Soap making is a skill that requires some training. Although you can read a few blog post like this or watch a few videos and catch on there are some things you do need to be aware of. Having said that making hot process soap is pretty straight forward.
The short how to of making soap using the hot processed method is to Combine vegetable or animal based fats with lye dissolved into water called lye water, keep a constant heat to the mixture until the formation of the soap then pour this combined mixture into a mold and let it solidify into soap.
How difficult is it to make hot process soap?
Soap making has not changed much since archaeologist found a tablet with an inscription for the recipe to make soap dated at over 2800 BC. The recipe is still the same today. Fats or oils mixed with an alkali makes soap. The process to do this however has evolved and the beautification of a bar of soap has been next level.
Making hot processed soap requires and external heat to keep the soap mixture at a or above a certain temperature. This constant heat will help turn fats or oils into soap with the aide of an alkali compound. We will discuss how you can make hot process soap at home
Is hot process soap making that simple?
Okay maybe it is a little bit more complicated than that but ultimately that’s exactly what it takes to make soap using the hot process soap making technique.
Patience is needed when making hot processed soap and a bit of consistency of watching the mixture as it goes through its various phases of converting to actual soap.
Lets take a look at what it takes to make cold process soap.
Table of Contents for hot process soap
- Recipe
- Equipment
- Ingredients
- Instructions
Recipe On How To Make hot process soap
There are so many different types of soap you can make from home. If you’ve never made homemade soap before then here is a step-by-step guide for beginners. I’ll give you a list of the equipment and ingredients that you will need as well as an easy to follow recipe. This recipe is for an herbal soap.
Equipment
- Immersion or stick blender
- Jug for lye solution (has to be heat-resistant)
- Pan for melting the solid oil
- Scale (digital is best)
- Crockpot
- Thermometer
- Small strainer
- Spatula (rubber one)
- Measuring spoons
- Loaf mold (silicone 28 ounces)
- Rubber gloves
- Eye protection
Ingredients:
- OILS (solid):
- Mango butter (1.41 ounces)
- Coconut oil (7.05 ounces)
- OILS (liquid):
- Olive oil (16.93 ounces)
- Castor oil (1.41 ounces)
- LYE SOLUTION
- Sodium hydroxide (lye – 3.94 ounces)
- Distilled water (10.19 ounces)
ALSO NEEDED
- Mango butter (1.41 ounces for a super fat)
- Grapefruit essential oil (6 teaspoons)
- Yogurt ( 1 tablespoon)
- Mixing bowl
- Heat tempered measuring cups
- Silicone Spatula
- Prep time: 30 minutes
- Cooking time: 45 minutes
- Cooling time: 12 hours
- TOTAL TIME: 13 hours 15 minutes
- Your curing time (if you choose to do so): 1 to 2 weeks
Instructions
Make sure you have a clean work space.
Put all of your equipment and ingredients within your reach. Make sure you wear gloves, closed in shoes, long sleeves, and eye protection. Make sure all children and pets are kept out of your work space.
Turn your crockpot on high.
Measure out all ingredients:
- Put solid oils into a melting pan.
- Pour distilled water into a jug.
- Pour lye into the heat-resistant jug)
- The essential oil can be poured into a small baking dish.
- Yogurt goes into another baking dish.
- Mango butter for super fat goes into a third baking dish.
Making the lye solution
- Make sure your gloves and eye protection are on. Mixing the lye solution should be done in a well ventilated area and do not breathe in the steam from it.
- Pour distilled water into a heat-resistant jug then add lye (sodium hydroxide) and mix well. Be careful, it should be extremely hot. Fill sink with a little cold water, set the jug in it to cool to 120 degrees.
Melting the solid oils:
Place pan of solid oils on the stove and melt at the lowest possible heat setting. Do NOT leave it unattended, it will melt quickly. After it is melted, take the pan off of the heat and move it to a dish towel or potholder. Stir with your spatula to ensure all of the oil is melted.
Pour melted oil into the crockpot. To cut down on the amount of air bubbles, hold a clean spatula over the crockpot and pour the melted oil over the spatula. Do this with each ingredient that you pour into the crockpot.
Adding in the liquid oils:
- Pour the liquid oils over the spatula and into the crockpot and mix gently.
- Test the temperature . It needs to be the same as your lye solution, 120 degrees.
- When oils are at the appropriate temperature, hold the strainer over the crockpot and pour in the lye solution.
- Place the head of the stick blender in the oil at an angle. Mix gently, using the stick blender like a spoon, until all ingredients starts to get thick.
- Move the blender to the middle of the crockpot and hold it on the bottom pulsing for a few seconds then stir gently. Keep repeating this process until the soap batter thickens to the consistency of pudding.
Time to cook the soap. Hot process method
- Set your crockpot to low.
- Scrape all of the soap from around the edges of your crockpot into the mixture at the bottom to prevent it from hardening. Put the lid on and cook for thirty minutes. By putting the lid on your crockpot it holds in the moisture.
- During this thirty minutes of cooking time the texture of the batter will change. The soap on the outer edges will turn shiny while the soap in the middle will look creamier. Your goal is to have all the soap with that shiny look.
- When your thirty minutes are up, do not open the lid, look through the glass top of the crockpot, if the soap batter still looks creamy, cook it for another fifteen minutes.
- When all of the soap has that shiny look to it, turn your crockpot off. Take the inner pot and set it on a dish towel or potholder. Stir the edges and bring it down to the batter in the center but do not bring any of the crusty edges down in the soap batter.
- Use your thermometer and check the temperature. You need the batter to be a little under 180 degrees.
- Make sure to keep the lid on your pot while the soap batter is cooling down to the desired temperature to ensure that it holds in the moisture.
- As the soap is cooling down, melt your mango butter for the super fat in a pan.
Mixing time:
- When the temperature is right and your mango butter is melted, stir the mango butter, yogurt, and grapefruit essential oil together. Mix completely but gently.
- Spoon soap from the crockpot to the loaf mold while it’s still in liquid form. Tapping the mold between each spoonful to level and settle the soap and to cut down on the amount of air bubbles.
- Put the mold where it won’t be disturbed and can cool for the next twelve hours.
- Once the soap has cooled for the mandatory time, it is ready for you to cut into whatever size bars you desire.
- The soap can be used immediately but for the best results, let it cure for a week or so. To do this, place your soap bars on wax or freezer paper to dry out. However, do not put it in direct sunlight.After the soap has cured you can use it or gift wrap it for presents. Either way, make sure it’s stored in a ventilated area until you use it.
- This soap does have a shelf life expectancy. Check for the “best by” dates on all of the ingredients that you used. Whichever date is the closest is the shelf life of your soap.
WARNING:
Keep in mind to always check the temperatures of your oils and lye solution as instructed in these steps. Overheating the soap batter can cause a volcano effect, overflowing out of your crockpot. Also, if the soap batter is too hot when poured into the silicone mold it can cause cracks or an undesirable look to your soap.