Teach Soap

So I finally got my supplies in the mail today and I'm going to start making my first batch of soap. BUT, I wanted to clarify a few things first - thank goodness for this forum. I've watched the videos, read the books, done all my research...

But first - do you use room temp water, or cold water? For some reason, water temp isn't mentioned anywhere.

Second - I have a digital scale, but when measuring out your oils and stuff, how do you factor in the weight of the measuring cup you're using? Do you weigh it first and then subtract that weight from your total? What do you guys do?

Oh - and how do you know what is the best temperature to use?

You can use cold water, but the lye will heat it up. Wait til your oils and lye are at about 110 degrees before combining the two. Does your scale have a tare feature? If not, you will need to subtract the weight of any pots or cups that you use. If it does just tare the scale after you put your cup on.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

The temp can depend on the oils and butters you use. Like bees wax will start to solidify at lower temps. Alot of soapers will have their favorite temp. After years of experience or so many do not even check the temp... just go by the feel of the pot. I usually soap at 100-110. And I still check my temps. There is a concern that if you soap too cool you could get a false trace. I never have - but watch closely incase the soaping gremlins get in my house!

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

I use the cold filtered water from my fridge to make the lye solution. I mix it before measuring my oils so that by the time my oils are measured/melted the temps are about the same (aroung 110).

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Hi, Arianna! I like to use chilled water, so I keep my distilled water in the fridge. Before I start, I also make an ice bath on one side of my sink so after my lye is dissolved I can rest my plastic pitcher in the ice bath and keep stirring to help bring the temp down quicker. That way I'm not waiting around all day for my lye solution to cool down.

Check to see if you scale has a tare feature. You put your container on the scale and then press the tare button to reset the scale to zero with your container still on it. That way, you're only measuring the ingredients and not the container. I have two scales - one I bought from Bramble Berry and another from LotionCrafter.

Like Bubbles says, your soaping temperature may depend on your ingredients, but I generally soap around 100-110 degrees. Sometimes you want to soap on the cooler end if you're using honey or milk or something like that that can cause the batch to heat up. Soaping too cool can cause a false trace, though, so be careful about that.

Have fun with your first batch!

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- Jenny -
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