You Need The Right Tools To Make Homemade Soap
“Come and start to make homemade soap. Use the tools you have at home. Pick up one of our recipes and any extra ingredients you need from us. Its easy.” Such was the sales pitch from the shop person. She might be accurate as regards some people however for a great many others that would not be the case. It would depend on high tech their kitchens were. There are two tools which are essential to consistently making good soap: a thermometer and scales that are accurate to the gram or to 0.05 of an ounce.
You need a thermometer when you make homemade soap to accurately measure the temperatures when you add your ingredients for consistently successful batches. If you mix the lye into too cool an oil/fat mix then the solid fats and oils can go solid in a false trace. Or your soap may go grainy when the temperatures are too high or too low. If the lye or oils were too hot you might find chunks forming in your bowl while mixing. Successful soapmakers suggest this cannot be fixed and the mixture must be thrown out. So it is important you get a cooking thermometer that measures in the 60 to 140 degree Fahrenheit (100 – 200 degree Celcius) range. Some cooking thermometers only give higher ranges so check that you buy a thermometer that gives the lower ranges as well.
The second very important tool needed is an accurate set of scales that measure to very close tolerances. If you make homemade soap in small quantities (anything under 3 poiunds or 1.5 kg of oil) you need to have scales that will measure accurately to the gram or to 0.05 of the ounce as the lye quantity is very important. If your scales are not accurate enough you can end up with too much lye and it will leave you with little stings and a slimy bar if you persist in using the soap. If you have proportionately too much fat compared to lye you have a different problem. This soap can sometimes go moldy, growing fungus, or becoming smelly. So do make sure you have the right tools so you can get the proportions right when you make homemade soap.











