What temperatures does everyone soap with?

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I'm curious as to what temperatures everyone soaps with. I personally soap at around 110 degrees and fully gel.

I wonder if the 10 degree rule is followed by everyone or is it a personal choice?

Would really love some feedback on this!
 
I soap at room temperature and I also do thermal transfer soaping, where the I use hot lye to melt my hard oils & butters.

How you do find the thermal transfer method? I've not heard of it until today. It sounds really interesting. Any no no's with this method?
 
My magic number is 115. It seems that the batches that I have had problems with are higher or lower. I also fully gel.

I like 115 myself and you're right now that I think of it - I've not had any trouble with the 115 batches. I find reaching trace is easier at that temperature too.
 
How you do find the thermal transfer method? I've not heard of it until today. It sounds really interesting. Any no no's with this method?

I like it. My recipes are high in olive oil & I use close to full water, so my batches take a long time to trace. Usually that's what I want so I can play with swirls & such. But sometimes when I'm not doing swirls, I want it to trace quicker, that's when I do thermal transfer.

I can't think of any no-no's off hand, except that if you use palm or cocoa butters in your recipe, it might not work. My hardest oils/butters are just coconut 76 & shea butter.
 
I like it. My recipes are high in olive oil & I use close to full water, so my batches take a long time to trace. Usually that's what I want so I can play with swirls & such. But sometimes when I'm not doing swirls, I want it to trace quicker, that's when I do thermal transfer.

I can't think of any no-no's off hand, except that if you use palm or cocoa butters in your recipe, it might not work. My hardest oils/butters are just coconut 76 & shea butter.

I started a new thread about Thermal Transfer. It sounds fascinating!
 
When I first started soaping, one of the very first recipes I read said to go 113. I did that and it worked perfectly. When I'm feeling lazy I might have one around 100 and one around 115...still no problem.
 
Room temp.
I've never taken temps. Even before I did the RTCP method. Before then, I would just leave the oils and lye to sit until they were just warm to the touch of the outside of the bowl and I'd soap.
 
I soap around room temp, but sometimes I get impatient and soap between 85-90. It usually works out better for me to soap at room temp because 1) I have kids and pets and stuff and so I get busy and hovering around my lye and taking temps isn't productive; and 2) because I usually want to swirl and working at room temp definitely affords me the chance to play around a little.
 
I soap as close to room temp as I can get especially with goats milk soap. I never go over 85 degrees and have never had a problem. Thermal transfering sounds interesting. I would love to learn more about that genny
 
I soap as close to room temp as I can get especially with goats milk soap. I never go over 85 degrees and have never had a problem. Thermal transfering sounds interesting. I would love to learn more about that genny

Honestly, it's not as interesting as the name makes it sound.
It's really just laziness on my part & using my hot lye water to melt my hard oils/butters. Really, it should be called Impatient CP Soaping.
 
Honestly, it's not as interesting as the name makes it sound.
It's really just laziness on my part & using my hot lye water to melt my hard oils/butters. Really, it should be called Impatient CP Soaping.

I didn't know it had a name at all :thumbup:

No one ever told me I had to be all scientific about soaping. Except for the
MEASURE EXACTLY and DON'T PLAY WITH THE LYE parts. :-D
 
I like soaping between 80 and 90 degrees, any lower and I have issues with stearic streaks. I like to use milk and EO that tend to evaporate away at high temps, so I tend to soap cool.
 
I thought I posted this already but I don't see it on this thread. So here we go again and my apology if it's a double post that my phone isn't showing.

I let my lye water cool while I get ready so I can let my oils and lye water get around an even temperature. I thought hot lye water on cooler oils can cause a lye volcano. Thoughts?
 
I thought I posted this already but I don't see it on this thread. So here we go again and my apology if it's a double post that my phone isn't showing.

I let my lye water cool while I get ready so I can let my oils and lye water get around an even temperature. I thought hot lye water on cooler oils can cause a lye volcano. Thoughts?

It's posted to another rtcp thread.
 
I thought I posted this already but I don't see it on this thread. So here we go again and my apology if it's a double post that my phone isn't showing.

I let my lye water cool while I get ready so I can let my oils and lye water get around an even temperature. I thought hot lye water on cooler oils can cause a lye volcano. Thoughts?

I'd love to hear about the volcano possibility too!
 
I have not been soaping long enough to have a set temperature that I use on a regular basis. I am starting to get my process down and it seems like I will be soaping between 90-100 F.
 

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