Soaping weather in Canada

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CreativeWeirdo

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Hi all,
VERY new here (and to soap making in general)! I'm wondering if any Canadian Cold Process soappers have any advice on "room temperature"? I've seen some Americans say to have your base oils and lye solution at 120 degrees F?!?!?! Now, I've seen others that say "85 degrees F is just fine" and 80 degrees F is "a little cool". Excuse me? To me, 26 C (80F) is a VERY HOT room temperature! I would have to have my furnace running all year long! Do you all have crazy high heating bills? Or am I missing something? I know you can heat your base oils, but do you reheat your lye solution if it gets too cold? That seems way too scary to me. Any advice on temperatures is greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much,
CW
 
Don't even worry about soap temperatures until you get the hang of making more soap. I make all of mine at round 40 degrees. The lye heats the solution so i wait for it to cool down a bit, and the hard oils are heated to melt before I add the liquid oils, so i generally have to wait for them to cool a bit too. I always add some ice cubes to my water so that the lye doesn't got overly hot when I add it. For the first 2 years of soaping I never even knew what my temperatures were, I just felt the outside of the container and if it was just a bit warm then i was good to go.
Once you get more experienced you may want to do more fancy stuff, at which time cooler soap is generally slower to thicken and allows more time for such things.
Word of warning - don't overuse the stick blender. We've all been there at the beginning so I thought I'd get in early before you seize your first batch of soap by over-blending :)
 
Don't even worry about soap temperatures until you get the hang of making more soap. I make all of mine at round 40 degrees. The lye heats the solution so i wait for it to cool down a bit, and the hard oils are heated to melt before I add the liquid oils, so i generally have to wait for them to cool a bit too. I always add some ice cubes to my water so that the lye doesn't got overly hot when I add it. For the first 2 years of soaping I never even knew what my temperatures were, I just felt the outside of the container and if it was just a bit warm then i was good to go.
Once you get more experienced you may want to do more fancy stuff, at which time cooler soap is generally slower to thicken and allows more time for such things.
Word of warning - don't overuse the stick blender. We've all been there at the beginning so I thought I'd get in early before you seize your first batch of soap by over-blending :)

This validates me so much! Thank you!!!! I've also JUST saw on a different thread, someone wrote an article specifically on Low Temperature soap making (Tutorial on Low Temperature Soap Making) I'm reading it right now. I can't remember what this women's username was, but I replied to her post thanking her for sharing it. I just joined so I'm still trying to figure out my way around and how to work things. Thank again for your reassurance! I appreciate it!

EDIT: Her screen name is tildy. Sorry; I don't know if/how to tag someone. I hope she knows how much I appreciate her!
 
Last edited:
Hi all,
VERY new here (and to soap making in general)! I'm wondering if any Canadian Cold Process soappers have any advice on "room temperature"? I've seen some Americans say to have your base oils and lye solution at 120 degrees F?!?!?! Now, I've seen others that say "85 degrees F is just fine" and 80 degrees F is "a little cool". Excuse me? To me, 26 C (80F) is a VERY HOT room temperature! I would have to have my furnace running all year long! Do you all have crazy high heating bills? Or am I missing something? I know you can heat your base oils, but do you reheat your lye solution if it gets too cold? That seems way too scary to me. Any advice on temperatures is greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much,
CW
I think there is a mix-up of Room Temperature and of Soaping Temperature in those descriptions you are quoting.

Of course, there is the fact that what one person describes as Room Temperature is not what another person may consider Room Temperature, and the existence or lack of central heating and/or air conditioning will also affect that description.

But still, when people mention 120°F lye, they are NOT talking about Room Temperature lye (unless they live in an extremely hot climate that has no Air Conditioning unit to cool the air).
 

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