Cindy
Member
I made my master batch of lye 50/50%. I'm unsure of temperature. I will be adding it to my oils and GM. What temp should my oil/gm mixture be at? Do I keep the lye at room temp?
Thank you!!
Thank you!!
First time using Masterbatch Lye. Help needed.
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steffamarie
Well-Known Member
I typically soap at RT so I let my oils cool to around 80 F or so and add my 65-70 F lye solution. If you have lots of hard oils, you can soap a little warmer and warm your lye by putting the container in a warm water bath for a bit.
I respectfully disagree with advice to warm lye solution. Don't do that if only for safety's sake. The less fiddling one does with lye solution, the better. If you spill fat, you have a huge mess. If you spill lye solution, someone could go to the hospital.
On top of that -- it's not the temps of the individual ingredients that matter to the saponification reaction. It's the initial temperature of the soap batter that's the key. If you want your initial batter temperature to be warmer, heat the fats rather than the lye solution -- much safer and just as effective.
If you are soaping with a moderate to high percentage of solid fats, IMO the fats should be just warm enough to be fully melted and clear. I make recipes high in lard. When using 50% lye at room temp and my fats are just melted and clear, I normally see an initial batter temperature of 95-105 F (35-40 C). If soaping with all or mostly liquid fats, then room temperature is fine.
You'll see a slight rise in temp, even if starting with room temp ingredients, because there is some heat released when the 50% lye mixes with the rest of the water-based liquids.
As you get more experience with this, you'll probably adjust the temps to work best with your particular style of soap making, but I hope these guidelines will help you feel more confident.
On top of that -- it's not the temps of the individual ingredients that matter to the saponification reaction. It's the initial temperature of the soap batter that's the key. If you want your initial batter temperature to be warmer, heat the fats rather than the lye solution -- much safer and just as effective.
If you are soaping with a moderate to high percentage of solid fats, IMO the fats should be just warm enough to be fully melted and clear. I make recipes high in lard. When using 50% lye at room temp and my fats are just melted and clear, I normally see an initial batter temperature of 95-105 F (35-40 C). If soaping with all or mostly liquid fats, then room temperature is fine.
You'll see a slight rise in temp, even if starting with room temp ingredients, because there is some heat released when the 50% lye mixes with the rest of the water-based liquids.
As you get more experience with this, you'll probably adjust the temps to work best with your particular style of soap making, but I hope these guidelines will help you feel more confident.
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I use my lye mixture at room temp. My oils are just clear and just warm to the touch. I don't monitor temps. I add my additional liquid (milks, aloe juice, beer etc) to my oils before my lye mixture is added. Soaping too cool with a lot of hard oils may give you false trace.
A
amd
I usually soap at room temp with 50/50 lye - the lye water will warm up slightly when you add more water/liquid to it. I think I read on the forum that someone had measured it at 120°F. I don't measure temps but I do know that even adding cold beer from the fridge to room temp lye solution will still be warm to the touch. I soap with 65% hard oils at room temp (I melt them all together and then let them completely cool) - at least until last night when my oils were too solid. I just started masterbatching lye in May or June this year, so I am having to figure out what works in the fall/winter when my space is colder. Last night, I warmed the oils in the microwave until just melted (my micro is about 1 minute melting time) with only a few chunks left, which melted all the way in with some stirring and stick blending. The soap traced quickly, but stayed at a workable consistency until my soap was done, but not as loose as I would have liked it (it was on the edge of being a medium trace). I'm not sure if there is any helpful information for you in this, but thought I would share a bit of my newbie experience with masterbatching lye, especially as I've now reached the experimental stage of working at colder starting temps.
I soap with 50/50 masterbatch and do not add anything to it. Anything I want as additives such as sugar, edta, etc are dissolved in my extra liquid then added to my oils. I also soap at room temp and heat my oils to just clear. In fact if they end up a little cloudy it is still fine. There is absolutely no point in adding your gm to your 50/50 lye solution and actually that is the purpose of the 50/50 so you do not add your Goat's Milk to your lye.
A
amd
Right, she is doing it the "right" way for a 50/50 by adding the milk to the oils and not the masterbatch. But if she's not soaping at 2:1 lye to water ratio (I think that's 33%, I'm still getting the hang of water percentages), say she's soaping at 2.5:1 (I think 28%, ugh, I suck at percentages, sorry if my math is off), then she would need to add more liquid somewhere. I soap at 3:1, so for my milk soaps I put 1/2 of total liquid as milk in my oils, and then an additional amount of water to my masterbatch lye so that my lye solution and milks are a true 50/50. I have soapmaker3 software, so all of this is figured out for me.
Of course, not everyone is as anal as I am about the 50/50 method being an accurate 50/50. So could I put two parts milk in my oil and not add any extra liquid to my lye solution, yep. I sure could. I didn't mean to make it sound that the OP couldn't add the masterbatch without adding more liquid, or that the OP needed to add the milk to the masterbatch.
Cindy
Member
I got a beautiful batch! No scorching, a little slow to trace (but that's OK), and even tried a new scent!
Cindy
Member
So, before I used the master batch lye, I rarely had sweaty soap when I took the blanket off of them. (still in the loaf). Now, every batch I make is sweaty. The zap test is negative, it does reabsorb after a week. I have a 7.5% superfat recipe. What's happening?
Addl. info: my recipe calls for 32 oz liquid. I am using 20 oz milk and 24 oz of the master batch lye, which is 12 oz of water. That gives me 32 oz liquid. Before I used the master batch, I had 16 oz of water, 12 oz lye, and then added another 16 ounces of milk.
Addl. info: my recipe calls for 32 oz liquid. I am using 20 oz milk and 24 oz of the master batch lye, which is 12 oz of water. That gives me 32 oz liquid. Before I used the master batch, I had 16 oz of water, 12 oz lye, and then added another 16 ounces of milk.
In my experience, sweating can be related to slight overheating caused by warmer than usual air temperature or to the use of fragrance, sugars, or other additives that cause the soap to saponify a little quicker.
If your sweaty batches were made this summer, then the sweating might have happened simply because the air temperature is warmer. Also sugars can cause the soap to heat up more, and milk has sugars, so maybe the extra milk you're using with the masterbatch lye may make sweating more likely. Just some guesses.
I'd maybe back off a little on the insulation and see if that helps.
If your sweaty batches were made this summer, then the sweating might have happened simply because the air temperature is warmer. Also sugars can cause the soap to heat up more, and milk has sugars, so maybe the extra milk you're using with the masterbatch lye may make sweating more likely. Just some guesses.
I'd maybe back off a little on the insulation and see if that helps.
