Teach Soap

I'm a little fustrated. So far I have had three batches go bad on me because the temperature of the lye vs the oil is dropping too low on me. It finally dawned on me why I am having such a hard time controlling the temperatures. It used to be that I would prep my lye and then melt all the hard oils. When I would pour the hard oils into the soft oils both mixtures (Lye Water and Oils) would be right at 110-115. Lately they have been dropping down to 95-100 quick.

My mixtures are tracing fast and just the batch that I made the other night with Lilac ended up with Lye pockets. I just realised that the temperature in the house is much, much colder now than a couple of months back when it was so warm around here.

What does mostly everyone do to control the temperatures of both mixtures?
I just made another batch this evening and my lye water cooled pretty quickly while my oils were still pretty warm. I had to place the oils in a ice bath to bring the temperature down, but I was scrambling to catch up with the temp of the lye water. Everything seems to have turned out ok so far...but I am wondering if anyone has any other suggestions?

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Roxana
*** Just keep trying
Follow my Soaping Journey at:

You can gently heat up your oils to 110. Do you have a thermometer? When oils are too low, you can get a false trace and lye pockets. For lye, put your pitcher into the skin and fill the sink with very warm water to get the temp up.

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

Thanks Soap Buddy. Yes I have an infrared thermometer and that's how I am finding out how quickly the temps are dipping now versus before.

I will try the your tip about putting the lye pitcher in warm water. Maybe that will do the trick to help me keep the temp a little more controllable.
Thank you!

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Roxana
*** Just keep trying
Follow my Soaping Journey at:

You're welcome. Good luck on your next batch.

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

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