Stove Top Soap Making Method

These process notes are adapted from Rachel's recipe at Small Notebook.It is made on the stove top, then allowed to cool and set in a cardboard box.

Tools Needed
Stick Blender
Digital Scale
Stainless Steel Pot
Bowls (At least one needs to be stainless steel or pyrex, so it can withstand high heat. Use stainless steel, glass, or plastic for your bowls and spoons)
Stainless Steel Spoons
Thermometer (a candy or cooking thermometer)Soap Mold
Freezer Paper
Cardboard Box – large enough to cover the soap mold.
Large Bladed Knife
Glasses & Gloves
Long Sleeve Shirt

Method
Gather your ingredients and tools. Line your soap mold with freezer paper, shiny side to face the soap. Place your stainless steel pot on your digital scale, and measure your solid oils into your pot. (Coconut oil, palm oil, and shea butter are solid at room temperature.) Use the tare button on your scale as you add each one. After you’ve measured the solid oils, warm the pot over low heat for the solid oils to melt.

Measure your lye (sodium hydroxide) carefully into a bowl. It’s poison, people. Measure your water. Pour your water into a heat-resistant bowl. Then pour your lye into the bowl of water. Stir. It will have a chemical reaction, giving off fumes and heat. After a minute or two the water will turn clear. Use hot pads if you pick up the bowl. I wore glasses as a safety precaution. It would have been a good idea to wear rubber gloves, too. I went outside to do this, assuming there would be a lot of fumes. It wasn’t too bad, maybe because I was working with a small batch. Next time I will stay inside, and not risk spilling it by carrying it around.

Measure your liquid oils into a separate bowl. Once the solid oils are melted, add the liquid oils to the pot. Turn the stove burner off, it’s probably hot enough. You want the oils to reach about 110F.

To help the lye solution cool down, put it in a sink of cold water. Check the temperature of the lye solution. You want it to be around 110F, but it doesn’t have to be exact. Once the lye solution is cooled, pour it slowly into the pot. Blend with the stick blender until it looks smooth.
Blend with the stick blender. Every now and then leave the blender off and just stir with it. Alternate blending and stirring. Be careful not to raise the blender up so that it would stir in air bubbles. Next time I will use a pot that is deeper and not as wide, so I won’t have to be so careful about that.

It will start to look dull on the surface and thinly coat the blender while having the consistency of pancake batter. This is called “trace”. Fragrances and colors would be added at this point, but since this is a beginner process, we’ll skip those for now. Pour the soap into the mold before it gets too thick.

Put your mold inside a cardboard box, put the lid on it, and then covered it with a towel to keep it warm. I’ll find out later that I probably didn’t need the towel. The cardboard box covering it should be enough.

Once the soap is hard and opaque. It’s ready to cut. Lift the soap out of the mold, and peel off the freezer paper. Use a knife to score the soap where you plan to cut it.

Line the bars of soap in rows in the cardboard box so they can dry and age. The box keeps the soap away from drafts, but it shouldn’t be air tight. Allow the soap to age for 4 weeks before use.