Using crockpot for homemade soap

In the book "handcrafted soap" by Delores Boone she has a recipe for homemade soap using your crock-pot. I found this interesting & tried it. It was my first attempt at making homemade soap & I like the results. Thick sudsy bars. What do you find to be the easiest way to make homemade soap?

We just started making soap. We make goatmilk soap and heat the oils on the stove and the lye is mixed with the goat milk. Not sure if we could do goat milk soap in the crock pot. Does the book mention anything about milk soaps in the crockpot? if so, I'd be interested in knowing how to do it.

I have a recipe for crock pot soap too but haven't tried it yet. How much does it make? I have an older style crockpot that was my Dad's and the crockery part does not come out. Maybe I'll give it a try after the holidays.

Sonshine, I don't know why you couldn't use the goat milk recipe. The only thing I would worry about is that it gets too hot and might curdle the milk. I'll check my recipe out and see what it says.

When I use goat's milk in soap, I freeze it first, then it melts fast in the lye, eliminating the need of a cool down period and speeding up the processing. The milk does fine , it has never scorched or curdled. It makes a lovely bar, but does need to be stirred continuously to prevent settling.I am currently not milking, so I just use a good mix of oils, adding rendered fat or coconut oil to assure a good set.I've never needed to keep a soap warm for processing.

Libby, yes, we keep some milk in the freezer for making our soap. That's why I was wondering if it could be done using the crockpot method. However, it was surprisingly easy doing it without the crockpot. The lye heated the milk and we heated our fats on the stove.

I guess I really enjoy soapmaking , and like the time spent in doing it. I know of some people who use a mixer for stirring to trace point, but I just plan that day to be one spent stirring with a lovely long handled, hand carved spoon a friend's son made for me, doing whatever planning, praying, singing or talking on the phone that I want to do for that time. It's a rewarding feeling to finish and bundle up a batch of soap, knowing I'll have new bars to share soon, and it's like opening a present , cutting a brick and seeing the swirls of color on some, and the soft cream of others.The smell of organic essential oils, strong herbal decoctions, and spices fill the kitchen. I do love it.

Libby, we're new to soap making, but I enjoyed the batch we made for Christmas gifts this year and they were well recieved by our friends and neighbors. I'm planning on making another batch this week as long as the weather cooperates and doesn't put me flat on my back. Got any tried and true recipes you could share? I also want to learn how to make goat milk lotion, but don't have any recipes for that yet.

Sonshine, I have a recipe for goat milk lotion that I will be happy to share. The only thing I found was that it needs to be refrigerated unless you put a preservative in it, which was the whole reason I was making my own lotions - to get away from preservatives. I've heard that grapefruit seed oil acts as a preservative. It was either grapefruit seed oil or grapeseed oil. Maybe Libby could answer that question for us. Let me know if you want the recipe and I'll post it.

backtotheland, I'd love the recipe. I could make it for my own use and keep it in the fridge, but I'm also hoping to find a recipe that doesn't have to be kept chilled to give as gifts and eventually sell.

I might have one of those two. I'll post them both and you can use whichever one you want. I made a vanilla sugar scrub for my ddil for Christmas and it is wonderful. I want to try my hand at making bath bombs this year too.

backtotheland wrote:I might have one of those two. I'll post them both and you can use whichever one you want. I made a vanilla sugar scrub for my ddil for Christmas and it is wonderful. I want to try my hand at making bath bombs this year too.

Don't forget, recipes, recipes and recipes.

Okie dokie. Will do it tomorrow when I'm off work.