CPHP after the fact...

[paillo]

Anyone else tried and had success with this?

I do love my textured tops, and they tend to gel and flatten out with CPHP right after I finish a batch. So I've taken to letting them gel undistrubed in the wood mold overnight, then popping in a 170 degree oven for an hour, then turning off the oven. So far it's worked very nicely. Anyone think of any down sides?

 

[cm4bleenmb]

What is the point of doing it after the fact--other than keeping the tops intact? Is that enough to help finish saponification? Do you notice a marked difference in the appearance or texture of the soap? Now you've piqued my curiosity, I can't wait to see comments from experienced soapers.

 

[paillo]

I've found the bars to be much, much harder than if I'd simply gelled, so seems to have that advantage.

 

[CaraCara]

Hmmm...I will have to try that.

 

[sistrum]

Do you check to see if the the soap heats enough to go to gell again? If so, could this be a way to correct a partial gel? Sounds very interesting.

 

[paillo]

It definitely heats up to gel again. Hmmm, good thought on fixing a partial gel!

 

[sistrum]

I will have to go back and look at the posts about partial gels to figure out how to get one so I can try this out.

 

[Hazel]

Thanks for sharing! This is an intriguing idea and I'd like to try it.

 

[maloga3]

I don't think there's a clear problem with doing it that way...I like how the cpop makes the colors just POP. But I agree with you about the tops- it distinguishes our handmade soaps from say, Dove or ivory!!!

 

[DeeAnna]

Heating to 170 degrees should put the soap into a gel phase. Definitely curious to see if this would eliminate the bullseye look of a partial gel. Thanks for sharing, Paillo!

 

[Hazel]

I gave this a try with some soap I had in individual cavity silicone molds and the soap did go into a gel phase. The soap definitely got darker and I'll have to compare them to the ones that I didn't put in the oven. They were very liquidy which I didn't realize from the tops since they didn't look different. Should I have covered the soap before putting it into the oven?

I'll have to report back later about the comparison.

 

[cm4bleenmb]

Found this diary entry on Anne L. Watson's website and it reminded me of this discussion so I thought I would post it because soapers never seem to tire of receiving more information.

"December 6, 2011 A CPOP Disaster

A reader writes:

"I prepared a ~ 250g batch that I make frequently of 100% coconut oil soap and after 1 minute immersion blending poured it into three silicone mini loaf pans as usual. These were then placed covered into the preheated 170 oven. Within 5 minutes the exotherm went wild, the still liquid raw soap violently boiled out of the molds, and I had one Hell of a mess! Never mind that I was also dealing with a nasty alkali!

"Since I was trained as an experimenter, I couldn't stop after one disaster. The next step was to rethink the obvious and NEVER HEAT COLD PROCESS RAW SOAP at the beginning of the exotherm. So, for the second trial, I aged another batch of the same recipe at room temperature in the molds for 24 hours as usual until the exotherm settled down. THEN I oven-aged the bars at 170F with no problem for your prescribed 2 hours.

"I wanted to share this with you because there are very large safety concerns - I don't want to see someone injured from trying to bake raw soap and having it boil all over the place."

The main difference between this and the way I do CPOP is that I use a large wood log mold instead of silicone mini loaf pans. I've never had a problem. Would be interested in other readers' experiences along this line."

 

[houseofwool]

I think the issue that the person had is that 100% coconut oil doesn't really require much help to gel. I'm not surprised that it volcanoed, I think that at room temp (65°) mine reaches full gel within an hour or so and I need to chill it quickly to prevent it from overheating.

 

[MoonBath]

So... we're speculating that heating the soap later in the process might actually re-gel the soap and correct partial gels?? :wtf: Wow. That would be GREAT NEWS.

 

[thinkativeone]

Anyone else tried and had success with this?

So I've taken to letting them gel undistrubed in the wood mold overnight, then popping in a 170 degree oven for an hour, then turning off the oven. So far it's worked very nicely.

So I take it from this you do not insulate or anything? You can just leave them on the counter or in a cupboard or whatever you want until the next day when you are ready to heat up the soap and do the later CPOP? Or what exactly is done with it once molded, specifically?

 

[Ruthie]

I never knew I had a partial gel til I cut into it. Could I put it all back in the mold and do this? And would I need to line the mold again?

 

[Obsidian]

I just leave my molds sitting on the kitchen table until its ready to go into the oven. I wouldn't try to CPOP already cut soap but if you do, line your mold.

 

[paillo]

I just leave it in the mold overnight to let it gel and harden up the tops, then pop it in the oven in the morning, so it goes through another full gel but without melting my textured tops. Does that make sense?

 

[cmzaha]

I do very little cpop, only to fix a failed or partial failed batch of soap. I have actually put my cut bars of soap back in the mold and in the oven to basically rebatch in the mold. It did work and fixed the batch of soap. I really do not consider it gelling but rebatching since the soap had already gelled. Un-fortunetly I do not remember the circumstance that lead me to do this with this particular batch of soap. The only time I cpop is when I have soap on a stick and have to pack in the mold, such as my recent Salty Air Salt bars, to help it remelt and settle in the mold.
This is a pic of a batch I had to fix last Nov or So. Forgot the FO accelerated and had instant soap-on-a- stick. I have a particular Bulgarian Lavender that I adore, unfortunetly my friend can no longer find it, and it seizes so quickly I usually have to put it in the oven. My alternate method is to plot the colored batter in the bucket, as I did with the batch in the pic, then cover the bucket with a towel and let it go into gel so I can pour it into the mold. That way if it rices I can also remix to emulision

 

[Lin]

So... Has anyone determined if this fixes a partial gel? I'm making some soap tonight and can't decide if I want to gel or not. I've never done anything but leave the soap out or put it in the fridge/freezer to discourage gel. I really don't want to end up with a partial gel, but I think gelling might make the colors look better on my planned batch. But I also don't have a great mold, its a wood crate lined with cardboard so I don't know if it would be safe for CPOP. I started wondering about leaving it with a heating pad and insulate, checking often for full gel to then stick it in the freezer so no overheating, and if I get a partial gel sticking it in the oven after the fact... But worried about the mold being oven safe! Here is what it looked like before I put the cardboard in:
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/Lin_171/Soap/20131211_223642_zpsrr798vkd.jpg