Melt & Pour Soap Bases (M/P) have been presented for sale on eBay over the years. Bases come in a wide variety and they are offered in different amounts from a few ounces to many pounds. Being both creative and useful, soap making, milling and hand milling have remained consistently popular.

Having offered Soap Making Workshops, Aromatherapy & Bath Workshops and Bath Salts, Scrubs & Soap Workshops I have heard of and personally tried a number of melting methods. The purpose of this guide is to list some of the most common melting methods along with the pros and cons of each method.

Microwave - For very small batches of Melt & Pour the microwave is often the first method used. It is very fast. It is not necessarily the best choice though. One reason is the very fact that it works so fast usually causes the soap to become too hot. Ideally M/P should never be heated about 140-150 degrees. Over-heating the bases can cause them to become dark, cloudy or both. Depending on the power of the microwave being used the base can boil over and cause a huge mess inside the microwave as well. Many Microwaves are placed over the kitchen range increasing the chance of spilling the very hot soap on the uses, creating an extremely dangerous situation. For the reasons mentioned above, the microwave is not recommended for melting your bases.

Crock Pot - For melting batches from 2 pounds to perhaps as large as 8-10 large Crackpots/Slow Cooker can be used successfully as a M/P melting pot. They work quite slowly and on the lowest settings they will reach an acceptable maximum temperature for the hand-milling artist who is not in a huge hurry. There are a couple of cons. Filled with melting soap, they are heavy and having no actually pour-spout, the hot soap must be dipped out of the pot. They become caked around the top edge with soap and are very messy. But for many people they will still become the best solution for getting the job done.

Seamless Aluminum Wax/soap melting Pitcher - Being designed specifically for this job, these pitchers are an excellent choice. They are always placed inside of a larger container to form a water jacket around the pitcher in such a way as to provide hot water under neath and up the sides which will reach the top edge of the melted soap. They need to be carefully monitored. The water level must be maintained so it will not drop below the desired level. And the temperature of the water should be kept steamy hot but well below boiling. It is recommended that a thermometer be used in the soap so the melted temperatures will not rise above 140 - 150 degrees. For small to medium batches of soap, they can be ideal. Some M/P millers will use several of these pitchers with different kinds of soap in each to save time and reduce wasted soap by leaving the unused supply in the pot for later reheating. This is a personal choice to be decided by the user. Since the pitchers are designed to be poured, the only tricky part of using them is removing them from the hot water bath safely.

Standard Kitchen Double Boiler - Except for melting very small amounts of soap, these are not recommended. Since the water is below the soap only the bottom of the upper pan is exposed to the hot water causing the top surfaces to cool off too quickly and skin over. This hampers pouring when larger amounts of soap are desired. Although some success can be found when using very soft M/P bases, for harder bases, failure and disappointment will surely be the rule.  

Larger Double Boiler/Water Jacket Melters - This method is a good choice when large amounts of soap are melted and poured into a large mold. It is created by use of 2 tall stockpots. A smaller pot filled with soap is placed inside a larger pot which is filled with water up to the top of the melt.  As with the Seamless Pitcher above, close monitoring is required. However when large amounts of melted base is needed this method is fast and efficient. This is the method I have favored until recently because I can melt 8 - 12 pounds of soap quickly in a single vessel. The configuration I use is a wide outer pot w/out handles and a slightly taller pot with a handle attached on each side just below the top. This arrangement makes maintaining the water level easier. Once the soap is melted, the handles make removing the inner pot easier when pouring the contents into large molds. Since the idea is to pour the entire contents of the melting pot into a single large mold, this is an ideal solution over all. As with any M/P project, there is going to be a certain unavoidable mess connected with the process. But clean-up is fairly simple if done immediately after the soap is poured and the pot has cooled enough to be safe to handled.

Oven Melting. There isn't much to say about this method. It works. But it is e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y slow. After testing the method a couple of times I vowed never to use it again. Life is too short and the entire process requires so much heat for such a long period of time, it is relatively costly compared to other melting methods.

A new melting devise and a recent favorite of mine is the Soap/Wax Melter. These clever devises are created by drilling a hole and placing a spigot in the side of a Presto Kitchen Kettle. They are coated inside and out with a non-stick coating which I avoid for cooking food but I highly recommend for the messy job of melting soap and wax. They also have a removable, 2-part, plug-in thermostat. The one small problem I have found with them is that the 2 parts connect together by way of a magnet which is easily disconnected. But if I take time to make sure the 2 sections are well connected and not being pressed against anything, this rather unusual connecting arrangement seems to work very well. I melt 20 pounds of soap at a time. On advantage of the magnet connection is the quick release of the 2 parts if I need to remove the pot to another location after the soap or wax is ready to pour. So I have 3 of them in use several times a week. I did discover that I needed at least a 15 amp circuit in my workroom in order to prevent throwing the breakers when I plugged in all 3 at the same time. I can quickly get 6 to over 8 pounds of melted soap in one pot, melt it and be ready to pour it in about 30 minutes. In order to fill the pots to the fullest level, it will be necessary to add additional soap or wax as the contents melt. However with that much melted soap it is very full and needs to be managed with care. I have a more extensive guild on this subject so I will just mention that these pots need to be completely emptied out and hot water used to keep the spigot clear of soap or wax after each use. This important step should be done consistently after each use in order to keep the spigots clear and ready for the next use. But for millers or candle makers who need from 6 to 8 pounds of melt at one time, this is a good choice to consider. There is only one additional thing  I would mention: They are somewhat costly compared to other melting methods. But for many enthusiastic soap millers the cost will quickly be offset by the several positive benefits they bring to the craft.

Lastly there are large, commercial melting pots designed for melting very large amounts of melt at one time. They are very expensive and not needed for the average hand miller. An eBay search will bring up some of these larger models for those who might need them.

I plan to add some illustrations to this guide later this week. I hope you will find it helpful in discovering the best melting methods for your soap and wax melting needs. For more detailed information about the Soap Melter check out my guide on the subject. I go into very extensive use and care detail there.