Stick blender questions

[Janis James]

Hello!
I have a couple of questions regarding stick blenders. At what speed do you generally blend your soaps...medium or fast? Also about how long does it take for you to achieve light trace? I make cold processed goat milk soap no added water and pour into Milky Way individual molds and their tray molds. Thanks in advance. Happy soaping!

 

[AliensrReal]

What do you mean by no water added?

I would certainly start with the lowest setting and only do 2-3 second bursts at a time. It’s very easy to over do it. I blend to get to emulsion and that’s it. I’m rarely using my stick blender these days. I’ll hand stir until emulsion unless I’m tired or it is my swirl recipe.

 

[Janis James]

What do you mean by no water added?

I would certainly start with the lowest setting and only do 2-3 second bursts at a time. It’s very easy to over do it. I blend to get to emulsion and that’s it. I’m rarely using my stick blender these days. I’ll hand stir until emulsion unless I’m tired or it is my swirl recipe.

I mean all goat milk as liquid. No water added to goat milk. Some goat milk soap recipes have goat milk and water

 

[KiwiMoose]

It depends how big your batch is. If you are making a smallish (1kg of oils) batch, I would do as @AliensrReal has said. Lowest setting, 2-3 second bursts while 'stirring' the mix. Overall about 2 minutes of this will be enough to emulsify your oils and milk. It will depend on the types of oils/fats you are using as some will emulsify faster than others. But it's not like on the you tube videos where they mix for what seems like 5 - 10 minutes.

 

[Janis James]

It depends how big your batch is. If you are making a smallish (1kg of oils) batch, I would do as @AliensrReal has said. Lowest setting, 2-3 second bursts while 'stirring' the mix. Overall about 2 minutes of this will be enough to emulsify your oils and milk. It will depend on the types of oils/fats you are using as some will emulsify faster than others. But it's not like on the you tube videos where they mix for what seems like 5 - 10 minutes.

I do a 3 lb batch at a time.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I do a 3 lb batch at a time.

Yup - so 1.5 kilos approx would still be about the same

 

[MelissaG]

I've found that the higher the speed, the more bubbles. So lower speeds at burst is better.You won't need much to emulsify.

 

[Zing]

Ditto to all the above. My stick blender likes to bring out its spoon side most of the time with the rare 3-second burst. I stir for like 3 minutes to emulsion or light trace.

 

[Feelin' Soapy]

Just something odd about different SBs: I replaced my old Chefman SB with a Braun. The Braun has a very shallow bell, and I'm finding it blends much slower than my old one that had a deep bell. Less risk of over-blending.

 

[Jennie V]

Agreed re the deep vs. shallow bell of the stick blender! I have one SB that just annihilates everything in its path with one pulse because it has a deeper bell. I just realized this was the reason. BTW, even though I feel like I have been doing this for a while, I'm so glad you asked this question and I am so glad to hear the answers.

 

[Tammyfarms]

Interesting about the bell shape. I have an old Braun SB that I have been using since I started soaping. It takes quite a while for my recipes to get to trace. I figured it was my recipe which is 55% lard, 20% coconut, 20% olive and 5% castor. Now I’m thinking it’s my stick blender. That’s actually quite comforting.