Am I impatient or did I goof?

[raynedanser]

I attempted my first cold process batch this afternoon - just a basic olive oil and lye/water mix recipe first time out. I thought everything went pretty well, except it's been in the mold for a couple of hours and there's really been no significant change in it thickening up.

It's in a wooden mold and I have it covered on my counter - shouldn't it be doing more by now? I double checked my measurements and they seem to have been ok. Did I maybe not let it trace enough? Or am I just being a noob and I'm impatient?

Thanks for the help!

Den

 

[azimuth]

Olve oil soaps take a very long time to set up and even longer to cure!! Give it another few days and check it then. I just made some castile (olive oil soap) and it's STILL not out of the mold a week later.

 

[raynedanser]

Thank you! That's a relief to know. It's the one thing that the recipe did NOT mention (for as easy as it was to follow).

Now I'll relax a bit more.

 

[ericllucas]

My first batch of olive oil soap took three days to firm up enough to cut it without mooshing all over the place. Patience. Search this forum for "Water Discounting" for information on how to not have to endure such long set-up times again.

 

[raynedanser]

I don't mind the long set up time. I've got some homemade soaps to hold me over until this one is done. Mostly, I just wanted to make sure I didn't mess up.

It's reassuring to know it IS me being impatient, because I'm great at that. ;-)

 

[Soapy Gurl]

You can make a basic recipe with CO, OO and PO that will set up in 24 hours and be ready to use in a month. From what I read on here Castile takes months and months before it is ready to use. That is why I haven't tried a batch yet! I am impatient.

 

[raynedanser]

I get the CO and the OO, but remind me what PO is?

 

[pure&simple]

PO is palm oil. But I find lard is much better if you don't mind animal fat.

 

[raynedanser]

Showing my noob-ness... Is this still cold process, if it uses animal fat/lard?

I definitely need a different cold process recipe, though thankfully I only did a small batch.

 

[fiddletree]

Yup, still cold process. Anything that is fat/butter/oil+water+lye isn't heated up is cold process.