| Lately, we have had many phone calls and e-mails to our Technical Support staff about cold-process soap. I thought that I might be able to help those who want to try their hand at soap making but need some more encouragement. Today I’m going to start with a list of equipment and ingredients needed for cold-process soap making. I will give you two weeks to collect the supplies for learning about cold process. On February 23, we will dedicate a week to cold process soap. If you have questions you would like answered during that week, e-mail me and I will try to address every question in the series.
Equipment that we will need for Cold Process Soap Week: Safety goggles, anti fog are helpful Ingredients Sodium Hydroxide Each day will offer 2 or 3 recipes for soap making. You can make one, all, or skip a day. The focus of this week is to look at each piece of equipment and each technique to learn WHY we do what we do. A word about scales: You must have a scale for making soap. You do NOT need an expensive scale or one that measures in 0.1 gram increments. You do need 1 gram readability for scales that have grams and ounces, or 0.1 ounce readability for scales that only offer ounces. My hope is you can get one that has 1 gram readability. If you intend to make lotions and lip balms, in quantities suitable for a family of four (not communities of 40,000), I suggest you consider a scale that has 0.1 gram readability. The benefit of making your scale dual purpose is to cover the soap making AND personal care products like lip balm, lotions, creams, and serums. If the scale is only for soap, choose the higher readability. The price of a scale corresponds to the number of steps each scale offers. A step is readability times capacity. A scale that has a readability of 1 gram and a capacity of 100 grams has 100 steps. A scale that has readability of 0.1 gram and a capacity of 100 grams has 1000 steps. The second scale will cost more than the first. We hope this has helped you consider the scales available to you. If you have questions along the way, give us a call or send an email. |
 Soap  Equipment you can find at MMS.  Equipment you will need to find around town.  Our trusty immersion blender.  Supplies you can find at MMS. |
looking forward to learning from you throughout the process. thanks. Emily
what is the vinegar for?
moirakris,
The vinegar is for if you spill the lye solution or raw soap on your self or anywhere else. Vinegar neutralizes the sodium hydroxide to prevent burns from being nasty. We recommend to clean the surfaces on which you just made soap, to wipe down those surfaces with vinegar to help clean up the sodium hydroxide completely. DO NOT add vinegar to dry lye granules, because this could cause a violent reaction instantaneously.
Thanks for such helpful advice, I didn’t know this. I will keep the vinegar handy everytime I make soap from now on!