of plastic ones, :roll:, gotta find SS though.

Thanks gals, you are gems: uh huh, jade, diamond, opal and stuff.

 

[Lindy]

There is a group in California that make soap by using a pot over a fire and hand stirring it. They use a big paddle and are basically hot processing the soap. So that would allow you to make large batches and still using mostly old world methods.... I don't think I would want to make the lye (KOH)

 

[Maythorn]

I stick blend at the beginning lately. At light trace I quit because I want to try to get smoother soap.

 

[judymoody]

This does not answer the OP's question, but my new favorite tool is a SLOW second-hand Cuisinart stick blender that I got on ebay. It has a variable speed dial and stainless steel shaft and head. I keep it on one of the slower settings and it's perfect. I have plenty of time to divide, incorporate color and swirl. Not as slow as hand stirring but not three pulses and, voilá, medium trace either.