# Cold process soap - sweating



## Vetiver (Jun 26, 2018)

Hi soapmakers, 

I have my cold process soap in storage and it`s winter here in Australia. I`ve noticed beads of sweat on all of my soaps. I store them in cardboard boxes with 2 holes on each side for ventilation. Will this clear up naturally on its own when the winter ends or what is the best thing to do. I have about 70 soaps in these boxes. I am quite new to soap making so would love to hear from you and your experiences with this.

Thanks,
Tanya


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## Relle (Jun 26, 2018)

Where in Australia are you ? Has it been raining a lot where you are ?  You say your soap is in storage ( do you mean in a storage unit ?)
My soap is sealed and is stored in a cardboard box (no lid), I haven't had any sweating lately and we have had a lot of rain. They are in the laundry stacked on plywood on top of an old bath.

I would put your soap on a rack in the box, take off the lid if there is one and let more air circulate, see of that dries them out.


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## Vetiver (Jun 26, 2018)

I`m in Melbourne. The soaps are stored in a storage room inside my house - no heating used in the room. I keep them in stacked boxes on a table. I have some other soap sitting on drying racks outside the boxes and those have more sweat/dew than the ones in the boxes with lids. I thought about covering the boxes with a blanket.


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## Relle (Jun 26, 2018)

Sounds like the weather could be causing the sweating. I had this happen some years ago when we had rain for weeks on end, I just wiped them down and left them on the racks and they eventually dried out again.


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## Vetiver (Jun 26, 2018)

Thanks - I`ll just leave them for now then and let them dry.


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## earlene (Jun 26, 2018)

My soaps are sweating now, too, but it's summer here.  For me it's a high humidity problem.  I cannot keep up with the dehumidifier, which is pulling out a bucketful of water out of the air every couple of days.  I have resorted to a fan in the room because I know it will dry the air better than the dehumidifier does once it turns off and I don't empty the bucket (my bad, but it's a huge pain to constantly empty out that darn bucket!)  Trouble is, my husband isn't hard of hearing like me, so the fan bothers him.

Is it possible to augment your room with a fan to help dry out the air?


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## penelopejane (Jun 26, 2018)

I cure my soap on open racks for a minimum of 12 weeks before I put them in boxes. My salt soap takes 6 months to stop sweating.

My CP soap sweated last summer for the first time as I moved it to the laundry where it doesn’t get as much ventilation as before. I had to resort to a fan for a few days. After less than 12 weeks they are fine.

Don’t use a blanket - your soap needs more air, preferably dry air.
If your storage room is uninsulated or if there isn’t enough air flow you are going to have even more trouble in the heat of summer.


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## lsg (Jun 27, 2018)

Try using a room dehumidifier if your soap is sweating.


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## [email protected] (Jul 2, 2018)

I have noticed some of my cured soaps becoming softer, and a few had the beginnings of beads of moisture. 
My work room is very cold, and though the soaps were in card boxes, they were under a low bench. I am attributing it to the higher moisture levels and cold of our southern winter...cant wait to experience the changes during a wet winter  not.


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## penelopejane (Jul 4, 2018)

[email protected] said:


> I have noticed some of my cured soaps becoming softer, and a few had the beginnings of beads of moisture.
> My work room is very cold, and though the soaps were in card boxes, they were under a low bench. I am attributing it to the higher moisture levels and cold of our southern winter...cant wait to experience the changes during a wet winter  not.



It's cold here too Sandra, especially in my soaping room. 
I have made a few soft soaps lately.  I was putting it down to Sodium gluconate trials. 
So I am interested to hear that you have some soft soap too.  Maybe it's the cold.


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## [email protected] (Jul 4, 2018)

penelopejane said:


> It's cold here too Sandra, especially in my soaping room.
> I have made a few soft soaps lately.  I was putting it down to Sodium gluconate trials.
> So I am interested to hear that you have some soft soap too.  Maybe it's the cold.


these were soaps that had cured for 12 weeks, hardened, and lathering beautifully. Yet they have softened over june
, its odd. I keep a dehumidifier in my work room too.


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## penelopejane (Jul 4, 2018)

Strange.


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