Soapers choice palm oil. Melt entirely?

[kbuska]

The label reads, melt entirely before using each the. How am I to melt 50lbs of palm each time I want to make a batch.

Any advice,
Ken

 

[ToniD]

Melt, stir well, divide into smaller containers. I freeze my small containers to take out one at a time.

 

[soap_rat]

And, you can melt it by putting the pail in your bathtub full of hot-hot water. Empty most of the water before you start removing the oil, as it will become tippy in the water as it empties. (Then clean the tub, in case it got slippery with a little oil!).

I just saw that they now carry a homogenized cube of palm oil. I'm getting that, next time!

 

[kbuska]

Any advice on small buckets with lids I could use?

Great tip on the bath tub. Thks

 

[Sunny]

They have great small multipurpose containers at home depot in the paint section. They are plastic and have lids. There are 2 different sizes at my home depot. They are $1 each or less (been a long time since I bought some, I don't remember but the price is not bad). I have found them to be pretty heavy duty and I use them for lots of things.

 

[xyxoxy]

I posted on craigslist for wide mouth plastic containers and someone offered me several large coffee containers from a big box store. They turned out to be exactly a gallon each and work perfectly for my scoopable oils.

 

[Soapy Gurl]

hmmmmm, where on the bucket does it say this? I have just been scooping this into smaller buckets and melting what I use. Why does it all have to be melted?

 

[xyxoxy]

Why does it all have to be melted?

It needs to be melted and blended well to prevent the stearic acid from separating and settling to the bottom. When that happens your batches will not be consistent and you can end up with white spots or other unexpected issues.

 

[Lynnz]

hmmmmm, where on the bucket does it say this? I have just been scooping this into smaller buckets and melting what I use. Why does it all have to be melted?

Ditto not that I use that brand but I just scoop out and melt with all the other oils I am using in a batch

 

[Bigmoose]

I do something different. I assume you are talking about the 50lb. bucket and what I do is loosen the lid on the bucket, put the bucket into a turkey fryer pot with some water in it and put it on my stove at the lowest possible heat setting, and give it a few hours to melt. Stir often when you can. Once it is completely melted I take the bucket into my basement where it is a little cooler and I put a very long handled SS spoon into the bucket. I stir every time I go by the bucket. For me it starts to thicken after 24 hours and is done after about 48 hours. Again I am stirring often. Stirring while it cools keeps everything mixed up good as it sets solid. Then I can just scoop and use it without melting each time. The color of the oil should be the same as you scoop the oil out. If it becomes darker in the center half of the bucket and lighter on the outer half of the bucket as you are scooping the oil out you did not stir enough as the oil was cooling and need to melt the oil down again. This has worked well for me and I hope it helps you.

Bruce

 

[carebear]

I used to do, more or less, what the moose does.

Now I buy the "no stir" (homogenized) palm oil - which as long as it doesn't melt in the box, is perfect.

 

[Moonblossom]

I use the cube from Soapers Choice it works great I just scoop it out with an ice cream scooper into a 1lb pail and use it from the pail and refill as needed.

 

[Deda]

Cube here, too.

 

[xyxoxy]

I don't make enough soap to order the 50# cube... yet. But I'm getting close.
How is that packaged and what happens to it in the summer months?

 

[carebear]

It's in a heavy duty plastic bag (or maybe double bagged) then stuffed into a square box. (Actually I assume the bag is in the box before it's filled, but anyway...)

During the summer it could melt in transit, which would un-do the "no stir" part and you'd be back to the regular palm oil issues.

 

[xyxoxy]

Thanks...
My hard oils melt somewhat in the summer in my soap room anyway even if they manage to arrive fairly solid. So I blend my Palm Oil very well and store it in a mini fridge in my soap room to avoid the separation. I'd have to come up with a better plan for a 50# cube (or a bigger fridge).

 

[Stinkydancer]

I scoop into smaller containers and melt what I use- I've never had an issue- when I did use that- I switched now to the cube. So much easier and soap does seem smoother with it.

 

[bluevervain]

Wow. This has been really interesting. I disregarded the label on the bucket that says "melt and pour before each use." I just take off the lid and scoop it out. I've made almost 100 lbs of of soap getting ready for xmas and it's all turned out beautifully. Of course, I haven't gotten to the bottom of the barrel yet, where I now know apparently all the stearic acid has settled. Hmmm...going to have to think of this because melting that whole buckt every time would be a huge pain in the butt.

 

[carebear]

you may have gotten lucky that the oil didn't separate in the bucket and it's fairly homogeneous. there are many soapers who don't melt and mix and get away with it.