Can’t beat the heat of honey!

[Nanooo48]

Soo I soaped at around 109 degrees. I usually go hotter but knowing I was adding honey I was trying to keep it low.
I left mold in freezer overnight! Wrapped with ice even! And still couldn’t beat that gel! Lol!

DAG NABBIT BATMAN



Anyway. This is some blueberry oatmeal and honey soap lol. It’s cute. It smells nice. But those few bars without the gel ring look oh so niceeee.

So without further ado.. my question lol

Does anyone have have any suggestions? I would really like to make more soaps I have in mind and they won’t look so great fully gelled or partial mehhh lol.

I use a decent amount of hard oils in my recipes so I don’t want to soap too cool either these emojis are cute.

Oh and btw as if I haven’t went on enough lol. I did try cutting the amount of honey by half in this recipe as well too to see if it would help. But nooooo lol!

 

[penelopejane]

You don't say how much honey you are using just that you cut it in half this time.

I gel all my soap because it is quicker to unmold and cut and the colours are brighter and it is easier to let a soap gel than it is to stop gel.

Try 20ml (4 tsp) of honey per kg of oils. Mix the honey in with the heated oils before adding the NaOH. This takes the heat out of the honey a little.
Soap at 110* F (about 42*C) cover it and insulate it and it will be fine. Don't peak at it for 12-18 hrs.

 

[shunt2011]

I do the same as penelopejane. I add my honey to my oils and stickblend it really well. I too also gel all my soaps. I like how they look, easier to get out of the mold faster and when using colors they are so much more vibrant.

 

[SaltedFig]

... Does anyone have have any suggestions? I would really like to make more soaps I have in mind and they won’t look so great fully gelled or partial mehhh lol.

I use a decent amount of hard oils in my recipes so I don’t want to soap too cool either these emojis are cute.

Oh and btw as if I haven’t went on enough lol. I did try cutting the amount of honey by half in this recipe as well too to see if it would help. But nooooo lol!

@Nanooo48 Irishlass wrote a post back a few years, on her technique for taking the heat out of honey.

The concept is to make your lye solution and dilute your honey separately, then combine the two once the lye solution has cooled.
Effectively, the idea is to pre-react the honey so the extra heat is not added during saponification.

The details:
There are three main exothermic (heat producing) reactions that occur when you make a honey soap.

1/ The first exothermic reaction occurs when you add your hydroxide to your water/liquid to make your lye solution (let the lye solution cool before step 2).
2/ The second exothermic reaction occurs when you add your diluted honey to your cooled lye solution (let the honey-lye solution cool before step 3).
3/ The third (and final) exothermic reaction occurs during saponification.

Currently you are grouping the second and third exothermic reactions together, and the combined heat is speeding up the reaction, so the soap is getting hotter, faster. Note: Grouping the first and second exothermic reaction can lead to a lye volcano, so please don't do that.

By separating the three exothermic reactions from one another, you are reducing this compounding effect ... and stand a greater chance of making the ungelled honey soap you are aiming for.

Finally, if you use an ice bath and a fan directed over the top of the soap, or place the soap mold on a cooling rack and direct a fan so the air flows over and under the soap, you will get a greater cooling effect than you do in the still air of the freezer (the air around the soap can warm up and act a little like a blanket).

If you would like to read @IrishLass's experiences with this technique, the original post from 2010 can be found here (complete with a volcano story )

 

[DeeAnna]

I would suggest in addition to SaltedFig's suggestions that you reduce the water content of the soap so the temperature at which the soap gels is higher.

A hint -- You haven't been giving specific information about your recipe and method, and more detail would be helpful. All I know is you're using honey and soaping at 109F. That's not sufficient info to give focused, specific advice.

 

[Nanooo48]

I would suggest in addition to SaltedFig's suggestions that you reduce the water content of the soap so the temperature at which the soap gels is higher.

A hint -- You haven't been giving specific information about your recipe and method, and more detail would be helpful. All I know is you're using honey and soaping at 109F. That's not sufficient info to give focused, specific advice.

Lol I was in bed writing all that after a looooong shift last night haha. I only used 2 tsp of honey. But I did add it at a very light trace.. so that may have been my problem. I am going to read into what @SaltedFig wrote about and the blog she posted of and def try this method for my next batch!

 

[IrishLass]

Thank you for your excellent detailed explanation, SaltedFig! That was awesome! All I've ever known was that it seemed to take all the ornery fire right out of the honey, causing it to behave nicely in my soap, even when soaping hot and encouraging gel in a warm oven. Know I know more about the 'why'.

Nanoo- if you want to see behind the curtain, so to speak, of how I make my special honey/beeswax soap using the honey-in-lye water technique, you can read through this thread here. Scroll down to post #16 for all the blow-by-blow/step-by-step details.


IrishLass