Stick blender or not?

[paillo]

I don't remember the last time I used my stick blender. Instead I use a really good whisk with at least 24 blades (sorry, trying to count made me dizzy). I use a lot of additives in my liquid (milk, salt, sugar, clay, silk) and getting to trace doesn't take much time even without any accelerators.

I love my whisk, and am down to recipes that don't leave spots, pockets, bubbles or other. But would love to hear from those who swear by their stick blenders, I could be convinced

 

[topofmurrayhill]

I don't remember the last time I used my stick blender. Instead I use a really good whisk with at least 24 blades (sorry, trying to count made me dizzy). I use a lot of additives in my liquid (milk, salt, sugar, clay, silk) and getting to trace doesn't take much time even without any accelerators.

I love my whisk, and am down to recipes that don't leave spots, pockets, bubbles or other. But would love to hear from those who swear by their stick blenders, I could be convinced

I'm with you. I have very little use for a stick blender. It's good for soup, mostly.

 

[Susie]

I use my stickblender every last time. Just could not do without it. But I make high lard (slow trace) soaps mostly.

 

[penelopejane]

I don't remember the last time I used my stick blender. Instead I use a really good whisk with at least 24 blades (sorry, trying to count made me dizzy). I use a lot of additives in my liquid (milk, salt, sugar, clay, silk) and getting to trace doesn't take much time even without any accelerators.

I love my whisk, and am down to recipes that don't leave spots, pockets, bubbles or other. But would love to hear from those who swear by their stick blenders, I could be convinced

I SB all my oils and additives together (melted hard oils, oils, honey, GM) then I add my lye and only SB to emulsion. Then I mix by hand. So if I am doing two colours it is all by hand.

I have to say though that, for me, Castile is a bit more forgiving of SBing than my other mixes.

 

[MsHarryWinston]

Hmmmm I like my stick blender. I use goat milk powder and only wet it enough to be a thick paste, so I trust my stick blender to spread it through my soap batter. When coloring my soap I use a silicone spoon to slow down trace though. (Learned that after a couple of batches lol). I save my whisk for mixing my lye water.

 

[nframe]

I don't remember the last time I used my stick blender. Instead I use a really good whisk with at least 24 blades (sorry, trying to count made me dizzy). I use a lot of additives in my liquid (milk, salt, sugar, clay, silk) and getting to trace doesn't take much time even without any accelerators.

That's interesting. Where did you get your whisk? What size is it?

 

[shunt2011]

I too can't imagine not using my SB. I use it to mix my additives into my oils well. I don't stickblend a lot once the lye has been added, maybe a burst or two or three then mostly hand stir. I also give my mix with colors a quick hit and then stir with either my silicone spoon or whisk.

 

[MySoapyHeart]

No stick-blender, no soap for me:mrgreen:
Making Castille soap without a stickblender.. I would just die, lol. But then again I struggle with healt issues that makes me not be able to stand for longer periods of time, or use my arms too much so the stickblender helps me be more "effective".
I love lard in soaps, and I notice it takes a lot of time to get the trace I want.

But on the other hand, it is good to know it is possible to make soap without one!

Btw, now I got curious what your 24 blade whisk look like

 

[navigator9]

Use whatever gives you good results. For you a whisk, for me stick blender. The great thing about soap is there are many paths to the same destination. No matter what ingredients, techniques or tools you use, the goal is great soap, so use whatever gets you there. If the whisk is working for you, no matter how dizzy counting the blades makes you, go with it!

 

[cinnamaldehyde]

I'm in the stick blender camp until I get *close* to trace, then I switch out for my silicone whisk so that I don't overdo it and get all my additives in before things thicken up too much.

Seems to work well for me, but as someone else already said, YMMV.

 

[paillo]

I use the one on the right. It's an OXO, stainless that hasn't rusted in over two years of frequent use. The middle one I use for cooking. The one on the left is a worthless grocery store one, supposed be stainless but these rust within a couple of months.

 

[HoneyLady]

What Susie said! I use my SB to ensure emulsion, and whisk in FOs. What ever is working for you is the right way to do it!

The trick is to use whatever works for you consistently and well. I don't seem to emulsify as evenly with a whisk. Some are prone to over-blending with SBs. Sometimes it depends on your recipe, and whether you are using additives, colors, or making swirls.

Hey, Susie, where in the Republic are you? I'm just south of I-10, about halfway between SA and HOU. About 60 miles due north of Victoria. Are we neighbors?

~HL~

 

[dixiedragon]

I'm with Susie. I worship at the altar of the Stick Blender. I've never tried a whisk.

 

[topofmurrayhill]

I use the one on the right. It's an OXO, stainless that hasn't rusted in over two years of frequent use. The middle one I use for cooking. The one on the left is a worthless grocery store one, supposed be stainless but these rust within a couple of months.

I like the plastic or silicone-coated ones, because of paranoia. A bit of rust would plant the seeds of DOS. It's good to know the OXO is of good quality.

I certainly use the stick blender for castile soap, but that doesn't come up very often. Crafters started doing all sorts of soft oil recipes, and newbies in particular became hypnotized by Soapcalc numbers, so stick blending at room temperature took off. Now people almost don't know when it's best to put the blender down.

 

[Steve85569]

SB.
Spoon for FO's.
I have a whisk for soaping but I don't need to clean it very often.

 

[IrishLass]

I use whichever implement works best for whatever I'm doing at the time. For some batches, I only use a whisk; for others only a spatula; for yet others only a stick-blender; and then there are the times that I use all 3 at varying points throughout making a batch.

When I use my stick-blender, I would guestimate that 98% of the time it's only for a few short bursts here and there to evenly disperse powdered colorants and/or other additives into the oils/batter, while the other 2% is to encourage the occasional, excessively slow mover to get a move-on. That's probably why my cheapie Hamilton Beach stick-blender has lasted me all these 10 years of soaping without burning out yet.


IrishLass

 

[navigator9]

I should have mentioned that after I stick blend to emulsion, I take my silicone spatula and scrape down the sides and bottom of the pot and stir well with the spatula. From my personal observations, while I think that the SB does a good job of bringing soap batter to emulsion or trace, I don't think the SB alone can mix all areas of the batter in the pot thoroughly and evenly. I used to frequently get streaks in my soap, but since scraping and stirring with the spatula, that doesn't happen any more. I don't know how much better or worse a whisk can get all ingredients blended, but since most of us use a spatula to get all of our batter out of the pot, it only takes a few seconds to scrape and mix, and if anyone routinely gets streaky soap, this may solve your problem. Just a thought.