Teach Soap

Your lye water solution gets TOO COLD???

A) What does that cause in Soap? Epic failure? Slow to come to trace?

B) How do you fix it?

I ask because I am not always great at timing things...so I have been wondering...what do you do if it gets too cold?

I'm thinking in the winter, when our house NEVER gets warm enough if you ask me...what would I do then?

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

I would carefully put your lye pitcher in the sink and fill the sink with very warm water. Lye and oils do not need to be at the same exact temp. 10 degrees or so should not make much difference.

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

So adding heat GENTLY (hot water bath) IS KOSHER? Good to know...NOTHING I swear NOTHING has covered this unless I just flat out missed it somehow (which could be the case)..and I have been wondering about it...

THANK YOU

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

Yes, that's kosher. This hasn't been covered as it comes from experience.

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

Well thank goodness someone knows though! I would have just sat there stumped come winter staring at cold lye in my goggles....I swear...I draw a blank on SIMPLE things sometimes!

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

Ladies, but what if you have both lye and oils about 80-83 degrees? Won't it react?
Never got down to that, though. But what if.

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I am Lora

It's okay if the lye is around 85F or so. Even if the oils are a bit warmer. The trace will take longer to achieve, but you'll still eventually get soap.

Many soap makers soap using room temperature lye. It works. However, if your recipe has a lot of saturated butters or oils, the lye might cool them down enough that you risk getting false trace.

I usually soap at around 110-115 for oils and lye is sometimes at 80-90 and I've never had a problem.

Being a beginner, I still can't tell if the soap if "faking trace" though LOL...I might have a "faker" on my hands and not know it so I think I am gonna stick with warmer lye water over room temp for now so as to avoid any faking me out. Now...when I get brave enough to give whipped soap a go, all bets are off on hot/warm lye and it will be heavily chilled instead, well, that's gonna be different I suppose

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

I make whipped soap and my lye mixture goes in the freezer to remove all heat from it.

The main downside I noticed to my lye mixture getting too cold is that it seems to form a slight skin on the top, that when stirred, breaks into flake like pieces. These can affect the outcome (both look and overall outcome) of my soap. That said, all my lye mixtures are run through a strainer as I pour into my oils so it usually catches those flakes.

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

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

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

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

So once the lye has precipitated out, there is no making it go back where it came from (specifically I mean stirring it back into the water is not gonna work) so is there any other way to fix that? Add more water by a tad bit until it turns clear again? Or start over completely with your lye and water solution?

Just wondering...taking notes for future reference...

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

I just checked my notes and when I did that batch of whipped soap had put my lye pitcher (very well marked) in the fridge and did measure the temp before I added it to my whipped oils. My lye was at 65 degrees. I did not see any preciptate, but then I was doing fulll water...did not have to hold some back for another additive, like milk.

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