Tuesday 6 March 2018

First and last try at hot process soap


Recently on The Home Maker's Forum we had a challenge to make hot process soap which I have thought about making for quite a while but have put it off in case the soap ended up being really thick and lumpy like it can do when rebatching soap. However, I finally bit the bullet and gave it a go last week but decided that once was enough for me and that I would stick to cold process soap in the future :-)



Personally I can't see the benefits of choosing hot process over cold process apart from the fact that you don't have to wait as long for the HP to cure. I am happy to wait for mine though. I found the HP process time consuming as I had read a number of warnings about not leaving the crockpot as there could be a volcano. Yikes! However, no volcano appeared as I sat there drumming my fingers and waiting till the soap went through the various stages. 

There are some perfectly good videos out there on how to make HP soap that you can look at if you really want to try this method. I find that if I read too many instructions or watch too many YouTube videos I get confused as there are so many different ways that soapmakers make their soap so I just stuck to Valerie Mosher's YouTube video Low Temperature Hot Process Soap as well as the instructions in Jan Berry's Simple and Natural Soapmaking. 

I will note here how I made this soap just for future reference in case I ever forget how time consuming it was. LOL! The recipe I used was based on Jan Berry's 'Sunny Corn Silk and Sunflower Soap' in her new book. Here are the ingredients I used:

170g Coconut Oil
113g Lard
397g Olive Oil
113g Sunflower Oil
109g Lye
283g Water
1t      Annato red 
2T    Greek yoghurt

In Jan's book she recommends changing the amount of water given in nearly all of her recipes to 283g when using the HP method which I did.  The original recipe used 248g water. 

This is the process I used:

I added the lye to the water and waited till the temperature went down to 55C and heated up the oils to the same temperature. I think I turned the crockpot to low at this stage as I didn't want to put hot oils in a cold crockpot as I had cracked one doing that before. Then I added the lye mixture to the oils and tried to bring it to a thick trace as Valerie had in her video.




I had read that it would take longer than usual due to the extra water but it took so long that my stick blender was getting much too hot so I just took it to a medium trace. Then I carefully poured it into the crock pot and ...




...as recommended by Valerie I covered it with cling wrap which sat under the lid. I haven't used it for so long I had to try and find the box first. LOL! I was supposed to see some action after 20 minutes but nothing happened until at least 30 minutes and then there was some bubbling around the sides. Whohoo...action at last!



It is a bit hard to see through the cling wrap but then things really started moving...




... and after 50 minutes (Ho Hum) I saw the mixture rolling in on itself and then I had to watch for it to look like vaseline...




...was that vaseline? Not sure but a mashed potato appearance was also mentioned. I just pressed on regardless.


When I thought it was at the translucent stage and was ready I turned off the heat and then started stirring and stirring and stirring as Valerie does an awful lot of stirring in her instructions...



...before taking the bowl out of the base of the crock pot and adding 2T Greek Yoghurt followed once again by a lot more stirring. I think the yoghurt helps to keep the mixture more fluid as I know when I was rebatching soap in the crock pot it became extremely dried out and lumpy which made it hard to put into the moulds. Then I covered it again and left it for ten minutes. I was supposed to then take the 'zap test' which I didn't for obvious reasons and just added the heated fragrance oil. Apparently the additives are all supposed to be heated.


Here comes the really messy part as this batter is much harder to work with than what you have with the cold process method. I put some of the batter into a jug and added 1t Annato Red colouring. This is what is used to colour cheese.




Then I topped that with the plain batter and tried to smooth it out...unsuccessfully I might add. So what do you do when you have a fairly rough top...




...you cover it with calendula petals of course! Ha ha! I told you it was messy.




I then left it overnight as the soap was quite soft and I didn't want to disturb it. The next day it was dry enough to take out of the mould and cut. The plain top section is already darkening as there was 2.3% vanillin in the fragrance oil and I wonder if that process is speeded up by the hot process method. 

Valerie Mosher from Shalebrook Handcrafted Soap is quite an expert with hot process soap and makes lovely swirls etc. with hers as she is able to keep her batter quite liquid so has plenty of time to work with the colours. I just wanted to make a fairly plain batch for the first time as I could always experiment more later on but honestly, I don't think I will as it is much quicker to use the cold process method as far as I am concerned. I am not an expert soapmaker and that is just my opinion but I daresay there are plenty of readers out there who like the HP soap. 

So that is the first challenge of the year out of the way. I know there are a few readers who said they wanted to try making soap this year. Have you given it a try as yet? It is not that hard and the cold process method is quite easy. You don't have to add any colours or fragrances if you want to just make a plain soap and it is easier if you leave them out when starting off anyway. 

  Go on! I can't wait to see what you come up with. 








18 comments:

  1. No, I haven't tried as yet, Chel. Everything is here waiting for me to actually make it! Meg:)

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    Replies
    1. Go on, Meg. Just keep it plain and you will be fine.

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  2. Same here, I can't get it to look nice so what's the point! Great photos of the process though. And yours came out relatively nice for hot process :)

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    Replies
    1. Liz, I can't see the point either. Six weeks isn't that long to wait for soap to cure.

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  3. I couldn't be bothered with hot process soap, I just want to get it made. Yours turned out pretty good, I like the calendula on top.

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    Replies
    1. Me too, Karen. It took too long for my liking.

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  4. I quite enjoy making the cold process basic 4 ingredients batches, "if it ain't broke , don't fix it"
    Only had one batch fail, it was made in a heatwave and kept sweating for months, so grated it up and made laundry powder from it.

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    Replies
    1. Margaret I will stick to cold process in future. Life is too short after all :-)

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  5. Chel I chickened out of the HP method. I have decided there are so many pretty things we can do with plain old CP soap that this is what I will stick to. I think I currently have enough cured CP soap to last till the end of April and I have two batches still curing. We have a lot of lovely soap here.

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    Replies
    1. Jane, I will keep experimenting with differ cold process recipes in the future. I want to make a few more with veggies too.

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  6. I don't make CP or HP soaps. Just yet anyway. Maybe one day. Right now, I can buy them from a lovely local (South-East Qld, local - Hi Liz!) - for a decent price, if I buy in bulk. Which is awesome, because I like that she uses the traditional animal fat, as a large component.

    I don't have anything against making soap, at home, it's just not something I have a lot of time for. I've got too many irons in the fire, doing other things, lol. But, as always, I love reading about your process and the wonderful soaps you turn out. Is that a crinkle chip cutter, you've used to cut the soap? I'd love to see a post of all the different equipment you use. If you have the time for it. :)

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    Replies
    1. Chris I will do a post about equipment. Good suggestion. The last lot of soap had lard in it. I haven't made tallow as yet and I think that is what Liz adds to her soaps usually. The crinkle chip cutter came with a wooden box you use to cut soap made in a loaf mould that I bought recently..

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  7. looks like too much fart arsing around to me as well Nanna Chel, i'm still having problems with the CP method so no use trying the HP; i like "keep it simple stupid" & for me has to be simple & that's CP.
    & as usual your soap looks gorgeous! let us know how it feels when you use it
    thanx for sharing

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    Replies
    1. Selina, yes just stick to the CP till you get the hang of it. Practice makes perfect...I am still practising LOL!

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  8. I've made 3 batches now of the 4-ingredient cold process soap and it's been so incredibly foolproof for me that I wouldn't dare try anything else. Plus I do love the resulting soap and they cost up at a pittance each. My presentation leaves a little to be desired, though, so I could work on that! I'm a bit miserly when it comes to splashing out and buying moulds, so I got the neatest shape out of old milk cartons. Good on you for trying something fancy!

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  9. Hi Pipistrello. All my first batches were made with coconut oil, olive oil, lye and water until I got used to making soap. I picked up a few cheap silicone cake moulds along the way which make it easy to unmould the soap.

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  10. Fabulous photos and very instructive (is that a word?) post Chel, but I'll definitely be sticking to my old method now that I know how many extra steps are required. I echo the words of Pipistrello above, and use old milk cartons for moulds because I'm too miserly to spend on proper ones. ;-O

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  11. This is not for me either men either Chel I am happy to wait for soap to cure. I re-batched soap once and it came out horrible.

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