MauiJen
Member
I'd love some advice. I've been making cold process soap for a little over a year off and on. In the past month (after a few months of not making soap), with both old tried & true recipes and new recipes, it's suddenly taking FOREVER to reach trace every time. (like well over an hour, sometimes more than 2-3 hours). I sometimes use a stick blender and sometimes use a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer.
I live in Hawaii and it's warm and humid inside my house (the temp inside is usually about 80 deg when I make soap and my windows are almost always open, so it's pretty humid in here). I thought maybe I just bought a few bad (old?) containers of lye (sources are scarce here on Maui and I have a feeling they sit on the shelf for a loooong time), so I purchased a new container and the first batch made with the new container traced *a little* quicker than the other batches (about 45 minutes), but subsequent batches with the same container are taking well over an hour.
Is it possible I'm getting moisture in my lye container so inaccurate lye measurements? Should I take more of a water discount because of my humid climate? How much is too much of a water discount (I already feel like I take quite a bit of one - for example when my recipe calls for 8-12 oz of water and 4.5 oz of lye, I've been trying it with 7-7.5 oz of water, but still no luck with a quicker trace. I'm afraid to use any less than that, that the soap will be too lye heavy).
So, any suggestions? Am I doomed to just hours and hours of blending to get to trace?
Thanks in advance for any advice!
I live in Hawaii and it's warm and humid inside my house (the temp inside is usually about 80 deg when I make soap and my windows are almost always open, so it's pretty humid in here). I thought maybe I just bought a few bad (old?) containers of lye (sources are scarce here on Maui and I have a feeling they sit on the shelf for a loooong time), so I purchased a new container and the first batch made with the new container traced *a little* quicker than the other batches (about 45 minutes), but subsequent batches with the same container are taking well over an hour.
Is it possible I'm getting moisture in my lye container so inaccurate lye measurements? Should I take more of a water discount because of my humid climate? How much is too much of a water discount (I already feel like I take quite a bit of one - for example when my recipe calls for 8-12 oz of water and 4.5 oz of lye, I've been trying it with 7-7.5 oz of water, but still no luck with a quicker trace. I'm afraid to use any less than that, that the soap will be too lye heavy).
So, any suggestions? Am I doomed to just hours and hours of blending to get to trace?
Thanks in advance for any advice!