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I’m getting close to a formula that’s what I think I want. Workable for fun designs, low cleansing, decent bubbles, lather... I want the first ingredient to be tallow. I’ve been soaping at 110-120F, but recently did 100F with success. Could I even do 90F? I worry about false trace. Would 90F give me a longer working time, or shorter? That part confuses me. I’d love any feedback on my formula. Thank you!
 

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Have you tried lard? Its slower to trace and is milder then tallow.
I’m super into tallow! I actually have made my own skin care for years that is tallow based. I’m developing a line for sale, someday. It’s also the whole sustainable agriculture thing, ruminant animals and stuff... so, I’m committed to making tallow work.
 
Adding 20% lard and upping your tallow makes a really nice workable soap. Even if you get a false trace in the beginning once the batter starts to heat up the batter will thin out. My 38-40% tallow with lard will false trace because many times I soap while the batter is still cloudy. It will thin out giving me a lot of working time with the addition of the lard.
 
I work with tallow pretty often. Never gotten false trace, but I always make sure my oils are clear liquid before mixing in the lye. The cooler your batter, the slower -- but a few degrees probably won't matter.
One of my recipes is fairly similar to yours, and I like it :).
 
Adding 20% lard and upping your tallow makes a really nice workable soap. Even if you get a false trace in the beginning once the batter starts to heat up the batter will thin out. My 38-40% tallow with lard will false trace because many times I soap while the batter is still cloudy. It will thin out giving me a lot of working time with the addition of the lard.
Is you 38-40% equal parts tallow and lard?

I work with tallow pretty often. Never gotten false trace, but I always make sure my oils are clear liquid before mixing in the lye. The cooler your batter, the slower -- but a few degrees probably won't matter.
One of my recipes is fairly similar to yours, and I like it :).
What % of tallow do you use? What temp are you starting with?
 
What % of tallow do you use? What temp are you starting with?

I have used tallow up to 40%, and to make things worse, also almost always use beeswax (which has a higher melting point).
I don't usually take temperature nowadays, so don't know the exact. What I often do is melt the oils in the order of their melting points -- melt the beeswax first, then mix in the tallow, and any other hard fats. When all the hard fats are melted and clear, I take it off the heat, and mix in the liquid oils. Then I wait till the mix is cool enough that I can touch the container or even put my finger into the mix without burning myself, but it is not yet cloudy. I would say it is around 100F at that point.
I don't masterbatch my lye, so my lye is also usually around the 100F mark (container warm but not burning to the touch -- obviously I don't stick my finger into it, and wouldn't recommend that :) ). I did notice that having the lye water much warmer than that leads to very fast trace. If I want to have a lot of time, I have the lye cool to room temp.
 
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