If you're trying out recipes, messing around with oil combos and ratios, or testing out colourants and additives, how useful is a really small batch? I was thinking that smaller batches would be more cost effective if some recipes don't work out at all, but will the process/end result actually be indicative of the *real* reactions between all the ingredients since the temperature generated is lower?
Maybe if gel is forced the end result would be a little closer to what would happen in a much larger batch?
I think making a smallish batch gives you an indication of what's ahead if you'd make a larger batch, technically speaking.
(Like is a fragrance oil going to seize on you.)
Colours (pigments/mica's) don't change behaviour in a large batch. Either they're affected by the lye, or they are not. The same for natural colourants.
Referring to the "low temperature" you mention:
- I like soaping at a higher temperature, mainly because I use a high% of solid oils/butters
- I never let my soaps gel on purpose; I don't see any benefits in that, and in certain cases I'd rather avoid gelling at all.
- the only "real" reaction you get in soaping is "saponification"; this reaction will take place, disregarding any temperatures or amounts.
How long it takes to complete, depends on starting temperature, additives and process (CP/HP/CPOP - whatever).
Coming back to the technical part, where I mentioned "indication":
(For convenience I'll stick with the fragrance example, but I could have mentioned "honey" as well.)
If dumping 25 grams of FO in a batch of 500 grams of fats gives you a major problem, like soap on a stick, you can imagine what the effect would be if you poured 250 grams of that FO in a 5 kilo pool.
So small problems could become major problems if you upgrade to a larger batch and ignore the signals you got when making the small batch.
On the other hand: tracing could take way longer with a bigger batch if you'd use the same stick blender .....
A note on (forced) gelling:
The only reason I could imagine one would do that, is to avoid partial gel (from an esthetical point of view). Oké some colours pop more after gelling, but other colours might lose intensity like (orange) mica.
Earlier unmoulding? I doubt it will make a difference; what you win on faster initial saponification, you lose on cool-down time.
IMHO/IME There are more risks than supposed advantages:
- extra heat may lead to vulcano's or "geodes" in the soap (honey, milks, sugar), colour morphing (milk), scent morphing (milks, sugars) and loss of fragrance.
But to each its own I guess.
