HLT to heat oil for soapmaking

[lschiavo]

Not beer related but I wanted to make sure you guys in the electric forum saw this:

My wife makes soap. Lots of it. I am trying to help her streamline her process.

The first step is to come up with a way to heat her oil mixture in bulk instead of a batch at a time like she is currently doing.

I am envisioning an HLT like contraption with an ULWD immersion element, bottom drain ball valve, stir pump, thermowell and controller. The size would be at least 10gal and maybe a sanke keg. The oil only needs to be heated to around 125F.

I'm just wondering if any of the components we use for water in an HLT would not work for heating oil instead.

I appreciate any advice or suggestions for components.

 

[passedpawn]

Interesting, but the oils melt so easily and quickly, I don't think it's necessary. Can't see the benefit. How does she normally heat the oil?

What are you using for molds? That's a lot of soap to make at one time.

 

[lschiavo]

Interesting, but the oils melt so easily and quickly, I don't think it's necessary. Can't see the benefit. How does she normally heat the oil?

What are you using for molds? That's a lot of soap to make at one time.

She does 14lb batches. Currently, she heats the oil on an electric range one batch at a time. The goal is to have multiple batches heated and ready to go back to back. This is a business for her. It's taken off pretty well and she is lagging in production a bit (a lot).

I bent up stainless steel molds on my FIL's brake. I made end caps from some HDPE sheet. They have worked out really well. I have to make more of those too...

 

[lschiavo]

BTW, maybe I should mention that she does cold process lye soaps with only plant based oils. I believe that some of the oils are solid at room temp. I would plan to add those after the temp comes up on the liquid oils to melt them quickly and not clog the pump. Maybe a stir motor/paddle would be better?

 

[passedpawn]

Ah, I see.

If you've ever had a grease fire, they are scary as hell and if you do the wrong thing, very dangerous. If you forgot to turn off the element and the oil level got below the element, you'd have oil burning on that element for sure. Not sure if that could ignite the low temp oils below. Just be careful with that.

 

[lschiavo]

Very good point. A low level float switch would probably be a good idea.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Perhaps an electric turkey fryer would be an easy starting point. ?

Just an idea, but they are only about 7 gallons but can be had inexpensively new or used.

 

[BrunDog]

I would think you would need something to move the oils. If they are low viscosity, then a pump suited for the media should work. Otherwise, a mechanical stirrer/auger would be needed.

 

[dyqik]

As a random thought, I think I'd suggest an induction cooktop and an induction compatible kettle rather than immersion elements. Both for the low watt density, to avoid any hot spots or potential ignition, and to avoid gaskets that might possibly interact with the oils. It should be fine to add solid oils directly to an induction heated kettle, as well.

Plus most have temperature controls that you can keep below boiling water temps, at least.

And the induction cooktop is portable to any other cooking or heating jobs, without being contaminated by oils.

 

[lschiavo]

Yes. I definitely think some sort of stir system would be necessary.

My first thought was induction. I want rather precise temperature control hence the controller, probe and thermowell. It seems from what I read that the reasonably priced induction cookers aren't very well suited to hacking the controls and the temp control provided is less than accurate. Did I miss something there? If there is a unit that can be controlled easily, I'd probably go that route.

An electric turkey fryer sounds like an option. Again, I'm not sure what it would take to get the more precise temperature control.

 

[dyqik]

Yes. I definitely think some sort of stir system would be necessary.

My first thought was induction. I want rather precise temperature control hence the controller, probe and thermowell. It seems from what I read that the reasonably priced induction cookers aren't very well suited to hacking the controls and the temp control provided is less than accurate. Did I miss something there? If there is a unit that can be controlled easily, I'd probably go that route.

An electric turkey fryer sounds like an option. Again, I'm not sure what it would take to get the more precise temperature control.

There's this induction cooktop that was linked near the end of the cheap induction thread. That's a 208V model, but there is a 120V version which should be adequate for heating lower heat capacity oil to 125F. That's confirmed to work with a PID/SSR, although there's a few seconds delay in the coil firing. A thermostat might well be adequate though for your needs.

 

[lschiavo]

There's this induction cooktop that was linked near the end of the cheap induction thread. That's a 208V model, but there is a 120V version which should be adequate for heating lower heat capacity oil to 125F. That's confirmed to work with a PID/SSR, although there's a few seconds delay in the coil firing. A thermostat might well be adequate though for your needs.

Thank you for the links. That looks like it may be an option.