How important is temperature?

[saurian]

Hi everyone, I'm still pretty new at this whole soap thing and have a question....

I was talking to a friend of mine about how to more easily get the lye and the oils to the right temperature before mixing the two. Her response was that she didn't really try. So while I am messing around with two digital thermometers making sure both are at precisely 55c and cooling before mixing them, she just feels the side of her containers of lye & oil says 'close enough' and goes ahead.

so... what do you think, does the temperature matter, if so why? what's the significance of the temperature anyhow?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I know that a lot of people use the "Feels similar" method of soaping and have no issues. I think that a lot of instructions for making soap are perscriptive to help keep things smoother - if you mix both at around 60 Celcius and within 5 degrees of each other, you won't have many problems with a lot of the basic recipes.

Once you start doing other things and get more used to it, you can step out of that a wee bit (or a lot!).

In soaping, there are many wrong answers, but there are often also many RIGHT answers!

 

[Obsidian]

I never worry about temps anymore. I do like my lye to be under 130 F if I'm working with a fast tracing recipe. oils are usually room temp or slightly above.

 

[Tienne]

I never use a thermometer anymore. I like to soap at room temp unless I'm using a recipe with a lot of hard oils in it, then I'll take it up just a notch but only to about 40C and then I just feel the sides of the containers and use the 'close enough' method, too.

The hotter you soap, the faster you'll hit trace and the less time you have to play, so if you want to do all kinds of multi-coloured swirling or the likes, then it's better to soap cool.

 

[Susie]

I don't do the fancy stuff, so I do the close enough method also. If I can put my hand on the side of the lye container and leave it there, and the oils feel about the same, it is close enough.

 

[PinkCupcake]

I like to have lye and oils close to room temp. When I use lard and palm kernel oil (PKO), the oils sometimes start to harden while the lye is cooling, but I just warm them a tiny bit in the microwave, or on the stovetop. For me, close enough is close enough. I did use a thermometer when I first started, though.

 

[shunt2011]

I too soap at room temp. I masterbatch my oils for 3-4 batches and mix my lye in the morning before going to work and then when I get home I'm good to go. If it's a bit cooler out and some of my hard oils need a bit of melting I just give it a zap in the microwave for a minute.

 

[Sinful7]

I use a thermometer but I'm kinda ocd about stuff! I agree that there really isn't a wrong answer on this one. Whatever you are comfortable with is the right answer for ypu

 

[Seawolfe]

/me runs in screaming and tacklehugs Saurian

This is my imaginary friend who I bicker about soap with!! Saurian is very clever and precise, we were just bickering about this last night.

 

[songwind]

I generally just make sure neither component is above 120F/50C, and go ahead. The only time I've noticed temp mattering is soaping too hot, which caused fast trace and then it expansively gelled inside my column mold, making a bit of a mess.

 

[eyeroll]

I took temps the first two times I made soap, and haven't ever again. I soap at various temps: hot if I want to gel/am not doing designs, room temp if I am trying more complex designs.

IMO, instructions that dwell a lot on temps are some of the biggest obstacles, discouragements and needless sources of anxiety to new soapers.

 

[anani]

I prefer the look and feel of un-gelled soap and since the beginning, I've soaped only at room temperature and then put the soap directly in the fridge after pouring. I leave it there for a day or two or until it's ready to cut.

I mix my water and lye and set it (covered) on a shelf until it reaches room temp. I then melt my hard oils, add the liquid oils to that mixture and let those sit until they reach room temp. I've even done this the day or night before I plan to make soap and every batch I've made has turned out beautifully.

 

[saurian]

well the consensus is pretty overwhelming.... just make sure its not too hot and go ahead. I'll try that next time around and see if I notice any differences in the way things progress.

 

[Happysoap]

i agree with your friend. close is good enough.
too hot and you might get a "volcano" effect or separation.

 

[cmzaha]

I masterbatch my lye 50/50 solution so it is always room temp. After I melt my hard oils in the micro (if I have not materbatched them) I add in the liquid oils to bring down the oils temp. I tend to not masterbatch oils since so many of my soaps have different recipes

 

[seven]

I took temps the first two times I made soap, and haven't ever again. I soap at various temps: hot if I want to gel/am not doing designs, room temp if I am trying more complex designs.

IMO, instructions that dwell a lot on temps are some of the biggest obstacles, discouragements and needless sources of anxiety to new soapers.

+1 on this

 

[seven]

a fellow soapmaker once told me to make sure my oils is 50 celcius, my lye 48 celcius, if i want to prevent soda ash. i read something similar on soap queen's blog. i'm too lazy to find out though, coz that means another extra step of having to heat my oils
these days, i'm more concern about temps when i use lotsa td. that **** thing can cause havoc.. ugly streaks, in what would be a perfect smooth soap!

 

[EvilTOJ]

The first batch I ever made had some insane temp like 180ºF for the lye and room temp for the oils, and it burnt the oils so bad I had to just throw it out(I also used regular Drano, which I suggest no one ever do ever). Ever since then I try to keep them within 10 degrees of each other before mixing and at around 100ºF

I've also made lots of beer, so trying to dial in temps isn't that scary to me.

 

[bjannr]

My first batch of soap was 20+ years ago as a home school project. It was a container of Crisco a pound if lye and water. The instructions had me combine everything in a stainlesd steel pot and the heat from the lye melted the shortening. Things sure have changed.

 

[Meowmeow2d]

I'm new to soaping too and was wondering about the mixing temperature too. A lot of people of said that it doesn't matter exactly, as long as it's not too hot (because so fast trace, or as long as it feels similar. But what if my lye is room temperature and my oils are hot? There would be a big difference in temperature then. How does that affect everything? I'm finding it difficult to complete the whole soap making process with 2 kids! I need to break it up (more like get interrupted) in small steps.