soapmaking without a stick blender

[azhang]

What other methods do you recommend? Stirring? Shaking? Blending? And how do you do it?:wtf:
And also, how would you recommend doing it without a digital scale? I have a cruddy kitchen scale with hands. wing it?
Also, where do you recommend looking for a scale/ blender? Garage sales? Thrift stores? Online?
Yes im a newbie

 

[grayceworks]

You can get a basic digital scale for about $10 at amazon or other online stores. when you're working with something as caustic as lye, you really need to be accurate or you will have unsafe soap.

You CAN get away with stirring with a whisk... but you will spend hours this way... A stick blender is about $12 - $18 online as well.

 

[haksaktiawan]

first time I made soap, I use analog kitchen scale so I had to use it very careful.
I made my recipe and I tried to get the 'numbers' are easy to measure using that kitchen scale. If I found a recipe using 101,87 grams of NaOH, I change and try made a recipe until I found 100 grams of NaOH. *It's always easier to using digital scale*

I don't have any stick blender, and I don't want to use my blender so I use my mom's hand mixer. It work's well and fast.

I've tried to mix my oils and lye with just using a whisk, but it looks like never reach trace forever. :crazy:

 

[Susie]

Go look at your local thrift stores. Goodwill, etc. Buy a stick blender. Get a crock pot while you are there. I spent $5 for a stick blender and a crock pot at my local store. If you live in a large enough area to have more than one, call them first. Be VERY nice, kind, friendly. You are going to want a good relationship with these folks. They are going to watch for you another one of each, and maybe a digital scale. I would not do without a digital scale.

Then make a trip to your local dollar store. There are quite a few soaping items you can get there.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYhH20vWxvc[/ame]

And you can almost make a whole batch of soap just by going there:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWnqXTqZTvU[/ame]

Making soap without a stick blender is not a good idea. You will be stirring forever.

The crock pot is for rebatching. You need a dedicated crock pot for soaping. And I warn you now, soaping is addictive. You will be making more than one batch, and you will make batches you will want to rebatch. Period.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

You can get a basic digital scale for about $10 at amazon or other online stores. when you're working with something as caustic as lye, you really need to be accurate or you will have unsafe soap.

You CAN get away with stirring with a whisk... but you will spend hours this way... A stick blender is about $12 - $18 online as well.

^^^^^this!

It does not cost much at all to get a scale and stick blender. It is very much worth it

 

[mintle]

I believe scale is absolutely necessary.
However, the first 3 soaps I have ever made in my life I stirred by hand, using wooden spoon. It is OK at the beginning if you just want to check if soap making is fun without investing a lot.
There is a certain reason why there were only 3 batches made in this ancient way and I bought the stick blender immediately after - it can be done but it is tiring and I remember that it took me from 40 to 60 minutes to reach the trace. And if you feel that soapmaking is gonna be your hobby or, even more - a job- just buy stick blender and save yourself from uneven muscle building from stirring with one hand only

 

[navigator9]

I just bought those same pitchers shown above, at my dollar store, and I got a back up stick blender at a discount store for $10. If I had to choose one item of equipment not to skimp on, it would be a scale. As stated above, measurements are VERY important in soapmaking. But for everything else, there are inexpensive ways to go.

 

[shunt2011]

I would not make soap without a good scale. It is important to have accurate measures with your lye and oils. Also, when I made my first batch I used a hand mixer with stainless blades and it still took forever. Went out and bought a stickblender and would never go back. If you make a recipe with more hard oils/butters you can certainly use a whisk as they seem to trace faster but if you have high olive content or soft oils it will take forever.

 

[Susie]

A digital scale is not optional. You can skimp on lots of other stuff, but a digital scale is not optional. I would not ever willingly go back to not using a stick blender, either. I could actually skip having a crock pot, but I would not be happy about it. So, if you need to conserve money, that is where I would start.

Don't forget that your lye mixing container needs to be either a stainless steel or a plastic with a 1 or a 5 in the little triangle.

 

[Seawolfe]

For safety's sake, get a decent digital scale.
For sanity's sake, get a stick blender. One of my imaginary friends did their first batch by handmixing and it took over an hour to trace and until it finally traced they were sure something was wrong and the batch almost got dumped.

 

[Relle]

Please if you try to make soap by the hand stirring method don't use a wooden spoon as small pieces could break off, use stainless steel or plastic.

 

[Susie]

For safety's sake, get a decent digital scale.
For sanity's sake, get a stick blender. One of my imaginary friends did their first batch by handmixing and it took over an hour to trace and until it finally traced they were sure something was wrong and the batch almost got dumped.

What Seawolfe said!

That imaginary friend was probably me.

I now own 3 stick blenders as my original one is old, and I found another one at the thrift store for $1. They say they normally can't sell them to people, so they save them for me. I will say again, be VERY nice to the people at the thrift store. I bring them soap, they save stick blenders for me. It works.

 

[DeeAnna]

You can use a blender to make small batches of soap -- about 1 lb (500 g). I have an acquaintance who runs a successful business in southern Minnesota making goat milk soap. Every batch she makes is done in a cheap household blender.

See: http://www.millennium-ark.net/News_Files/Soap/Blender_Soap.html
and: http://www.herbal-howto-guide.com/blender-soap-procedure.html

Small amounts of soap -- 100-200 grams -- can be shaken to trace in a heavy duty HDPE plastic bottle with a wide-mouth screw lid. (Don't use a glass container in case it slips and falls.) Larger amounts of soap are too heavy and bulky to shake together. This is how Kevin Dunn makes his soap batches in the laboratory.

All that said, a stick blender is so very nice to use!

 

[saffy]

With any scale you should check it is telling the truth in the range you use it - use something you know the correct weight of. They do go out of calibration so frequent checks are a sensible safety measure.

 

[Bettyjane]

Buy the best you can afford. As soon as I could I bought a professional digital scale. My next purchase was a professional immersion blender. Then I got lucky and went to a soapers yard sale and got an upland mold 30 lb, a log splitter and a easy up tent with sides for $75. Each. Somewhere in there I got a loaf cutter. Check restaurant supply places or restaurants that are closing for commercial grade equipment.

 

[seven8soap]

I say, don't skimp on the scale. Not worth lye heavy soap. I had one of those, it was barely lye heavy, but about 2-3 hours after I got out of the shower I had tiny bumps all over from the lye. zap tested fine, and I had used the FO before. Chucked 5 lbs of soaps... bleh. Anyhow, a whisk is fine. Hours, yes, but it works.