Heating pad question

[akseattle]

Okay, this may truly be the dumbest question in the world. I see many soapmakers use a heating pad. There have been posts about heating pad techniques but no one has really described what a heating pad is.

Are we talking about heating pads like you put on your neck or other body parts when you have a pain or ache? These are usually electric and have a cloth covering? Or is this some other kind of a pad? Like a hot water bottle? Or a warming tray that keeps food warm?

I tried to force gel a number of times- by putting in front of the heater vent with space heater on the other side and covering the mold with a plastic tent and then putting a couple towels on top (an absolute humungus amount of work- plus, summer is coming .... even in the Northwest - yessiree, contrary to popular belief, we do have a teeny tiny summer ! .... if its a nice day, I hate to ruining it for the house by cranking on a heater) I think I forced gel at least twice that way.

I tried the oven trick once- that was an unmitigated disaster since my oven does not go below 175 degrees (unbeknownst to me before it was too late) - I do believe my soap volcanoed before it gelled, overall looked okay but the soap got some flaws in the process.

I'd like to gel to avoid soda ash. I guess also to get brighter colors if I'm going for a brighter color.

I'd like to try a heating pad. But, I'm just not sure what a "heating pad" is for soapmakers. Help!

 

[Arimara]

That is not a dumb question at all. When we are talking about a heating pad, we mean the electrical device with the plug

 

[dibbles]

I use heating pads. Yes, they are the kind you use for achy body parts. This is what I do.

I have a thick, faux fur blanket, which I lay on the floor. I have two heating pads - one is pretty old and I didn't feel like I was getting enough heat with just that one. I lay the older one on top of the blanket, then put my soap mold on that. If the mold doesn't have a cover, I put a piece of cardboard over the mold. Then I lay the second heating pad over the mold and fold the blanket over and around the mold. One of the heating pads turns off after an hour, the other after two hours. I will check on the soap at some point before the two hours is up. If it seems like the soap is plenty warm at that point I will turn off and unplug the heating pads. If it seems like it can use a little more time with the heat, I will restart both heating pads. I will unplug them at some point before I leave the house or go to bed.

I soap cool and I soap in my basement, which stays pretty cool all year. I used to carry my soap up to the main floor where the temps vary during the year to let it sit in the 'soap nursery' and during the summer I generally only left the heat on for 1-2 hours.

And as @Arimara said - no question is dumb. We all had to learn what we didn't know and the best thing to do is ask

 

[Zuleika]

I don't have a pic of my heating pad but found something 95% similiar. Only the plug part is different on mine. There are several settings of heat from 1 to 8 or 10 I think. I usually use between setting 3-5. My only complain is the pad doesn't heat evenly as it depends on where the heating element is inside. So for sure the outer edges are cool and some in between spots.

 

[AliOop]

My heating pad is similar to the one pictured above. I place it inside a flat box (the one used to package my MacBook Pro, actually). I set the mold on top of that pad inside the box bottom, and then put the top of the box over it.

If the mold is too tall for the box top to close around the edges of the box bottom, I’ll put an overturned insulated box over it instead (one that was used to deliver frozen food). A non-insulated box would also work with a towel or blanket over the top of it.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I put a heating pad in the bottom of the Styrofoam cooler. Then just pop my mold in there I sprayed the top of the soap with alcohol and I check occasionally when the temperature gets up to around 150. I take it out and let it cool on the counter. I always experience gel and only get cracking if I haven’t checked it often enough. I can fit two molds at a time in this cooler.

 

[Ephemerella]

I oven-process my soap, and my oven only goes down to 170. If you wanted to process at a lower temp than your oven goes, just turn off the oven and crack the door until you get to the temperature you desire.

Apologies if I'm stating something you already know, but when you oven-process soap, you turn the oven off, then put the soap in. You don't cook the soap. (though, I have managed! )

 

[Ford]

Hi, a reptile cage heating pad works as well. But, heat can be recipe dependent also. My goat milk recipe heats up on it's own. Add honey and I have to watch. It does not overheat. So, just covering with towels. Works for this.
Where as, my Lard recipe needs a helping hand. Heating pad, towels. Ovens are for baking. Cookies!

 

[cmzaha]

This is my method or was. I used these crates to put in two of my log molds and would stack 3 or 4 of them with heat pads or heat blankets in between the crates. I did not put the heat pads directly in the crates. I would have to check on my soaps periodically to make sure they were not overheating. If a batch showed signs of overheating I would remove it and set it on a cooling rack with a fan aimed at it. I usually turned my heat pads on to medium. For the heat blankets, I used the lap ones. I like this method in case a batch decides to go south and volcano it would be contained in the crate. I almost always had to force gel with my recipes.
https://tinyurl.com/5n954spm

 

[dibbles]

The size of the batch and ingredients do make a difference, and I should have included that in my answer. My batches are usually from 1 to 3 pounds, and have 30-45% lard. I don't sell, so I almost never have two molds together. For the amount of soap that @cmzaha would make at one time, the circumstances would be very different than mine.

 

[Ephemerella]

@dibbles Good call. I typically make at least 14lbs per session, sometimes as much as 30lbs. My recipe is not very hot, but I do consider the ambient temperature of the room. I only soap at night. On a warm night, with 30lbs of soap, I might not preheat the oven at all. On a cold night with only 7 or 14lbs, I'll warm the oven at 170 for about 10 minutes before shutting it off.

 

[Relle]

[QUOTE="akseattle, post: 1008166, member:
I'd like to gel to avoid soda ash. I guess also to get brighter colors if I'm going for a brighter color.
[/QUOTE]
Everyone pushes for gelling to get brighter colours, that's just not so, I don't gel and get bright colours, look at my splash swirl in the November challenge, if they're not bright I don't know what is and as for ash, I sometimes get it, but it's not a given.

 

[AliOop]

I agree, @Relle, gelling sometimes makes things brighter, but not always. I’ve had it turn some things dull.

Neons, alone or mixed with micas, make for bright colors.

Still, I do gel to help reduce soda ash. Without that, the ash on my soaps is just obnoxious - super thick to the point that it has to be planed off.

 

[Tammyfarms]

Similar to others, I use a heating pad like you would use for achy body parts. My set up is a bit different as I used what I had around the house. Every few months I get a shipment that comes in a box with insulation on the sides, top and bottom so I used the one of those. My heating pad used to sit in that box with soap placed on top of the heating pad. At some point I took the heating pad out and noticed the styrofoam had partially melted so I added a piece of reflective insulation under the heating pad and a thin piece of plywood on top of the heating pad. My loaf molds all have wooden frames. When I made a batch of soap in cavity molds placed directly on the heating pad I got silicone rash which is why I added the plywood. My soap room is heated to about 50F in the winter and I usually make 1000g (2lb) batches. I generally turn the heating pad on when I start soaping and leave it on 2-3 hours. Here are a couple pictures.

 

[natik]

I use Kane heating mat. It has temp adjustments, it is incased in hard plastic so can be wiped. I just put the mold on top and cover with towel. Works better that the oven for me.
here is the pic

 

[AliensrReal]

I have a heating pad that tells you the temp and has a timer. It goes up to 149F. I put it on 140 for the max time which is two hours and then do it again. I got it after my mom turned on the oven and melted my kaleidoscope mold. I just wrap it around my mold and then wrap a towel after that.
https://a.co/d/cPY0gvw

 

[akseattle]

Thank you everyone for sharing your practice for gelling! It was really helpful to see your photos, too!
I actually have a heating pad (for sore muscles) somewhere that I will dig up and try.
Friday evening, though, I got over the trauma of my oven experience and tried it again!
When set to 170 (my oven's lowest temperature), it actually goes up to 205. So, I followed @Ephemerella's tip of cracking the oven door to cool it to the temperature i wanted.
I soap at 100 degrees. I think in a different post, someone says your soap has to start out warm to be able to gel it. I don't know what "warm" is, but my loaf was down to 87 degrees by the time I finished pouring it.

So, I started with my oven at 170. I put in my loaf and turned off the oven and shut the door. I let it sit in there for a couple hours. I let the oven temp drop to 140, then kept it there periodically turning the oven on to "warm" until it got back to 140, then turned it off again.

It seems like my loaf heated up even though it went in at 87 degrees. I think it got up to 140 degrees. My recipe had both goat milk powder and sugar. So, maybe it would have heated up anyway. But, so far, no soda ash Although this was not that hard- I am a little nervous that eventually, I might forget my loaf in the oven and that my husband (or I, myself...) might come along and accidentally cook it

I'm going to try find my heating pad and try that, too. I'll just see which way works the best. So thank you everyone!

 

[AliOop]

Not sure who said the soap had to be warm to start, but that’s not accurate. I start out with room temp batter. It heats up a bit as saponification starts, but will only reach partial gel without added heat. I have no problem achieving full gel on a heating pad + insulation.

How long it takes for your recipe to gel will depend on a lot of things: batch size, batter temp, room temp, temp of external heat source, length of application of external heat, etc.

As you noted, using a heating pad avoids accidental cooking of the soap when someone forgets that the oven is in use for soap. Using a heating pad also avoids scent transfer to your oven, and hence your food. I only did that once - never again! It took months for my food to stop coming out of the oven smelling and tasting like the scent of my soap.

 

[akseattle]

@AliOop , wow, I hadn't even thought about the scent factor. That's incentive to start looking for my heating pad!! Unlike @Ephemerella who makes up to 30 lbs of soap at a time, I only make one small loaf (450 g oil) at a time. Environmentally, a heating pad is probably easier to justify.

 

[Ephemerella]

As you noted, using a heating pad avoids accidental cooking of the soap when someone forgets that the oven is in use for soap. Using a heating pad also avoids scent transfer to your oven, and hence your food. I only did that once - never again! It took months for my food to stop coming out of the oven smelling and tasting like the scent of my soap.

I have accidentally cooked my soap and it was beyond nauseating. Scent transfer can be an issue too, another reason why I soap exclusively at night, after dinner is done and the oven has been cleaned. It took trial and error to develop a system that works for me... but now my oven is almost always presentably clean, which is a minor miracle