What temp to get oils to?

ButterDiesel · Nov 13, 2012

Hello all, was wondering the importance of temp when making cp soap? From the few recipes my girlfriend and I have done, we've added the lye mixture to the oils at anywhere from 110 to 140*. Is there a right or wrong way to do this? We've tried to mix the two when the temps got within 10* of each other, but we're not perfect lol. How close do the temps have to be to each other? And is there a different result/effect on the soap depending on temp, or possibly ingredients? The oils we've used so far are olive, coconut 76*, palm oil, and shea. We're kinda lost on this part of the process so would appreciate any help here. Thanks in advance everybody!!

lsg · Nov 13, 2012

To tell the truth I have never worried too much about the temp of oils and lye unless I was trying to swirl soap. I always mix my lye water first and it cools while I am preparing the oils. I melt the solid oils together and then add them to the unheated liquid oils. I figure if the lye water looks fairly clear then it is OK to add to the oil mixture. I will say that if I am mixing lye with milk, I freeze the milk to the slushy stage and set the container in an icewater bath while slowly adding the lye. This keeps the milk from scorching.

ClaraSuds · Nov 14, 2012

I also never measure the temp of my oils or lye. Like LSG I let the lye sit until it's just above body temp and allow the oil to be about the same. Mix together and off I go. What temp you soap at can affect things like the final colour of the soap, particularly if you use heat sensitive ingredients like milk or honey. There's a lot of talk about temps but to be honest I don't bother with it as long as my oils and lye aren't hot when I mix them. Most of that has to do with keeping the soap from bolting to trace when using fragrance oils or doing swirls. I don't do either.

judymoody · Nov 14, 2012

I generally soap between 100-120 for oils and lye. My results have been fine with a disparity in temperature of up to 30 degrees cooler (the lye being cooler because I mixed it up and forgot about it). I use a laser thermometer to take a quick reading. I use a fair amount of hard oils and butters so I like the temperature of the oils to be at least 110 so I don't end up with stearic streaks/spots or false trace.

Red Kev · Nov 14, 2012

Hi ButterDiesel, I'm a newbie to this soaping thing too, and I love the experimentation part of it. I've been experimenting with temps a bit, and while I probably don't have enough data under my belt to say anything definitive, in my short experience I have found that:

Temps between room temp (say 24C, 75F) and 60C (about 140F) don't seem to make a great deal of difference.
I've read that temps more toward the lower end of that range brings the soap to trace more quickly, but I have found the opposite.
Temps to 80C (176F) makes things kind lively and the soap goes from trace to setup real quick, but it also seems to carry the saponification reaction through a gel stage while in the mould. Whether that's good or bad thing I am still waiting on some soaps to cure to find out.
Temps at 100C (212F -- very dangerous, you don't want to spill any on yourself, especially if you have hard oils or wax in it -- I also make my own surfboard wax so I have a lot of safety gear for hot waxes) High soaping temps such as 100C/212F seems to simulate a hot process. I've only done this once and am curious to try it again with a different recipe, but the soap seemed to go through all the hallmarks of hot process before getting kinda sticky and hard to work with and I had to gloop it into the mould, but it cured nice and quickly and I was using it, with caution, the next day.

My two cents ...as I say, I'm a noob, too, so I don't have experience on my side, but I've read books and articles where temps are made a big deal of, yet seems to me, and from the comments above other soapers seem to agree, that common sense temps work just fine.