confused about CP 'gel' stage

[HoneyLady]

Thanks to all who started, answered, and moderated this thread. Good questions and good answers!

* I * caught the "esky", as in "eskimo", as in a MAJOR North American brand of portable coolers made by a company called "Igloo". But I really like the "chilly bin".

Perhaps, if it has not already been done, (and apologies if it has -- SO much to read and learn around here, I probably missed it,) perhaps a thread with a glossary would be helpful? I can see how it is easy to confuse gel and HP, and cook, although they are NOT the same.

I use honey and beeswax in all my soaps, as well as a fair percentage of honey FO. I really like HP, but have turned to "freezer processing" because I'm not crazy about the chocolate brown colors from both the
carmel-ization of the sugars, and FO. OP and gel also darken the soap.

Thanks especially to all the very generous regular posters who patiently answer the same 25 questions over and over and over again from us newbies. {We newbies? All of us who are newbies. That's better.}

~HoneyLady~

 

[bjdmwill]

Help! Maybe my soap is gelled? Was making a baby soap recipe I found 92% OO, 8% castor, water and goats milk, 6% super fatted. Was a beautiful creamy color when I poured. I insulated it. Now it is a light brown sugar color, dry to the touch but gives way under small amount of pressure like it might be jelly inside so I know I can't take it out of the mold. What do I do?

 

[IrishLass]

Help! Maybe my soap is gelled? Was making a baby soap recipe I found 92% OO, 8% castor, water and goats milk, 6% super fatted. Was a beautiful creamy color when I poured. I insulated it. Now it is a light brown sugar color, dry to the touch but gives way under small amount of pressure like it might be jelly inside so I know I can't take it out of the mold. What do I do?

Yep- sounds like it's going through gel. It's nothing to worry about, though, and you needn't do anything except to just let the soap go through its natural paces. When it cools down and hardens back up from gel, the color should lighten up again.

I pretty much gel all my soaps. I just like them better that way.

IrishLass

 

[Bubli]

Can different batches of soap gel at higher or lower temps,yet eack still gel and their gel look different? like one look like a block of amber Vaseline(really hot), and another, clearly have a gel that also starts at center and travels to edge but doesn't look Vaseline like on surface but more if its normal opaque, matte self but you can see the gel taking place just beneath surface. This happened to me. And I am thinking both gelled but one just gelled hotter. The one that gelled hotter came out a little harder and did not zap at 24 hours and the other took a few more hours to not zap. And totally unrelated, can salt inhibit gel phase? I added 1.5 tsp to a 1# batch and did it exact as before when it did a full hot gel, and this time I had to help it out? If I learn anything from soap, its this,"SOAP IT WEIRD!"

 

[IrishLass]

Yes- different batches can gel at cooler or hotter temps depending on several variables, such as soaping temps, the fragrance oil that was used and/or other additives, the amount of water in your batch, etc....

And there are certain additives that can hide gel from your eyes. Titanium dioxide and salt are the two biggest gel-hiders for me. I call it 'stealth-gel'. lol When I use either of those two additives, I usually can't see the gel with a naked eye just by looking at my soap, but if I lightly press or gently tap the top surface of the soap, I'll know it's gelling if it jiggles like a waterbed.

IrishLass

 

[Bubli]

Ah...that was the culprit! When this happened, it was the first time I tried the salt. I used 1.5 tsp ppo. Something else I noticed also was even though I used same me recipe, And gelled differently but still gelled, the soap was a creamier off white rather the light tan. I attributed this to either salt or sugar as well. Ya know when I was in school I near failed science and chemistry, now that I'm all grown up I think it's pretty darn cool! Wish I'd payed more attention. Thanks, now I feel better....like I did not screw something up