Stirring Guildelines

[Guest guest]

1) Should I use my wooden spoon or a plastic spatula? I use a rubber

spatula. The lye starts to make the wood look really weird!

2) When I stir the lye and water together, do I stir fast or slow? I

don't think it matters. I just stir until all the lye is dissolved and

sit it in a cool place. Stirring too fast could cause spilling or

splashing I guess. Just be careful. Also sit it in a place away from

you a bit so you don't hit and spill it.

3) Do I keep stirring the lye water until it reaches the correct temp?

No, just keep monitoring the temperature with a thermometer after all

the lye is dissolved. Sometimes I stir to just help it cool off though

but I've never heard you have to stir the whole time.

4) How long will it take to for about 8 ounces of lye to cool? That

will vary. You can use the method above by sitting the lye container in

a water bath to speed up cooling (your oils may be the right temp and

you need to get the lye cooled off quickly.) Make sure you don't let any

extra water splash in your lye water though. That will mess up your

measurements.

5) I think I'm going to try to make a 2 pound batch (since I've heard

the 1 pound batches can be a

bit tricky. Thanks for the 1 pound recipe Janet ;-) ). Should I

bother with the stick blender or save

that for larger batches? I use my stick blender with 2 lb. batches just

because it speeds things up. I love it. I do have to tip the pot a

little though to keep the mixture deep enough. If the stick blender

comes out of the oils, it will start sucking air into the oils.

6) Should I be concerned about stirring the oil/lye mixture too

quickly? Are air bubbles a problem

in CP soap? When I've let air get in the oils from the stick blender

(accidently) it does put air bubbles in there. I just keep blending

until they are all gone. I've never made a batch without the blender so

I'm not sure how to answer this one!

I'm kind of new to soaping too and use a pretty simple recipe. I

thought I'd take a stab at answering these questions. I hope I've given

good advice and I know the others will help out more if needed.. I'm

sure they have all kinds of fancy tips!! I'd like to know what some of

these folks have forgotten!! Let us know how it all turns out!

Peggy