Soaping clean up?

[dOttY]

Newbie noob question...

Is there any 'special' way we should clean up our utensils and soaping equipment when we're finished?

I've just been washing them up, separate to everything else, with a cloth designated to soaping.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Dotty, I normally leave them for 24 hours and then wash after it has all turned into soap as I don't like putting caustic and oils down the drain. Not good for your pipes or for our environment. :wink:

 

[dOttY]

Thanks for that.

I've read somewhere that you can neutralise everything with vinegar. But I've also read some place else that that information isn't true.

So I guess I'll leave it 24hrs in future

 

[Healinya]

Someone once shared a tip that I thought was brilliant. Use a towel to wipe everything clean before u wash them. Toss the towel in the laundry room and wash with the regular load the next day.

 

[Fullamoon]

I've found that those round, plastic scrubbies work great for cleaning up batter that sticks to the sides of mixing buckets and tools whether it's in batter form still or turned to soap.

 

[PrairieCraft]

I do the towel thing. With dedicated soaping towels that were cheap cheap. Wipe everything out/off with a towel so you can wash your equipment immediately and move on to the next batch. The next day (or later) you have a load of towels going in the wash (or whatever, if you're not picky about separating) throw your soap towels in. Bonus is that your laundry will smell like whatever lovely scent you soaped with.

 

[cp chick]

I set my equipment in a safe place for 24 hrs to let it harden into soap. The utensils and SB wand get washed as normal. The the pot and/or bowl gets scraped with a plastic scraper and the remnants kept for making laundry gel.

 

[DMCC]

I wipe down and clean everything with paper towels immediately after finishing. Next, I wash everything with hot, soapy water with vinegar added. I find this works great for me and I can keep the process moving.

 

[jennikate]

I let everythiing sit 24 hours and wash whatever dishes are hanging around at same time with the soap. I dont get to make soap as often i would like .

 

[dOttY]

Thank you everyone. I appreciate your input!

I think I'll go with the towel option.

 

[trishwosere]

Not having the luxury of a utility room, and also having a rather small kitchen, I can't leave my 'stuff' until the day after.I wipe everything with disposable kitchen paper and then wash the pots etc., in HOT water using sponges dedicated to soaping. I also cheat somewhat...I weigh the majority of my oils in disposable cups, this cuts down on my pot washing

 

[Bama]

Love the wiping with towels idea. I am going to do that when I get done tonite. I found some heart shaped molds that are the a great size for embeds. They are rubber so don't know if the batter will stick but am about to find out

 

[holly99]

I wipe everything down with a paper towel to get almost all of it off. I then soak my utensils in my lye container. I have the luxury of having my equipment out of the way until I'm ready to wash it up.

I did a little video if anyone is interested...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0sK4GxcK-g"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0sK4GxcK-g[/ame]

 

[Relle]

I do the same as BG and wash up the next day if not making more than one batch in a day.

 

[turbo]

Thanks for that.

I've read somewhere that you can neutralise everything with vinegar. But I've also read some place else that that information isn't true.

So I guess I'll leave it 24hrs in future

Yes this is quite possible. It does however take some different materials. I use hydrochloric acid and an indicator called bromophenol blue. When the bromo blue turns yellow, then the soaps are broken down to water and free fatty acids. it takes a few hours for the liquids to fully seperate. Not sure this will work for most people.

 

[Dragonkaz]

I have a recycling septic, called a biocycle ... that recycles all liquids that go down all drains in my house ... so I was quite concerned about what affect my soap making would have on it.

I mostly use the 'wipe and wait' method, but some soap goes down my sink drain and into my septic tank. I talked to the people who check the Ph of my septic every three months and they did a couple of extra checks at no charge. One check was on a Monday, following two days of soaping ... Ph was as good as it usually ... and the second check was on the Wednesday following a weekend of soaping ... and again the Ph was as good as expected. Phew ... and since those where done, my three monthly checks continue to be great.

I talked to the providers of my recycling septic and they think due to the small amount of soap (smaller amount of lye) going down my drains ... when cleaning up, there is no negative affect! Yah!

 

[dOttY]

We lived with my sister in law while we built our house. I remember she had a Bio-Cycle and we couldn't use this, and we couldn't use that...

Luckily your's is loving your soaping efforts Kaz!

 

[Dragonkaz]

I was told that by the company we first talked to about our biocycle, but by the time we bought it, it was more simple and although they had products to sell, they didn't do any hard sell.

While my hubby was dying, I got to know the two guys who do the Ph testing and they checked out what we used in our house and were amazed that we used so few cleaning products. I guess being brought up by a herbalist vet helped me to understand you don't need chemicals. So I've found having a biocycle has meant only a couple of changes ... and the main ones are things that people shouldn't do no matter what type of spetic they have!

 

[zajcek]

I wonder, if you do more than one batch is it need to clean tools after every batch?

 

[paillo]

i keep use of paper towels and disposables to a minimum in the be kind to our environment vein. been a fiend for scraping out as much as can and repurposing, but i love the dedicated towels to go in the next wash idea!