Teach Soap

HI all,
I'm making enough soap that I bought my palm oil in a 35 lb bucket. However, I realized that you're supposed to heat up and mix the palm before every batch to distribute ... Forgot what it's called! But the part of palm that makes bars hard falls to the bottom as it cools. So--heating and mixing is easy to do in a bag, not so easy in a 35 lb bucket. I've read that people dig a cylinder through the middle, and scoop along the edges to get some of each layer. What do you all do?

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

It is better to melt all of it, stir really well, then redistribute into smaller containers. If you get too much stearic (like from the bottom of the bucket), it will make your soap seize. Do you have a heating blanket that you could use?

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I actually have something better: I have a "belt" that heats up. It's normally used to warm the same size buckets of honey after they have crystallized. I'm prepping for a fair now, and liquifying honey, which is what made me think of it. I plug it into a rheostat to keep the heat down--I really like to warm my honey gently rather than quickly, so I could warm a bucket of palm oil the same way, I'm sure. That's a link to the bucket warmer I have, if others are interested.

What sort of small containers do you use? I'm thinking things that fit in the microwave, but are heat safe for oils.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

So am I understanding this correctly....I should heat up my palm oil before evry use?

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Debbie

Heat up and squish around to mix it (assuming you have yours in the microwavable/boilable bag from BB).

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I bought some plastic paint buckets from Lowes. They are big enough to be useful, but small enough to fit in my microwave. It comes with a metal handle, but I was able to cut the plastic where the handle is and removed it.

I live in Florida, so my last bucket of Palm oil was nearly all melted when I got it. I just stirred (need a longer spoon next time ) and divided it into my smaller containers.

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I do not recall reading about this anywhere but here in this thread. What happens if I have not done that and have used the palm oil already in a few soap batches?

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Debbie

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

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Debbie

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I've been buying the palm oil in 7 Lb. Buckets. Do I need to melt it all and put in smaller containers?

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

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Debbie

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.