Few basic general questions

I've been making soap for a number of years. I learned from reading older books (my computer was down).

Just making sure I'm doing things the ways I should be....

Lye and soap temps. I mix the two when the oils are 100 degrees and the lye is 120 degrees. Also interested in people doing some sort of ice bath to cool the lye down faster? I thought about making some sort of rack with a fan. And can lye be pre-mixed and re-heated up? I saw a video from Oregon Soap Company and they seemed to do something different with that step.

I use Brambleberry 36 bar mold. I use standard freezer paper to line in. Lining the mold is a little time consuming so I'm wanting to see if there's a better way to do that.

I keep the soap in the mold for 24-48 hours. Is that standard?

And curing... 3-5 weeks I typically read.

Thanks for any input.

Aren't you already selling? These should be things that you have down 100% before doing so, don't you think? Still.......

Lye and oils don't have to be a certain temperature when mixed or within x degrees of each other. Temperature can effect how long you have to work with the batter though.

I wouldn't cool it down with a fan. A ice bath would work. You can master batch lye and use it as you need it, but as I understand, heating up again is not done.

You could get a mould that doesn't need lining. Or find a quicker way to line. I can make a mould liner up in less than a minute.

Leave the soap in the mould for precisely.......as much time as it needs! After making soap for so long, I know that you have seen that different recipes need more or less time before unmoulding and cutting. Find the right point for your soaps, because it might well be different from my soaps.

Cures of 4 weeks are often considered a minimum but many people give it longer. Special soaps such as those high in OO need longer

The Efficacious Gentleman said:

Aren't you already selling? These should be things that you have down 100% before doing so, don't you think? Still.......

Lye and oils don't have to be a certain temperature when mixed or within x degrees of each other. Temperature can effect how long you have to work with the batter though.

I wouldn't cool it down with a fan. A ice bath would work. You can master batch lye and use it as you need it, but as I understand, heating up again is not done.

You could get a mould that doesn't need lining. Or find a quicker way to line. I can make a mould liner up in less than a minute.

Leave the soap in the mould for precisely.......as much time as it needs! After making soap for so long, I know that you have seen that different recipes need more or less time before unmoulding and cutting. Find the right point for your soaps, because it might well be different from my soaps.

Cures of 4 weeks are often considered a minimum but many people give it longer. Special soaps such as those high in OO need longer

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I'm just wanting to verify things. Different sources say different things. I've never had a batch of soap that didn't come out (other than the one time I tried to make peppermint. I read that essential oil tends to be an issue). There's even people who don't use a lye calculator and use their tongue to know how much to add. I've read probably 10 books on the topic. And the method I use has worked fine to produce a great soap.

They don't have to be a certain temperature meaning what? I'm assuming it's not advised to pour 180 degree lye into oils. Those temperatures were one of my biggest questions do to information varying soooo much on that.

I've never seen a change with soap and needing to be in the mold for less time.

Molds that don't need a liner? Like the plastic ones? I previously used an 18 bar mold I got off eBay. It was so incredibly hard to get the bars off the bottom. And the information I got from that guy was horrible according to the people on this board when I asked.

But you have read on here people saying "I soap with oil and lye at room temperature" or "I put the hot lye on to my solid oils to melt them"?the actual temperature that each batch is made it will vary based on what you're trying to achieve and your personal preference within limits.

Personally, I HP so I tend to go with it hot anyway.

Regarding moulds, have you never seen the silicone moulds at all?

NaOH solution can be master batched. That means you can make a big batch and use what you need when you need it. Just be sure it is in a container that can be securely closed and is safe to store in. I can't tell you how to properly use this as I have never used this method. I believe there is at least one video on YouTube. Here is the link for the one I remembered:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-MGBLfMiLo[/ame]

You do not need to put a fan on the NaOH solution because you do not want to blow the fumes all over the room. If you don't want to master batch, why not mix it the night before you intend to use it? Again, be sure it can be closed securely and stored safely.

I use the heat transfer method. I use my hot NaOH solution to melt my solid oils, then once melted, I add that to the liquid oils(including the EOs). But I do not do swirls. Just solid colored soap. I assure you that my NaOH solution is a great deal hotter than 180F when I pour it into the solid oils. I will test the temperature the next time I make soap, but I need an oven mitt with an additional pot holder to hold that container to pour it. And I routinely use bare hands to test food doneness in a 400F oven. If you are swirling, you need to soap cooler than this to not have such a fast trace.

How long it stays in the mold is determined by your recipe, and how hard it gets in what period of time. I generally remove mine in 18-24 hours and cut it.

I can't help you with mold lining. I have never used that particular mold. But I am with TEG, have you never used a silicone mold and cut the soap? Silicone requires no lining.

And I must say, it is rather worrisome for me(who does not sell soap, and considers herself still learning) to be answering questions for someone who does sell.

Thanks for this link, I didn't know which plastics were suitable for mixing lye, and thanks to this I can check it.

The Efficacious Gentleman said:

You can master batch lye and use it as you need it, but as I understand, heating up again is not done.

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Actually, you can heat it up again if you need to. I master-batch a 50/50 solution and heat portions of it up as needed for my batches of soap.

Basically, I weigh enough cool/room temp lye solution out for my batch into a Rubbermaid measuring cup, cover the cup securely with plastic wrap, and then I place the covered cup inside a larger/wider container filled with hot water until the solution warms up to around 100F/38C.

IrishLass

MrDurden said:

There's even people who don't use a lye calculator and use their tongue to know how much to add. I've read probably 10 books on the topic. And the method I use has worked fine to produce a great soap.

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could you please explain this method to me for its the 1st time i am ever hearing about it

You know, I really am a proponent of zap testing soap, but not using a lye calculator at all....not me. I am not sticking my tongue anywhere near a soap made without some sort of lye calculator in use at the point of weighing ingredients.

He might well be referring to the older methods/using self-made lye where we can't use a calculator but rather adding in oils and cooking, testing it and then adding more and so on.

Could be, but...eek! We have lovely, easy to use lye calculators now!

Lion -- The Gent is right -- it was used by commercial soap makers a century ago and possibly by people today who are making soap with a "boiled" method. They taste (aka zap test) the soap during the boiling process to see if it is "sharp" or not. That is how they learned whether the soap needs more fat or more lye.

It's not going to be a technique I would recommend to anyone making CP or HP soap as we typically do it. First of all, there is the safety risk of tasting soap while it is saponifying. The second is that this technique is not useful with modern CP or HP methods -- the soap moves far too fast, especially when soaping with a stick blender. It is best used with an hours-long boiled technique.

A soap recipe calculator is a far safer and more practical alternative. Zap test if you will ... but after saponification is over.

The Efficacious Gentleman said:

He might well be referring to the older methods/using self-made lye where we can't use a calculator but rather adding in oils and cooking, testing it and then adding more and so on.

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even then you had methods to test the strength of your lye .i.e; feather test and the egg test . but putting your tongue on/in lye water to test its strength does not sound wise to me

DeeAnna said:

Lion -- The Gent is right -- it was used by commercial soap makers a century ago and possibly by people today who are making soap with a "boiled" method. They taste (aka zap test) the soap during the boiling process to see if it is "sharp" or not. That is how they learned whether the soap needs more fat or more lye.

It's not going to be a technique I would recommend to anyone making CP or HP soap as we typically do it. First of all, there is the safety risk of tasting soap while it is saponifying. The second is that this technique is not useful with modern CP or HP methods -- the soap moves far too fast, especially when soaping with a stick blender. It is best used with an hours-long boiled technique.

A soap recipe calculator is a far safer and more practical alternative. Zap test if you will ... but after saponification is over.

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DeeAnna thanks for that information [ you get a triple kudos from me , always! , for you take my learning to a higher level ] it sounded funny/weird to me , for when i did research way back when on how the early settlers made lye water (potash) for soap i remembered that they could have tested it with a feather or egg. they were some brave souls back then to test it with their tongue .
Again , thank you for your informative reply it made me happy

Lion Of Judah said:

even then you had methods to test the strength of your lye .i.e; feather test and the egg test . but putting your tongue on/in lye water to test its strength does not sound wise to me

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i understand it now

Watching that master batch lye video. That's interesting. So it's a concentrated lye solution. But suggested to only use as much as you can use in a week? Hmmm. Waiting for the lye to cool is the single biggest use of time when making soap for me. I pre-weigh my oils so I don't have to worry about all that when I'm actually making soap.

I make two batches in about 3 total hours. I offset the batches by 10 mins.

I wouldn't store or make lye in a plastic container though.

MrDurden said:

I wouldn't store or make lye in a plastic container though.

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Why not? In what would you store it?

The Efficacious Gentleman said:

You could get a mould that doesn't need lining. Or find a quicker way to line. I can make a mould liner up in less than a minute.

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With a 36 bar mould, that's still a half hour...

Sometimes with difficult moulds, putting the whole thing in the freezer briefly will shrink the soap away from the mould enough to make removing it relatively easy.

new12soap said:

Why not? In what would you store it?

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I use as little plastic as possible with everything. And I never use plastic when heat is involved. I use glass when I can.

I watched this video today. Didn't realize you should freeze milk or beer when making those soaps. I'd like to do some in the future as to why I was researching.

What about freezing water to add the sodium hydroxide too? This would keep the lye temperature MUCH lower. To the point where where I could use it as soon as it was mixed.

There's really no problem with different temperatures with lye and oils? I've read so so so many times to keep them 20 degrees apart. By oils will always be around 100 degrees due to the melting of the solid oils. Room temp lye to 100 degree oil???

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Gq3aEi8_U&list=UU6NFc1XyVdzuyQw-f9HG42g[/ame]

MrDurden said:

I use as little plastic as possible with everything. And I never use plastic when heat is involved. I use glass when I can.

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Well, make sure you're very aware of what that glass is made out of, in that case.

Loose cannon, anyone?

MrDurden said:

I use Brambleberry 36 bar mold.

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Soooo....this would be the one with plastic dividers?

There's something wrong/off here. I can't put my finger on it, but it's really unsettling me, combined with the ingredients thread.

I master batch my lye solution in #2 hdpe buckets, set in the sink in case the bucket decides to be naughty and spring a hole. In five years it has not happened and my buckets are at least 3 yrs old. I also store in #2 hdpe bottles with naught problems. I would Not trust glass when making 1or 2 gallons of 50/50 lye solution.
Speaking of 50/50 solution remember you take your lye requirement and double the number when using your solution since 50% is lye and 50% is water. Then you add in the balance of liquid, which I always add directly into my oils before adding the lye solution.
This is a bit of an odd thread from someone soaping for several yrs. These should be questions posed by a newbie not an experienced soapmaker.