Howdy folks! First off I'm apologizing for posting a day late, for any of you who are following this series. We had such a full day yesterday! Farmers market in the morning, being invited out to supper at a friend's, and fitting whatever else we could into the short hours of afternoon that we had at home with two very busy young children. Needless to say, those afternoon hours went by way too quickly and not a whole lot got done, including this post. But, this topic has been on my mind all week. So let's get to it!

We're going to talk this week about your equipment and the importance of various pieces. I'm talking about the equipment you'll need for making cold process soap. Again, since this is the kind of soap that I am most familiar with, that is what I'll be focusing on mostly, in our Soap Saturdays posts. Here's a list of equipment you'll need for cold process soap making:    

• Stainless steel bowls
• Stainless steel stock pot
• Bowl scrapers/Spatula
• Glass measuring cup
• 2 Thermometers
• Gloves
• Goggles
• Apron (opt.)
• Scale
• Stick Blender
• Clothes pin or chip clip

  Why Stainless Steel? You want to use stainless steel because soap making and using lye (sodium hydroxide) can be corrosive to other materials, and the stainless steel will last through years of soap making.  

Why Glass? It's also good to use a glass measuring cup when measuring the lye for the same reason that it is good to use stainless steel equipment. Glass will withstand many soap making sessions without corroding.    

 Why the Scale? The scale is probably the most important piece of equipment to use for a soap maker. To get batches of soap to turn out the same batch after batch, you need a scale for the precision of weighing out your ingredients right down to a fraction of an ounce. My scale will measure down to 1/8th of an ounce. You want a scale that will display pounds, ounces, fractions of an ounce, and grams.  

Why the Thermometer? The thermometer is for regulating your temperatures of both your oils/fats, and your lye/liquid mixtures. Having 2 thermometers is helpful, and you want the thermometers to go up to 220 degrees.  

 

Why the Gloves/Goggles/Apron? For protection. Gloves and goggles are mandatory, the apron is optional. While making soap it is really easy to splash it out of your pot, and so the goggles and gloves are very necessary to protect your eyes and hands. Never make soap without your goggles and gloves!    

 Why the Stick Blender? You don't want to use a regular hand mixer because it whips too much air into the soap, which could leave air bubbles in your finished product. A stick blender will properly mix the soap and not leave air bubbles (unless you make a small batch, say 5 bars).  You'll want a stick blender with at least 200 watts. A lesser wattage may burn out too easily (I should know. I burned through 3 stick blenders before I got one with more wattage, and now I've had that one for 5 years.).

Why the Clothes Pin/Chip Clip? There will be moments when having a clip to keep your bowl scraper/spatula upright on the side of your pot (opposed to falling into your soap) will be handy. I use my clip pretty much with every batch of soap I make, so I see it as a necessary part of my equipment.  

For you wanna-be soap makers out there, get busy this week scoping out these items and setting them aside for your future soap making endeavors!

If you want to see the previous posts in this series, you can check them out here:
-Soap Saturdays: Beginning of a Soap Maker
-Soap Saturdays: Processes to Make Soap