I’m not sold on the benefits of gel either. I think it’s recipe and additive dependent. Most often I am using lye concentrations of 33% or 37%, and unless I add something like pumpkin or beer, the soaps don’t want to gel for my recipes. When I’m using micas, the colors are bright even if they don’t gel. With some of the natural colorants I use, the colors get deeper and more intense with gel, but not necessarily brighter. I’m actually thinking about revising all of my recipes to 37% lye concentration and then lowering it only if I think there’s a compelling reason. That should keep me out of the zone where I risk partial gel, e.g. with pumpkin as an additive. I also want to add that, so far, I have had no problems with acceleration in my OO and lard based recipes due to using 37%. I haven’t had a chance to test 37% for butter and palm rich recipes, but have noticed that unrefined Shea moves more quickly than refined Shea in the same recipe using 33% lye. I am wary of using palm or butters without getting them fully melted. I rarely get ash, but I have had issues with steric and palmitic spots.