# How long to harden?



## apoemge (Feb 4, 2019)

I realize it changes with each recipe but say you have a lb output of soap you would anticipate it takes how long to harden? By that I mean how long do you typically let it sit in the mold before you take it out. 

I've never had as many problems as I have on this one batch of soap. (Just whining) It doesn't seem to be getting hard enough to get out of the mold. 

Just wondering what an average time might be.


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## amd (Feb 4, 2019)

It depends on your recipe and lye concentration. If you post your recipe we can give you an estimate of what to expect.


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## Donee' (Feb 4, 2019)

I completely messed up my recipe and I dont think my one batch is ever going to harden - so dont feel lonely


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## apoemge (Feb 5, 2019)

How about this one: 

Canola oil 12 oz
coconut oil 8oz
Olive oil 8 oz

water 8.5 and lye 4.0 


And this one 

olive oil 4.0
Coconut 4.0 oz
lard 7 oz 
castor oil 1 

water 6oz and lye 2.2 oz 

I thought both of these sounded nice but as I've said, I rarely make soap and I generally make the same recipes that are very small batch (4-8 bars) and I just whip up a bunch to last us a few years and then do it all over again. But every time I make soap I try to make a recipe or two that sounds different or nice or uses up something I have on hand. 
Just trying to plan ahead a bit about how long to keep these in their pringle cans or molds.


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## Obsidian (Feb 5, 2019)

I use a lot of lard and can unmold within 12 hours. For recipes with softer oils, you might be looking at 24 hours.
Best thing to do it check your soap every few hours. Give it a gentle push, once it feels like a block of cheese, its time to cut.


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## cmzaha (Feb 5, 2019)

@ apoemge. Both recipes will be slow tracers and how soon you can de-mold will depend on trace. Do as Obsidian mentioned above

ETA: misread the post by apoemge


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## Hendejm (Feb 5, 2019)

So many variables for me and when to unmold - temp of oils/lye water, ambient temp in room, amount of water, how far along my trace is at pour, amount of hard oils/butters, etc. 

Overall I use a lot of hard oils/butters ( coconut, Shea, cocoa, mango, palm, crisco) and I do a pretty steep water discount, take batter to light to medium trace....I usually unmold on average about 7 to 10 hours. If adding salt - I unmold and cut in about 45 minutes.  If it’s really cold in my garage where I soap - it may take a bit longer.


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## Micchi (Feb 5, 2019)

I tend to unmold in the 18-24 hour range. My recipe uses more hard oils, but I soap in a very cold room. I have had batches need up to 48 hours in the mold, though.

When I first started out, I'd check at about 12 hours, then every little while after that.


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## Meena (Feb 5, 2019)

Your first recipe looks pretty soft.  I'll bet the Sat:Unsat ratio was quite low on the saturated end (too lazy to plug into soapcalc, sorry).  That one will probably be soft-ish in the mold at 24 hrs or even longer, but still okay to unmold, but  prepare for it to stay soft-ish for a while (take longer to cure) -- or that's what's happening with my 3rd batch of soap which I considered experimental at a Sat:Unsat ratio of 34:66.  It had one hard oil and one semi-hard.  If you are fond of that recipe / really like that soap once you try it,  you can add 1 tsp. salt PPO to help harden the bar.  Add to your water and dissolve the salt before dissolving your lye in the same water.

Re your second recipe, I'd expect to unmold that in 24 hours.  Some here have had to leave soaps in the mold for 2 or 3 days (rarely longer), so don't worry too much.


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