mixing lye/oils w/o temp reading

[chris21908]

i saw when i first started to make soap that you need to bring the temperature of your melted oils n lye/water mixture close together. a few months ago i made 2 batches of soap without taking the temperature of either lye/water mixture and melted oils. i forgot to bring the temperature of both closer to each other. i simply just mixed the lye/water mixture n added the melted oils and combined. it came out just fine. so far, this is what i have been doing ever since. am i the only one who does this?

 

[TessC]

I don't use the thermometer at all anymore. The first 2-3 batches I made were following the advice of a sopapmaking book I borrowed from the library and it insisted that the temperatures be just so....pffft. Now I let my oils come to room temp (which is a warm room temp since we're in Florida) and the lye solution cools until the outside of the container doesn't feel too warm to a gloved hand. That's about as precise as I get. I let things get cooler for some FOs and soap some things (like salt bars) slightly warmer, but nothing's done using the thermometer anymore.

 

[NancyRogers]

I never test temps anymore either. I usually soap when my oils and lye are either slightly warm to the touch (outside of the contain...I don't stick my hands down in the lye solution :shock: ) or at room temp for fussy FOs.

 

[chris21908]

thank god im not the only one who does this lol. im glad others do the same thing. i have been doing this ever since and its always worked for me

 

[soapbuddy]

I don't take temps either. I just feel the warmth of the soap pot with oils and the lye water. If they are just warm to the touch I'm good to go.

 

[Chris-2010]

I'm likely the fussiest about monitoring and adjusting the oil mix temperature.

 

[ChrissyB]

I don't take temps either.

 

[Sunny]

I don't take temperatures either. I did for maybe my first few batches but found it unnecessary.

 

[paillo]

I don't take temperatures either. I did for maybe my first few batches but found it unnecessary.

ditto. fussy fo's i wait until the containers are slightly cooler, but my thermometers have been gathering dust since my earliest batches

 

[chris21908]

im surprised how many people here dont take temp. i found it to be a pain to constantly monitor both temperatures of the oils and lye/water mixture and keep them close together! its definitely a time saver!

 

[Mayren]

I do mostly HP in a crock and I usually just let the lye water sit for 15 to 20 minutes while i'm doing other stuff and then mix with warmed oils, It's about to get the heat turned up high so it's not a big deal for me.

For the rare CP I've found that soaping close to Room Temp is
easiest because i just let the lye water sit for like 30 to 40 minutes
and the container is just barely warm to the touch. This really
works for me.

I've i'm in a time crunch or playing with new junk I may
crack open the thermometer but that doesn't happen much
now that I've gotten down my fave recipes and fave
add-ins and know how they will react.

Sometimes i'm picky with stuff I'm making for a special request
or for swaps tho. just depends.

 

[IrishLass]

I take temps, but only when I'm soaping with high stearic fats/butters. This is to avoid psuedo-trace and the resulting unsightly stearic spots in my finished soap. I don't take the temp of my lye water, though. I found through trial and error that if I heat the fat portion of my batches with the high stearic fats/butters to 120 degreesF and add my warm-to-the-touch lye water (probably 100%F by guess), that my fats/butters no longer re-solidify when the cooler lye water is added to them, which makes for spot free soap.

IrishLass

 

[carebear]

I'm likely the fussiest about monitoring and adjusting the oil mix temperature.

I'm not liking that so much - I've got other things to spend my time and energy on . I don't do fussy. Precision, when it's appropriate, I'm all for (I am admittedly AR), but there are many situations in which that particular effort is wasted.

But then again, I don't have the huge business you must - mine is probably smaller and my batches are probably more hands on so that might be why I can get away with it.

 

[tespring]

I took temps of my dozen batches, but after making float soap, I figured there was not much use because float soap is cold soaping and I figured out that if you can soap totally cold, then temp doesn't matter much.
I did do some "heat transfer" method on my last big batch and that worked pretty good too. I think it would work even better on small batches though. The key factor in HT is stirring, blending and stirring some more to make sure your solids get melted.

 

[lily]

I think that one has to be experimented before stopping the use of thermometer (?) I use it and once that my thermo. was broken, I did ok because I know how it "feels" when the lye/oils are ready. Some people soap at a bit high temperature (mostly the soaps with milk and/or sugar or honey).

I mean that using a thermometer can avoid little "heating" accidents. At least, I think so. I still use my thermometer (maybe as a charm...)