Proper Equipment

[Soapy J]

Some of you guys may have seen my "First Batch" thread where over the past week where I planned and put together my first batch of CP with the generous help of the folks here. I had a few things pop up in making my first batch that I wasn't expecting from my reading and I'm sure are things that you guys may have ran in to as well. One, I went the cheap route on equipment. Being a newbie I didn't want to nor would my wife allow me to make an investment in to high end stick blenders or scales. So I found my scale (Biggest Loser from Walmart) only reading out the tenth of an ounce... not exactly as precise as I'd like. Next, my stick blender (Big Boss from Walmart) seemed to get a little too warm on my hand once light trace was achieved. I didn't want to burn the thing up on it's first use so I backed it down a notch and simply used it to stir and intermittently cut it on for a bit to speed things up.

I can live with those two for now, I'll just need to be careful with that scale as it pertains to lye. What I was more concerned about (in making my batch difficult) was that I used clean jars we had lying around to weigh my oils out in to. My batch was a little over 2 pounds of oil so my 5% Castor was around 2 ounces. How do you guys measure this small amount out to ensure that you get the most oil out of your measured container? The smallest jar I had just wasn't small enough and it was very difficult to get the oil out of the jar completely without holding it upside down over the mixing pot for what seemed to be forever. I've seen the small silicone molds that I could probably use to weigh and pour but I'd rather not spend money if I don't have to. Something lying around the house would be great (FREE!!!)

Thanks for the help. I'll keep searching for the majority of my answers but do appreciate all of the feedback.

J

 

[neeners]

hi! I live in the tropics where it's hard to find the right equipment, and when you think you have what you need, it's WAY expensive.

i'm still fairly new, have about 10 or so batches of soap under my belt, and this is what I've found:

so what I've done with lived with the crap stick blender. as for weighing out my lye, I use grams instead of ounces since it's more accurate (I do it to the nearest gram, rounded down if there's a decimal on soapcalc). I print off my soapcalc sheet, and pour all the oils into my mixing vessel at once and then checking them off the list so I don't miss anything. that way too, I don't lose any oils in separate containers. plus, i'm lazy, so the least amount of containers I have to wash, the better!

hope that helps.....

 

[Soapy J]

This helps a ton thank you so much.

J

 

[tryanything]

I use plastic containers I got from the hardware store for a few dollars each. I measure my oils in one container and lye water in another. I bought a set of spatulas specifically for soaping and I scrape the sides of the containers when dumping them into my main pot. You can also get a mitre box at the hardware store for cutting soap.


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[greenmountainwife]

I use quart sized yogurt containers for measuring my oils, and scrape with a cheap spatula to make sure all the oil is out.


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[boyago]

Hey J, Neeners is right on about the grams. Your oils of small amounts will flow a little better when they are warm so if they are not warm them or the container and they should flow out okay. It's good to be as accurate as possible but the last time I put a small jar back on the scale after pouring I live it read 1g so I wouldn't worry that you will throw anything off.
I'm on a pretty limited budget and find thrift stores to be a save for allot of soaping soap. Just picked up a spare stick blender for $4 at goodwill that worked great on my last batch.
For molds I started out using quart sized milk cartons and just tore them off the soap when it was hard enough. Now I mostly use gutter down spouts that give a nice shape to my bars (Lowe's for about 3 bucks). The 12" extenders you can get are good for about two pounds of soap, or if you like round soaps you can go with PVC pipe.

 

[neeners]

oh! I was home recently (Toronto), and I bought a bamboo organizer that's now my soap mold. it looks like this:

the slots come out, so you can dictate how big the batches are. the mold isn't very tall, but it works. I bought it for $6 at Homesense.

2nd hand stores are a great place to find mixing bowls!

oh, I have plastic measuring bowls - one for lye water, one for oils and one spare one in case I feel artsy....

 

[Soapy J]

My next batch will go much smoother thanks to you guys! Not sure when the next batch will be but I do feel the *itch* for purchasing some EO/FO's to add to my recipe...

 

[dixiedragon]

I use a scale I got from Bed Bath and Beyond. Get one of their 20% off coupons. Mine actually annoys me a bit b/c rather than doing 10ths of an ounce (.1, .2, etc) it does fractions. 1/8 (the smallest measurement) = .125, so I just keep that in mind when I'm measuring.

Stick blender - I don't stick-blend constantly. I do what you do - zap it for a few seconds, then stir. I have had 2 die over the years. Keep an out out at Goodwill, etc. I think I have 4 now - 3 for soap (cheapo Goodwill ones) and one for food (nicer one).

Measuring - How much does your scale hold? I put my soap pot right on the scale and pour my oils into the pot. That way I don't have to use another container.

You can also get a small glass measuring container. I have one I got at big lots that looks like a shot glass, but it has ounces marked on the side. I use it for my FOs (I do them by volume, not weight. IMO, the difference in that area is very small). I also have a plethora of silicone spatulas that i use to squeege out the oil from the containers. Don't get these at the dollar tree - you can get them for pretty cheap at Big Lots, etc. Again, it's a good idea to have some for food and some for soap.

 

[pamielynn]

Walmart carries wide-mouth plastic measuring cups for liquids. Less than a buck apiece. I bought 10 of them and use them for measuring and mixing lye, oils and for splitting batches when I want to use different colors. They are awesome and cheap. Plus they sell great silicone spatulas for about $1 each.

 

[roseb]

I made my own wooden molds for about $5 a piece. My mixing bowls and crockpot all came from Goodwill. Stainless steel pot, whisk & silicone spatulas from Big Lots. Big ticket items were my stick blender and scale, and those I didn't cheap out on. But I can assure you...you will be using these more than a couple of times. This hobby is addicting!

 

[Soapy J]

My scale goes up to 11 pounds if I'm not mistaken and can also switch over to grams so I will probably make that adjustment since it's only measuring to the tenth of an ounce. I picked up an old crockpot at a yard sale that I used to mix in. I wonder how much the pot weighs? Will have to give it a weigh when I get home to see. Otherwise my wife may find a mixing bowl missing come holiday baking time!!!! Walmart had great cheap silicone spatulas (2 for 1$) and bread pan was less than a dollar as well so I grabbed those on Saturday.

On the addicting hobby... I catch myself going and looking at the soap like it's going to make it cure any faster and every time I do I feel like I'm probably going to be making another batch soon. I've thought about HP'ing the same recipe just to see how different the two turn out...

 

[boyago]

On the addicting hobby... I catch myself going and looking at the soap like it's going to make it cure any faster and every time I do I feel like I'm probably going to be making another batch soon. I've thought about HP'ing the same recipe just to see how different the two turn out...

The only thing I have found that helps keep me from messing with my soap that I know I should leave alone is to make more soap. this has led me to sit on about 20 lbs of curing soap for personal use/gifting. I have now learned to make smaller batches as well as I'm still new and some of the batches are coming out with too many should ofs.

 

[neeners]

The only thing I have found that helps keep me from messing with my soap that I know I should leave alone is to make more soap. this has led me to sit on about 20 lbs of curing soap for personal use/gifting. I have now learned to make smaller batches as well as I'm still new and some of the batches are coming out with too many should ofs.

yes, that's what I do too. just keep soaping...... except, now I've run out of space to house my soaps that are done curing.... and the bf is giving me the "seriously? you're going to make MORE soap?" face.

worse thing now too is I have a surplus of goats milk in the freezer just WAITING for me to soap with. I have warned him that I will be making some more Christmas soaps tonight. it'll be nice when Christmas comes around so I can get rid of some of my stash and I can start again! LOL

 

[dixiedragon]

Probably the best ever tip I got as a new soaper - keep your scale in a ziploc bag. That way, you don't have to worry about lye, oil, soap, etc damaging you scale.

 

[boyago]

I have warned him that I will be making some more Christmas soaps tonight. it'll be nice when Christmas comes around so I can get rid of some of my stash and I can start again! LOL

Yeah I just thinned the herd with some packages to fam and friends with notes saying not to get too excited since they will get pretty much the same thing for xmass.

 

[AshPea]

For my first batch I used a shoe box lined with wax paper (couldn't find freezer paper at the time and I wouldn't use wax again, I had to tear off pieces from the finished soap). Now I'm using a 4" silicone mold that makes 1 lb of soap which requires no lining. That was $9 from brambleberry. I use polypropylene plastic bowls which I've had forever in my kitchen and decided to use for soap only. If you use plastic over glass, make sure the plastic is polypropylene, it'll have a 5 inside a triangle made of arrows somewhere on the plastic. Also I use a cheap plastic flexible spatula for scraping all the oils from the bowls. My scale is one I bought for culinary school and it only goes to a tenth and it works just fine for me. I don't plan on trading up unless I decide to start selling soap


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[Soapy J]

Well. I cut this wonderful first ever batch of soap tonight and found one other piece of equipment I will be changing eventually... The cutter! I used a 6" putty knife and it left drag marks all over the soap (soap was sticky). These soaps are for us around the house so I shouldn't be upset about it but the perfectionist inside of me says I blew it... I've got a guitar that needs new strings so it looks like a weekend project may be in the works soon.

On a side note, I also had some discoloration on the soap in somewhat of a swirl pattern. I'm thinking maybe partial gel? I've seen some pictures and descriptions but most of those are in circles, not like mine. I posted pictures in my original feedback thread but here is one if anybody is wondering.

 

[Ancel]

Number 2 and 5 plastics are safe for lye, and so many food containers are one or the other, many take away containers too, just check the number in the triangle on the bottom. I use one container for all my oils, less cleaning up. You could also use old oil containers too, you don't really need to buy new stuff. The $1 spatulas are a great idea, I always scrape out the measuring cup with a spatula.

 

[Lindy]

I use pails from Rona (Hardware store) for mixing in as well as recycled oil pails from my supplies. I have plastic (propylene) measuring cups for my lye as well as for mixing my colours in. They work well.