Temperature and time before trace and using FO's

[jasues]

Wondering if the higher the temp of oil and lye the longer the time before trace occurs.??? Also when using the CP method and using EO's we are at a temp of 110 degrees for both oils and lye .What are your thoughts about the temp??
We are now experimenting with FO's should we decrease the temp or mix the FO's into the oils instead of directly into the batch??? We are attempting to get the strongest scent with the EO's without exceeding the manufactures percent per pound

 

[Fragola]

Higher temperature - shorter time to trace.

I believe fragrances are best added at the last possible moment, to minimize the evaporation.

 

[IrishLass]

Higher temperature - shorter time to trace.

I just wanted to throw the caveat out there that while the above quote is generally true, there is this pesky thing called 'pseudo trace' that happens to batches with a high proportion of fats that contain a high amount of stearic acid that are soaped too cool. True- pseudo trace' is not a true trace where the thickening is caused by actual saponification speeding up, but from the vantage point of the panicking soaper worriedly looking down into her/his pot of quickly thickening batter, it looks and feels just like accelerated trace is happening. What's really going on, though, is that the stearic acid present in the hard fats is resolidifying and precipitating out of the mix because the temps are not hot enough to keep them in fluid suspension. Just thought I'd give the heads up on that.

Also when using the CP method and using EO's we are at a temp of 110 degrees for both oils and lye .What are your thoughts about the temp??

I don't soap with EOs so I'm not the best one to answer that. Hopefully more will chime in on that.

We are now experimenting with FO's should we decrease the temp or mix the FO's into the oils instead of directly into the batch???

That depends on the particular FO. Through trial and error, I've learned which of my FOs do fine with adding to my oils, and which don't. I would estimate that about 98% to 99% of my FOs do perfectly fine mixing them into the oils. A lot of troublemaking FOs especially do well with this method- it takes the orneriness right out of them- but there are a few that just insist on being ornery no matter what. About 1% to 2% of my FOs are in that extra ornery catagory, and the only thing that gets them to behave is to HP them.

IrishLass

 

[dcornett]

110 is good I usually try to shoot for about 115...
As far as when to add the fo, I also have some that I add to my oils before adding the lye (just so I don't forget it later) and I have never noticed a difference in the end product. No matter how late you wait to add any ingredient to the batch the lye is still very active, so waiting isn't really going to help...(unless you do hp)...from my understanding.

 

[cwayneu]

Ditto Fragola and IrishLass. In fact we do most of ours RTCP (Room Temperature Cold Process) to slow it down. This is especially helpful if you plan to do a lot of fancy multicolor swirling in your slab or log mold. You need all the time you can get between pouring at a light trace, and doing your artwork, before it turns into a brick. And as IrishLass said, there are just some FO's that will give you soap on a stick within seconds, no matter what you do.

 

[Soapsugoii]

Oh ya, higher temps definitely mean quicker to trace for me. Now that I've cut down my coconut oil percentage it's less of a problem tho. Coconut oil is probably my favorite soaping oil but it sure is prone to overheating and causing any number of headaches for me when used in too high a percentage.

I also used to mix my fragrance at the last possible moment but I add everything to my base oils at the beginning now and haven't noticed a difference.

Question on colors tho: I've been adding my lab colors etc to the lye water. Do you think it makes a difference? Should I add it to the soap/oils afte mixing? It's high pH colorant

 

[cwayneu]

Oh ya, higher temps definitely mean quicker to trace for me. Now that I've cut down my coconut oil percentage it's less of a problem tho. Coconut oil is probably my favorite soaping oil but it sure is prone to overheating and causing any number of headaches for me when used in too high a percentage.

I also used to mix my fragrance at the last possible moment but I add everything to my base oils at the beginning now and haven't noticed a difference.

Question on colors tho: I've been adding my lab colors etc to the lye water. Do you think it makes a difference? Should I add it to the soap/oils afte mixing? It's high pH colorant

Never tried that one, probably because we often are doing multicolor and that would not work well. ;-) We have often added TD (for whitening) to the lye water when we have an FO that tends to discolor. Getting colors the way you want them is usually a very difficult art.

 

[Fragola]

If your colors mix well with lye water, go ahead. Other colors mix better with oils ...

 

[Soapsugoii]

Yea I've been using lab colors and they are diluted in water so don't mix well with the oils. When I swirl I add colors later but recently I've been trying to get really vivid solid colors. Like, superbright. Think I might give the neon micah from tkb a go in the next few weeks. Labcolors seem to take a lot

 

[Dragonkaz]

I soap castile at higher temps 40+, but all other soaps are probably mid 30's ... room temp. Which is a bit hard at the moment as South Aussie is experiencing a heat wave and the past two weekends have been in the high 30's and low 40's ... makes a very hot 'soaping' day.

If I'm making swirls, I remove the batter (minus EO/FO) and colour it, then add the EO/FO to the main batter and get it to trace.

Generally I add EO/FO's last ... or just before a swirl.