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Soap & Candle Making

Am I doing hot or cold process? Help!

garden_obsessed

15 years ago

Hello there!

I'm new to soap making. I have a recipe in a book for "basic soap making". It uses lye.

This may sound stupid, but I can't tell from the recipe if this is cold or hot process soap making. I need a stove, and I cook it but does that make it a "hot process"?

For some reason I thought recipies that used LYE were ALL HOT process and those that DO NOT use LYE are cold process. Did I get this wrong? I need to know because I want to order some supplies and I'm not sure what to order.

Thanks! :)

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Comment (1)

Brent B
15 years ago
Hello garden_obsessed,

If you are adding heat (externally), then it is hot processed soap making. This is accomplished over a stove/crockpot for example, and you start with the cold process method. Then, you bring the cold process to trace over external heat and then glop it into a mold to get the desired shape. The soap can be use immediately, but is better after a few weeks.

Lye is required no matter which process you are doing; hot or cold (or RT).

Cold processed soap is made from using a cold lye solution ( I have made my solution the day before) and you can melt the fats in a microwave, for example. Then, mix the fats/oils with the lye solution. Then, pour it into a mold for shape. In this method, the soap is not able to be used for at least a few days (the lye is still active), and better after a month or so.

One method which kind of borders the 2 processes is RT method; Room Temperature. In this method you use the heat of the lye solution to help melt the fats that you use. This method requires that you use the lye solution immediately, while it is still hot.

If you did not know, the lye solution gets upwards to 200F, it's hot.
When I make my solution, I use all ice cubes, and when the lye is dissolved, it can be used (10 minutes or so).

I soley make cold process now, and I have made other methods before.
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