Soapmaking 101

Lesson 5: Soapmaking Instructions: Part One

Step Three: Heat the oils and the fats

Weigh out all the oils called for in your recipe. Place them all in the large stainless steel pot and place the pot on the stove at low to medium low heat. Stir the oils gently to blend them well. Check the combination temperature (the correct temperature at which you should mix the oils with the lye/water solution) required in the recipe. Don't heat the oils to more than 20° above this temperature. Once the oils are melted and combined, set pot aside to cool to the combination temperature.

I cannot emphasize how important it is that you carefully weigh your ingredients. The chemical process (saponification) will not take place correctly if you do not have the correct amount of saponifiables and the correct amount of lye. Remember you cannot substitute one oil for another without checking their SAP values and rerunning the recipe through a lye calculator.

In this photo I am weighing out my avocado oil - can you see it's rich, dark green color? The final soap bar will be a pale green because of the natural color of this oil!

My oils are almost fully melted and I am removing them from the heat to let them cool to my desired temperature.

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