Did I burn my soap??

[Guest]

I just made a batch of gorgeous honey/almond soap (it looked like butterscotch pudding). Since I used some yogurt and honey, I didn't insulate it so it wouldn't overheat. I even put it in the fridge for a few minutes because the mold felt too warm to me. I took it out and left the room for a few minutes, but I went back to look at it, and there is this awful dark gray/black color all over the middle. I just threw it in the freezer in a panic. Is it ruined? Will it have that horrible coloring all the way through? Did I do something else wrong? I'm so sad.......


I'm sorry that my digital camera is not working or I would post a picture.

 

[Rosey]

It's gelling.

Honey will make it gel. I put mine in the freezer and it did a partial gel. I'm resolved to try to not stop gelling when adding honey.

The soap on the right is the honey soap. You see the circle? That's where it tried to gel. It's a darker color now

 

[Guest]

So Rosey, do you mean the soap is OK? And it was right for me to put the soap in the freezer? I don't know anything about gelling.

 

[Rosey]

Yeah it's fine. I put my soap in the freezer overnight and it still gelled!

The honey I think just makes it too hot for us to stop gel.

 

[Guest]

I've made honey soaps before but never had it happen before. I think there was a larger amount in this recipe.

Then gelling is a darkening of the soap? So I'm gathering that gelling can be stopped by chilling it in most circumstances....just not with honey in the recipe though.

 

[Rosey]

Right. Gelling will make the soap more transparent. The dark color is from the honey and I had goat's milk in mine so I think the honey + milk combo goes dark. I like it either way.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for setting my mind at ease, Rosey! The color has improved already to a medium brown/gray.

I still have so much to learn, I can see!!

 

[cambree]

Hi Justpeachy, will you post pics for us later? I think your soap will turn out OK.

I also made my first batch of honey & almond soap too. I made a 2lb batch and used 1 oz of honey.

It smells more like almond then honey. Next time I will use 1 oz honey per 1lb of soap. And more beeswax!

Have not taken pics yet. Waiting for it to cure. The color is a nice dark brownish.

 

[charlotteda]

Natural honey seems to have a light fragrance to me and from what VERY little I know about soapmaking... I dont think you can get enough honey in your CP soap to make it smell "honeyish".

I do love the smell of beeswax .... it always takes me longer to get my bee equipment ready because I spend too much time snipping the sheets of beeswax

Charlotte

 

[Guest]

Cambree--I ran downstairs first thing this morning to check my soap (of course!) and it looks a million times better than it did last night. Wheww! Mine was a 2 lb. batch and my recipe called for 2 T. honey-- not sure how much that would weigh.

I'll try when/if I can get my camera to work--it freezes the second I turn it on about 19 times out of 20 and the only thing I can do is take the batteries out and try again. It made summer vacation interesting, because, of course, that's when it started acting up!

I, too, don't think honey has much of a smell, although I have very little experience. I just checked some other soap that I had made with both beeswax and honey but is otherwise unscented. I think I can detect a sweetish smell but honestly I think it's because I know it's in there.

 

[honor435]

Oh, its gelling, it gets real warm and is kinda still cooking, that darkness will go away by the next day, i love the gel look, you can put in freezer, but dont have to.

 

[gekko62]

I get cosmetic grade beeswax,which is sorta crystally,it smells sooo honeyish which really comes thru in soap.The refined bw is a pale yellow,this stuff is almost brown.Yum.

 

[Guest]

Well, I got my camera working at the moment.....I think the soap looks just fine now that it's a dark brown and not that icky color. I was really worried last night! And it smells so good--I keep looking at it and smelling it. .....sorta feel like Gollum and his "precious"......

Gekko62: I'd love to try that beeswax sometime. Oooh, I see you're from Brisbane. I lived in Australia for a few months (Canberra) but Brisbane was my favorite city. I still get a little "homesick" for AU every once in a while....[/img]

 

[Guest]

oops! Here you go. Thanks for teaching me so much, everyone!

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/631/imgp0054e.jpg

 

[Rosey]

It looks beautiful! I bet it will continue to darken. Have you cut it up yet?

 

[gekko62]

Your soap looks just peachy! lol
Gel is a wondrous thing to watch,but freaky if you don't know whats going on.
I grew up in Canberra! I remember cold foggy winters,stinking hot summers and flies! My goodness,the flies! (could make some smart comment here about pollies,but will restrain myself. :wink

 

[Guest]

Before yesterday I thought gelling was another way to say that the soap was setting up. I did cut up the soap tonight and it's that really dark yummy brown throughout--so beautiful. Gelling and I will now have a long happy relationship, but yeah, I was pretty freaked out at first. I'm guessing that you have more gel, or more of a chance of it happening the deeper the mold is? I put a little of that same batch in teeny silicone ice cube molds and the color never changed at all.

Hmmm, yes, Camberra's weather leaves a lot to be desired and of course, it was having abnormally cold weather most of the time I was there. But I loved it. Pollies are politicians, I think? I watched them in session once-briefly-until they adjourned all of a sudden and bolted from the room. (That was my introduction to the Melbourne Cup!)

But I'm getting off topic--thanks for the compliments!

 

[cambree]

That looks good! Thanks for sharing the photos. I will post my pics later too.

I checked my honey & almond soap today and it smells really really nice. A good mix of almond and beeswax.

I don't know if I smell the honey either. :?

I used pure beeswax sold in blocks (from ebay). I had to grate them carefully with a sharp knife. I love the sweet scent of beeswax - not artificial at all.