What's the best way to clean my soaping containers and utensils? Should I wash up right away or let things dry and saponify first? How does soaping gradu treat the sink and pipes?
Washing tips?
- Thread starter GuacamoleSalad
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I wipe all my utensils and containers with a dry microfiber towel. Let them sit overnight and wash with dawn dish detergent.
I'm really afraid of gunking up the pipes, so I let everything sit for a couple of day until it is fully hardened/saponified and then I scrape as much as I can off into the trash and then wash the rest of with hot water, it's fairly easy to do that at this point because it's pretty much like normal soap.
AliensrReal
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I wash everything as I go with dawn dish soap.
dragonmaker
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I allow it to saponify first, then clean it off.
Thanks, all! @AliensrReal do you find washing as you go messes with the skin on your hands? Or are you wearing gloves?
AliensrReal
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I wear my gloves when washing.
Lion Of Judah
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I wait a day or two before I clean my tools, which allows me the satisfaction of seeing what type of lather I will get from my soaps later when they mature.
I do the microfiber towel trick, then wash with blue dawn immediately while wearing gloves.
Usually what I do as I am using up containers I will rinse it with hot water with my sink sprayer to get the majority off. Then spray it with dawn powerwash and let it sit until everything is in the mould and in the oven cpop. Then fill up the other sink with some water to rinse off the soap, then load into my dishwasher and select the normal and sanitize option.
Gets all the oil off for me without too much scrubbing. Also guilty of using throw away paper cups when I'm feeling lazy for splitting my batter to color and fragrance.
Gets all the oil off for me without too much scrubbing. Also guilty of using throw away paper cups when I'm feeling lazy for splitting my batter to color and fragrance.
After pouring my batter into molds, I will wipe dishes and utensils with newspapers. Then I let it all sit for 1-2 days to saponify and then run through the dishwasher.
I don't have the option of letting my utensils sit a day to saponify, and Mr. E is a plumber who gives me side-eye every time I soap. I also do 4-8 different batches per session, so... a lot.
I wipe down all of my containers, mixer and utensils after each use with blue mechanics towels (expensive, but worth the savings over paper towels). When I am done for the day, everything goes into a hot, soapy sink with Dawn for a final wipe down while I am still wearing gloves (I take this opportunity to use the sudsy water to wash my reusable gloves, too). Then, everything goes into the dishwasher, and I run the hot water for a good bit after, I'd say a solid 5 minutes.
According to Mr. E — the Nordic God Plumber — when you have an accidental grease insult to your plumbing (like accidentally pouring beef or bacon grease down the drain... or soaping for 12 hours straight
), the very best thing you can do for your pipes is to keep running the hottest possible water to keep the grease liquid, and run it all the way through the soil lines to the main, or septic. Now, this isn't advised, and grease is horrid for your septic, but it does help keep your soaping greases from clogging your soil lines like Elvis's arteries.
I wipe down all of my containers, mixer and utensils after each use with blue mechanics towels (expensive, but worth the savings over paper towels). When I am done for the day, everything goes into a hot, soapy sink with Dawn for a final wipe down while I am still wearing gloves (I take this opportunity to use the sudsy water to wash my reusable gloves, too). Then, everything goes into the dishwasher, and I run the hot water for a good bit after, I'd say a solid 5 minutes.
According to Mr. E — the Nordic God Plumber — when you have an accidental grease insult to your plumbing (like accidentally pouring beef or bacon grease down the drain... or soaping for 12 hours straight
), the very best thing you can do for your pipes is to keep running the hottest possible water to keep the grease liquid, and run it all the way through the soil lines to the main, or septic. Now, this isn't advised, and grease is horrid for your septic, but it does help keep your soaping greases from clogging your soil lines like Elvis's arteries.
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Thank you all, this is wonderful!
@GuacamoleSalad. I just wanted to chime in and say that like others here I use the microfiber towels just after making my soap and then clean with dish soap the next day. When I first started I just let everything sit overnight and while I try to get all the batter out of everything (I'm better at it now) there was enough that when I went to clean it the following day it wasn't fun (not that cleanup is ever fun!). Using the microfiber towels to wipe everything all down immediately afterwards seems to make cleanup the following day go much faster. Hope that helps!
Thanks, Michael, it does. Then do you put your microfiber towels in the washing machine as normal? How long do you wait before cleaning them?
@GuacamoleSalad, I wait until I have a small pile of microfiber towels and put it into the washing machine and run as a normal wash but with hot water. I wash them by themselves though I do sometimes add a regular bathroom towel for fun and notice after wash and dry it has some of the soap scents lingering on the towel (which actually smell nice and not overpowering).
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