Zap testing during hot process

[Wolf_In_The_Wood]

On my first batch of hot process, I started the mix outside the crockpot because I wasn't sure if it would all fit... after some mixing and getting to medium trace it did seem like it would go, so I added it in and out of curiosity, did a zap test... definitely positive!

Is this expected? I kind of started it out like a cold process, so I figured it should be saponified. I thought maybe it was false trace (deer tallow is an ingredient) so kept stirring and stirring and stirring... and my stick blender overheated.

I ran all my ingredients through soap calc twice and the ratios should be good. The batch is still sitting in the crock pot, edges looking more gelled. Just worried and looking for reassurance, thanks!

 

[earlene]

Saponification is not instantaneous! It takes time. HP speeds that up, but since you didn't start with HP, you actually started by doing CP, you zap tested soap batter that was way to 'raw' to expect a negative zap test. If it didn't zap at that point, I would be surprized, actually. But I also wouldn't do a zap test while my soap was still liquid, either.

In CP, I don't do a zap test until I have solid soap, and then not even the first day after cutting. I wait a few days, usually not until I am ready to do a test hand washing.

In fact, I don't even zap test HP until the same time unless I actually see large bits of unknown stuff in the soap.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

A lot of people (who aren't on here!) will tell you that trace is a point where you can add in things as a super fat because the lye is already reacted. It isn't, it's barely begun!

From the point of trace, cp takes another 24 hours or so - all hp does is speed that part up to just a couple of hours.

In both hp and cp, trace just means that lye is starting to react.

 

[Susie]

^^^What they said!!!

Also, before you think that you can skip cure by making HP, you can't. It still needs 4-6 weeks (if not longer) to cure, regardless of what the folks on YouTube tell you.

 

[BeesKnees]

^^^What they said!!!

Also, before you think that you can skip cure by making HP, you can't. It still needs 4-6 weeks (if not longer) to cure, regardless of what the folks on YouTube tell you.

Or the teacher of an HP class that I took!