How to Create a Double Boiler

A double boiler is a must when you are making candles or melt and pour soap. You should never heat candle wax or melt and pour soap over direct heat. Small amounts can be melted in a microwave, but when you get into making large batches of candles, or soap, you need the proper equipment. Double boilers are the best way to do this.

A double boiler is nothing more than a big pot, with water, in which to put in your secondary melting pot. The water helps make a boiling water bath around your melting pot, which then allows your wax, or soap, to melt at a controlled rate, without overheating or scorching.

Three items are needed to create a double boiler:

• A large pot
• a rack to go in the bottom
• a melting pot

We've made a video so you can see what these items look like, and how they are put together. The pot and the rack can be obtained from most box stores. To save even more money, go to your nearest Goodwill/Salvation Army/Second Hand store. You can usually find the items for a couple of bucks there.

Here is what to do:

You can get melting pots in either a 1# size or a 4# size (this is the amount of wax or soap you can melt in the pot).

Many people use a crock pot, and that will work as well. But crock pots are really hard to pour from and can be very heavy.  So, this is an alternate method, and it can be very cost effective to do it this way.