I found out the hard way that using a microwave to melt fatty acids in a glass measuring cup wasn't the best of ideas

... Does anyone have any suggestions for some sort of double-boiler (restaurant style would be fine!) that would be good to melt a few quarts of fatty acids? (I actually own a large oil melter made for soapmaking that I've never used but I haven't reached the capacity to need it yet!) Something that would easily pour into a small container would work well. Any suggestions?
Comments
- Induction hotplate
- Stockpot Set
- Beaker Tongs
Smaller amounts are melted by using the largest stockpot filled with a small amount of water plus boiling chips, and melting the fatty acid in one of the beakers. Larger amounts can be melted by using 2 of the stockpots, putting some water in the larger one, and the fatty acid in the smaller one. Seal the gap between the pots with plastic wrap. (Be careful venting!)Glass Beakers
Boiling chips
Saran Wrap
The water acts as a built-in temperature limit, so it's safe to leave the setup alone for a while. Only use a stockpot directly on the hotplate if you can be there to constantly monitor and stir the fatty acids while they're melting, or they WILL burn/turn brown while you're not looking.
Thanks for putting together your reply with the links to everything! Greatly appreciated! You posted some ideas I hadn't thought of and I never head about the boiling chips or thought of the beaker tongs! My restaurant supply place might have some similar things or I can order some of these online! Thanks again for all of your suggestions and for taking the time to reply!
If the water temperature can be controlled enough that it's not boiling, they're not needed. For example, if you're using a lab water bath, they're not needed, or if you use a double boiler, or a pressure cooker that has a bottle support, or also if you use beaker clamps and stands to hold your beakers. But...all of that stuff is expensive or bulky, so if you have limited space, or limited funds, you learn to improvise.
Leather welding gloves work about as well as beaker tongs to get a beaker out of boiling water, but they're more of a pain in the butt to take on and off.
I think this worked out much better...for the moment! The measuring cup is sitting on a special stand inside the stainless steel pot. I had the hand-held thermometer nearby and kept an eye on it. It never got much above 160F and it worked well to process the batch at the temperature I needed and was fairly easy to pour. Next time I'll use the new Pyrex measuring cup!
in the 1950's pyrex was the brand name for a borosilicate glass of cookware; about 15 years back, Dupont sold the retail rights to a chinese company, that flooded the retail market with cheap tempered glass under the Pyrex brand.
Hence, no shock resistance to temperature changes, as the glass is not borosilicate glass, but rather, tempered glass.
I believe if you buy "Pyrex" labware, it is still, borosilicate glass.
You always, want to make sure, you are buying borosilicate glass. NEVER, buy tempered glass. Particularly important for the "home" cosmetics (or cooking!)
(thats the reason why I reopened this old discussion).
--
the correct way to break tempered glass cleanly, is to fill a bottle with oil, and microwave it - the heating of the oil actually introduces a stress at the surface, which allows you to make a clean break (used to convert wine bottles into "beakers").
https://www.oneida.com/customerservice/bakeware_facts/
Interesting! They say that this is better then he borosilicate glass!
I usually use metal pots for everything but in the case of those smaller formulas and test batches that was what I opted for back then!
David
Its crap.
If you had pyrex (real borosilicate), you could thermo cycle it all day long; the tempered glass is guaranteed to shatter under similar circumstance. Their marketing spin (its twice as strong) is a load of garbage (akin to saying this metal is twice as hard, and therefore won't crack when you hit it)
This is marketing fluff trying to explain away what really happened
Thats why all the labware, stayed the same.
But all the "consumer" grade stuff, disappeared.
Thanks for the update, I had no idea this was an "industry-wide" event. I figured it was a Chinese company trying to capitalize on a brand while pumping out cheap crap. Not uncommon.