One of my imaginary friends has also gotten into soaping, and we love to share ideas and bicker.
I have read that it only helps to super fat after HP cooking if you want a single oil as the super fat, that adding super fat oils at trace does nothing.
This makes sense to me because after the HP cook, I know that saponification has occurred, it isn't zappity. I've assumed that when oils and lye reaches trace, it is simply an emulsion, like mayonnaise.
But my friend found this page, which is a handy reference for the properties of oil: http://www.colebrothers.com/soap/oils.html
Among other things, the author states that:
And now I'm all confused. Is trace an emulsion or saponification?
I have read that it only helps to super fat after HP cooking if you want a single oil as the super fat, that adding super fat oils at trace does nothing.
This makes sense to me because after the HP cook, I know that saponification has occurred, it isn't zappity. I've assumed that when oils and lye reaches trace, it is simply an emulsion, like mayonnaise.
But my friend found this page, which is a handy reference for the properties of oil: http://www.colebrothers.com/soap/oils.html
Among other things, the author states that:
Superfatting soap by decreasing the lye content eliminates the step of adding oil at trace but decreases the control that the soap maker has over what oil is left in the soap. For example, if 5% cocoa butter was added as part of the base oil (say 95% Olive Oil) and the lye amount was calculated for a 5% excess fat level the excess fat in the soap would be made up of a combination of Olive oil and cocoa butter with most of the excess fat being Olive oil. If the same batch was mixed using just Olive Oil at a 1% excess fat level and the cocoa butter was added at the trace stage you would know that the final soap bar contained 1% olive oil and 5% cocoa butter. The cocoa butter would have in this case been unaffected by the lye since it was added after the soap had traced.
...
Trace - The point at which the soap/lye mixture begins to thicken. At this point the solution is about 80-90% saponified and essential oils, superfatting oils, soap colors , additives, etc can be added without their characteristics being changed substantially by the saponification process.
And now I'm all confused. Is trace an emulsion or saponification?