Temprature Juggling ??

[boyago]

I the first soap instructions I read stated you always want your soap and lye to be as close as possible to 110F, one book I have the author uses the hot lye to melt her oils, another book I read stated as long as your lye is hotter than your oils you should be fine and if you oils are hotter than your lye you will get a lye erruption, and yet another book states you'll be okay so long as everything is within 15F of each other. I have been just mixing as close as possible to each other juggling between ice bath and hot water bath and things have worked as well as I expected. Anyone want to share and clarify or further confuse this?

 

[Dani]

I used to get so stressed over making sure my oils and lye were close in temp, then I decided it's just not worth the worry! I always try to mix my lye and oils under 100F, just to give myself more time to work with colors. I find that it goes to trace faster at higher temperatures. I don't really follow it too strictly because sometimes it just takes too long to bring those temps down in this Texas heat.
Today I accidentally forgot about my lye water in the ice bath and it was 75F while my oils were at 100F. I decided to mix them anyway, adding my lye a tiny bit at a time while mixing. Everything went great! I feel like you just have to go with what you are comfortable with.

 

[TVivian]

I've stopped taking temperatures too. My lye is almost always at room temperature because either I make it way ahead of time or I use ice and water to dissolve it in. My oils are just warm enough to get the hard oils and butters melted (whatever temperature that is) and then I mix. So far everything has turned out just fine.


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[savonierre]

I stopped taking temps, I do RTCP..Taking temps can make you crazy long before your time. I feel the lye water if it is lukewarm or colder that is my cue it is time to make the soap.

 

[stargazer44]

I never take temps. I mix lye the night before, or put it in front of a low fan. I melt my oils right before I use them, and if I am concerned about temp, I just feel the bowl. I tried taking temps once - too stressful! I did do the thermal soaping method too, but honestly room temp is stress free and EASY.

 

[Busyfingers]

I melt all my oils first then start the lye a cookin. I just like to make sure the two are between 10-20 degrees apart. I do like to soap around 90-100. It works for me and gives me the time I need. I move a tad on the turtle side.

 

[bobbie.johnson]

No temps here either. Lye is mixed before work then I make soap in the evening. I have very small children and just don't have time to wait an hour for they lye to cool. So it cools when no one is home all day. I only warm my hard oils on the stove till melted then add my liquid oils which cools thing down faster. Also I started throwing all my soaping tools in the pot afterwards and setting them out by my back entry. For me clean up is easier and you don't have to worry about active lye. The little batter left the next day is soap. Just how settled into doing things.


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[tkine]

I used to worry about temperatures, but now mix my lye & water the night before. I also premeasure out my oils & butters for several batches at a time. The morning I soap, I warm up my oils a bit in the microwave and make my soap. No more temp taking & I love it.

 

[greenmountainwife]

I use the thermal method, just a lot easier for me. I used to take temps, but then my thermometer broke and so I just stopped. What I do is stick blend my hard oils into my soft oils first. Then I mix my lye, and just wait until it isn't cloudy and all the lye is dissolved. Pour the lye water into the oils, and it melts the hard oils easily. Haven't had any problems doing it like this, and it's a lot less fuss. I don't like the idea of having lye premixed and sitting around to do room temp. Plus I only soap at night after my kids are in bed, and I don't have the patience for things to cool down.


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[alaskazimm]

I also find the thermal method to do just great. Measure the hard oils in the main soaping container, the liquid oils in a separate one. Mix the lye solution and once it's no longer cloudy pour it into the hard oils. It takes a few minutes for the hot lye to melt the oils, just stir every so often. Once the hard oils are melted, I add the liquid oils and from there it's basic soaping.

No more temperature madness or juggling.

 

[Forsenuf]

Another vote for no temperature-taking. I heat my hard oils just enough to melt them, the add my room temperature liquid oils. I make my lye solution with ice cubes, and once it's all dissolved, mix it with the oils. I couldn't tell you what temperature it all it- that's how long it's been since I measured any temperatures.

 

[judymoody]

I mix my lye solution first. By the time my oils are measured and melted and all of my equipment is laid out and ready to go, the lye is between 100-125 as are my oils. I use a point and shoot laser thermometer to do a quick check and that's it.

 

[sistrum]

I do kinda like Judy. Mix my lye, weigh out my oils, get everything else ready to go, melt the hard oils then pour in my liquid oils and add my lye and make my soap.

 

[Saswede]

Like the others, I seldom use a thermometer (although I always did at first, because I'd read that this was important). But when I started soaping at/around room temperature, the stress levels went way down!

The only time I use a thermometer now is when I use a milk or colored liquid (like a veg purée) for my lye solution, that doesn't allow me to see that all of the lye is dissolved. And I only use it shortly before I'm ready to start pouring the lye into the oils - just to check that if I stir, the temperature doesn't go up. If there's no temperature increase on stirring, then I can be pretty sure that all of the lye is dissolved, and I'm ready to go.


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[kazmi]

The only time I use my point and shoot laser thermometer is when I'm worried about overheating when adding lye to a frozen liquid or when gelling. I soap at RT so a thermometer isn't needed. I used to use it when I first started because all the instructions said it was necessary. Other than learning from it, if you are soaping at lower temps, it is not necessary.

 

[PinkCupcake]

When I first started soaping, I temped everything. As I have become more confident, I'm less likely to check temps. I like to soap pretty close to room temp, so, like everyone else is saying, I mix the lye, then measure & melt oils, and get everything else together. But I do think it was important for me to check the temps in the beginning, so I could understand what I was doing and why I was doing it.