30-Minute Microwave Hot Process Soap
Hi, my name is Karen Stark and I am the discoverer of Microwave Hot Process Soap Making. For those of you who are unfamiliar with soap making in general there are two different ways to make soap. The first method is called cold process. Lye is added to a mixture of fats, stirred until it is thick, and poured into a mold to cure for several weeks. Hot process involves mixing the lye with the fats, and stirring as well. The soap is then heated to speed the reaction of the lye with the fats to make soap. There are several different ways of "cooking" soap. You can bake it in the oven, cook it on top of the stove, cook it in a double boiler, or use a crock pot. Typically a batch of hot processed soap takes an hour or two to complete, and the soap is ready to use as soon as it is cooled. Using a microwave is conciderably faster. A five pound batch is done in about 15 minutes. A smaller batch can cook in as little as 5 minutes. There is little difference in the finished product between hot and cold process soap.

There are several advantages to making hot processed soap and they are:

1. No curing time (or very little) what ever you make is ready to use, or sell the next day. For those soapmakers who have very little curing space this method is very handy.

2. There is no lye present in the finished soap, so there is little worry about colors and scents mutating. You can also use just about anything as a mold, even aluminum!!!

3. Because the scents go in at the end of the cook, and are not effected by the lye you can use less scent and still get the same effect. You also don't have to worry about the scent seizing a batch like with cold process

There is only one disadvantage of hot process soap, and that is that the soap is very gloppy when it is done cooking. This makes it somewhat difficult, although not impossible, to use very intricate molds. It is also difficult to get the top perfectly smooth, and the bars usually require some trimming which is easily done with a cheese plainer, or a potato peeler.

Safety (important please read)

Instructions

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Scent and Color

Trouble-shooting