Is it necessary to allow the lye solution to heat up?

[Guest]

I made my first batch of CP soap; it was a lard soap. I was not so hot on waiting for the lye solution to cool. I used a sainless steel mixing bowl (for the purpose of sucking heat out of the lye) in an icebath of saltwater and ice. The temp of the bath was below freezing and I added my lye to water slowly, in parts after the water had chilled. The solution did not heat up over 50 degrees. Then it hit me that I was going to have to wait for it to warm up before i could add it to my oils.. gawd... and added the last part outside of the ice bath where it eventually reached 80 degrees and I mixed it with the fats and oils when they were within 10 degrees of eachother.

what I am wondering is, is it necessary for the lye to heat up? I know it is going to but does the heat play a part in the sopanification? Am I going to get the same results with cold lye solution or a solution that never got hot?

This was my first batch of soap ever. I just extraced and sliced it a few days ago. Its dark on the inside with a fine lighter "crust".. and it is getting some ash on the surface.

Thank you. I love making soap! My next is going to use pink champagne in place of water.

pic: Do they look weird?

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y32/wo ... /photo.jpg

Here is the recipe. I cut it into 1/4th because I only had 1lb lard. I also used distilled water.

32 oz. cold water (4 cups)
12 oz. lye crystals
2 oz. beeswax (melt with fats)
4 pounds lard (64 oz.)
12 oz. olive oil
8 oz. coconut oil
4 oz. cocoa butter
1/4c honey
1-2t vanilla EO
1/4c finely ground oats (steel cut)

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome bashfulbyte!

To answer your question- yes- heat plays a major role in saponification, and -no- you won't get the same exact results from soaping with a cold lye solution as you would from a warmer lye solution. To explain- the warmer/hotter your lye/oils, the quicker saponification will happen (i.e., the quicker things get turned into soap). The cooler things are, the slower the whole process progresses.

Also, you will need to keep in mind the melting points of the fats you are using. If you soap too cool with some of the harder fats, they will resolidify out of their heated/liquid state before the lye can react properly with them, causing your raw soap batter to go into what is known as 'pseudo-trace', the results of which show up as white 'stearic spots/globs' appearing throughout your finished bars of soap.

From your description of a darker inside and a lighter crust, it sounds like your soap went through what is known as a 'partial gel' stage. In effect, the inside of your soap is further along in the saponification process than the outside of your soap. By the way, the 'gel stage' is when the chemical reaction between the lye solution and oils intensifies, causing the soap batter to heat up to the point that it become gel-like in consistency. The gel stage always starts in the center of the soap and then spreads outward. If the heat is consistently maintained, your soap will be able to gel all the way to the outer edges before cooling down and solidifying, which will not only give you a more uniform looking soap, but a more uniformly saponified soap from the outset. If the heat is not maintained for whatever reason, you get what is known as 'partial gel'.

Is the gel stage necessary? No. Ungelled soap will still become good soap eventually, but it will just take longer to 'get there' than gelled soap. Some soapers like to gel their soap for certain reasons and other soapers like to avoid gel for different reasons (there are several threads on this subject if you do a search). It's all a matter of personal preference, but I'm pretty safe in saying that we all pretty much try to avoid partial gel if we can help it. Not that fully cured partially gelled soap is bad soap or anything, mind you (it's good soap as long as it does not zap), it's just that the color is not as uniform as we may have planned.

My next is going to use pink champagne in place of water.

Just make sure to let it go completely flat before you mix the lye in it or else you will have a dangerous, caustic volcano on your hands.


IrishLass

 

[Dennis]

What she said.

And your soap looks great.

 

[Hazel]

I think your soap looks great, too.

I was wondering what the alcohol content is in your champagne. Alcohol can cause acceleration or seizing. Generally when I use beer or wine, I simmer the liquid on the stove, let it cool and pour it back in the bottle. Then I place it in the frig so it will be cold when I want to make a batch.

Good luck with your champagne batch. It sounds interesting and I look forward to seeing pics..