Temperature

[orangetree71]

I have one final question before making my first batch. In class we were told to match temperatures between 115 and 118 degrees, but the Soapmaker's Companion says to use 80 - 100 degrees. I don't know who to follow.

 

[IanT]

I have one final question before making my first batch. In class we were told to match temperatures between 115 and 118 degrees, but the Soapmaker's Companion says to use 80 - 100 degrees. I don't know who to follow.

What class were you in?

 

[TessC]

For recipes that don't have a huge percentage of hard oils, I soap with my oils and lye solution at room temperature. I think everyone ends up finding their own favorite temperature range, I'm just really fond of mixing everything up and leaving it to cool without having to worry about exact temps.

 

[honor435]

i soap between 90-110( cp), hp it doesnt matter what temps.

 

[mandolyn]

My oils & butters are all room temp, lye solution is when the container is just warm to the touch. I don't know what temp that is.

 

[orangetree71]

Now I'm really confused! Some of you don't match temperatures? (The class I took was with Backporch Soap Co. in Duxbury, MA).

 

[mandolyn]

Now I'm really confused! Some of you don't match temperatures? (The class I took was with Backporch Soap Co. in Duxbury, MA).

Nope!! I quit watching temps long ago.

There are lots of soapers who do RTCP (room temperature cold process). They pre-mix their lye solution & store it that way. They often pre-mix all the oils & butters and store them that way. When they're ready to soap, they measure out the pre-mixed oil mixture & measure out the pre-mixed lye solution, add it to the oils & stick blend. Everything is at room temp.

 

[carebear]

I've found that it IS simpler to recognize trace if the lye and oils are about the same temp - but it's by no means mandatory.

some FOs I soap with both at room temp, but over the past year or so I've come to like soaping at about 100-110 better. It really depends on the FO though - if I'm working with a floral or one that accelerates trace then cooler is often better.

ETA: the temp is a total estimate - I don't use a thermometer for soaps. I just have a callibrated hand

 

[donniej]

I've found that harder oils require lower temps, around 100 - 120*F while softer oils go better around 130 - 150*F. I keep my lye temps in the same ballpark as the oils, about +/- 15*F.

You have to be careful when adding fragrance (if you add at trace). You may need lower temps to keep it from siezing, or instantly turning almost solid.

 

[carebear]

I never soap hot unless I'm doing straight lard or tallow or olive - anything else moves too fast. Even then, I'm talking 120 - I could never get any kind of swirl into my CP's at 150!

I tend to do my 100% hard oils warmer than my liquid oils soaps or mixed soaps, actually, because 1-lard and tallow move SLOWLY and 2-I need full gel on those to avoid nasty thick ash.

As you can see, OP, different things work for different soapers depending on their materials and on what they want to do with them.

 

[madartist]

Hi Orangetree71!

I took the same class from Marla at Backporch soaps in Duxbury. As a matter of fact, Marla just emailed me today asking for info on making other hair products and I sent her a list of formulas.

From what I remember, marla told our class to soap at 120degrees (matching both oils and Lye) I also read the soapers companion, and saw that the temps were different, so I started experimenting. I've used temps as high as 120 and as low as 95 and found very little difference (except that waiting for the lye to cool for the lower temps drove me crazy....that's when I realized "Hey dummy, it's snowing outside. Park the lye pitcher in a snowbank and let's get on with it.) For the last few batches, I've been using 100 degrees for lye and 100-10 for the oils. Don't want to go any lower than that cause I just can't wait any longer than that.

Are you from Massachusetts? I have a soaping partner (my upstairs neighbor Linda) and both have said we would like to find other soapers in the area we could exchange ideas with. We live in Beverly (I know my profile says Boston, but nobody knows where Beverly is and everyone knows where Boston is, so....... )

 

[Fuzled]

as a new soaper myself, I noticed in all my reading that folks do indeed soap all at different temperatures. I have come to the conclusion that it really is personal preference and there isn't a right or wrong answer.

That said, as a new soaper I've decided to stick to 100- 110F until I really get my arms around my recipe, my process and the general flow. Once I'm good and comfy with that I'll try other temps. My main goal is to go for consitancy right now as I learn.. with a little experimentation (and LOTS of notes during each batch) here and there

Good luck on your first batch!

 

[donniej]

I never soap hot unless I'm doing straight lard or tallow or olive - anything else moves too fast. Even then, I'm talking 120 - I could never get any kind of swirl into my CP's at 150!

With pure liquid soy, you could sit around staring at it all day long with nothing happening at 100*F

 

[xyxoxy]

I used to measure temps but decided it was a waste of time.
Some soaps have not behaved as well as I'd like but I generally have very good results working the way Mandolyn described with pre-mixed room temp lye and room temp oils. And I do use a relatively high percentage of hard oils.

Only ever has one batch seize and that was because of an untested FO.
If a batch is taking a long time to trace I pull out the stick blender... but most of the time I don't need it.

 

[orangetree71]

Thank you for all the input! I think I'll start by following my teacher's advice and then experiment with lower temperatures, even room temperature, when I have more experience.

Maddy, I'm from Plymouth. I thought Marla's class was great. Student's came from all over MA, plus CT and NH. I would love to connect with you and other local soapmakers. That is, if you don't mind that I'm a newbie! My email is [email protected].

 

[madartist]

Yes, I agree. I very much enjoyed the class too. In our class (a big one with 11 students), she had people, not only from out of state (NJ and Texas) but there was also a mother and daughter from AFRICA. The big concern they had was the availability of freezer paper in their town, to line their molds, LOL. Any newbie in the area (or even one that likes to travel), who wants to get a real good understanding of soap making, would really gain a lot from Marla's class. I wholeheartedly recommend her class. Classes in Duxbury are listed HERE

ADDED LATER: I just got a card from the Handcrafted Soamakers Guild and marla will be teaching at the 2010 Conference in Denver CO along with Kelly Bloom and a long list of other fab soapers.

 

[Soapmaven]

Maddy's soap minion

Hi Orangetree - I'm Maddy's soap buddy. As he said, we'd love to get together and soap-it-up. Soapmaking has become our passion. Of course, I'm very lucky in that I have such an artistic partner!!

 

[carebear]

I never soap hot unless I'm doing straight lard or tallow or olive - anything else moves too fast. Even then, I'm talking 120 - I could never get any kind of swirl into my CP's at 150!

With pure liquid soy, you could sit around staring at it all day long with nothing happening at 100*F

Ah - well I didn't consider that particular situation. I would never soap pure liquid soy. I've received it in single oils swaps and it's neither desirable nor stable.

I do my 100% olive oil soaps at room temp. They take a while but not all day.

 

[IrishLass]

You just have to go with what works for you and to also keep in mind the melting points of the particular fats, oils and butters you are using. For me, it was a trial and error thing, but I now soap my formulas with mostly hard fats/butters at 120 degreesF with my lye at about 100 degrees. This prevents my batter temp from getting too low and causing the particular hard fats/butters I'm using to resolidify on me instead of staying in melted suspension so that they can come to a real trace as opposed to a pseudo trace.

Then there is also the fragrance and other additives to contend with and figure in, as well as your water amount, etc.... Yikes! :shock: There's no set 'rule', though, that will work for every soaper and every formula across the board. It's truly an individual balancing act, but after some trial and error you'll develop a 'feel' for things and nail it down for yourself and your particular formulas.

Happy soaping!
IrishLass

 

[RoseMarie]

I was watching a DVD on making soap and this is the method they did, the room temp. I hadn't heard of that method until I saw that DVD. The only thing I don't understand, (they didn't meantion on the DVD how long) is after they added the lye to the water in the pot, it looked like they waited like a second or two and then went right on into adding the shortening and the coconut oil. When I got to thinking about it I was like, I wonder how long you have to wait before adding the solids because the heat of it needs to make the solids melt. I've never made any soap yet and am wondering about that part.
I sure am enjoying this forum, reading about all your knowledge.