I stopped worrying about temperatures.

[SunRiseArts]

The last few batches I made I did not melt my hard oils, so I mixed my lye water, and dumped it into the oils without mixing, then let the lye melt the hard oils.

Just give it a spindle a couple of times with a spatula. Then when is around 130, use the stick blender and soap. Or lower if I want to. It only takes like 5 minutes to go down to 130, instead of waiting like half an hour or more (it takes forever in Texas because is so hot!) Of course it probably will not work if one is using milk ....

Seems to work for me, have had no issues, and is way faster than letting your lye cool to exact temperature of the oils.....

Does anyone else have ever tried that?

 

[shunt2011]

Many have done it this way. It's called the heat transfer method. I've done it a time or two myself. I masterbatch my lye so it's almost always ready to go.

 

[Kristianna]

I've tried this methode. Poured my lye into my hard oils, which for me really only is the shea butter because it's too hot here so the other hard oils are liquid most of the year. It worked ok I guess. I'm still trying things to see what is the best fit for me when it comes to soap making styles.

 

[DeeAnna]

If you make soap using recipes with a high % of solid fats like lard or tallow or palm, the "heat transfer" method may not work well, because there's not enough heat energy in the hot lye solution to fully melt the fats. I want my lard to be fully melted and clear before I soap. The technique works well when it works, but it's not a panacea for all recipes.

If you want to use this method with a high lard (or palm or tallow) recipe, measure your solid fats into one container and liquid fats into a separate container that can be microwaved or heated on the stove, whichever you prefer. Add the hot lye to the solid fats only and see if the fats fully melt. If not, heat the liquid oils as needed to get a full melt.

^^^ Yes, this is kind of fussy to do, which is why I don't. But others might want to try it.

 

[earlene]

The last few batches I made I did not melt my hard oils, so I mixed my lye water, and dumped it into the oils without mixing, then let the lye melt the hard oils.

Just give it a spindle a couple of times with a spatula. Then when is around 130, use the stick blender and soap. Or lower if I want to. It only takes like 5 minutes to go down to 130, instead of waiting like half an hour or more (it takes forever in Texas because is so hot!) Of course it probably will not work if one is using milk ....

Seems to work for me, have had no issues, and is way faster than letting your lye cool to exact temperature of the oils.....

Does anyone else have ever tried that?

Yes, I have done this occasionally with CO, Shea, Palm Kernal Flakes and Shortening. I don't think it works as well with Cocoa Butter, though, at least not for me. But since I prefer to masterbatch my lye, it's usually not an issue letting lye solution cool.

However, I learned that with palm in a bucket (not the flakes or pellets kind) that it is necessary to pre-melt and stir to fully incorporate the stearic acid BEFORE measuring. So it could be a problem if the stearic acid all settled to the bottom of the bucket the last time the container fully melted. Since I've never bought palm oil in a bucket, I haven't had to deal with this, but my soaping instructor buys it that way and always pre-melts and gives the bucket a good stir before teaching a class.

 

[SunRiseArts]

Thank you, very interesting. I probably starting doing that because is so hot in the summer here, that it took FOREVER for the lye to cool down.

I am afraid to master batch the lye, because I do not have an area dedicated for soaping. Only a small cabinet in my small kitchen, so I am afraid to leave it there, and someone else get into it.

I put labels into everything, but my oldest son is autistic, and sometimes he does not pay attention.

When I move I will have a whole room for my crafts! :mrgreen:

 

[jcandleattic]

I don't do the heat transfer method, but I haven't taken temps in soap since my second ever batch. I would just wait until I could touch the outside of the lye and oil containers and have it be comfortably warm.

Now that I masterbatch both my lye and my oils I don't even touch the outside containers. Just weigh out my oils and lye, and start mixing once they are weighed out. Since my lye is masterbatched in a 50/50 solution, it does go white/cloudy when I add my additional liquid needed for the water concentration I want, so I will wait for that to be clear but that only takes about 2 minutes, so no big deal.