DOS and oil on soap after cure

[Cookie]

Hi,

My remaining bar of my first batch has one orange spot after 5 months. And 2 of my other soaps, approx three months old are oily, like there's a layer on the top. I have used more than two bars of each batch and the soap is fine. Is it because they are on plastic racks in the garage? They are quite close to where the car engine is but I can't imagine they're getting hot from that.

It's been really really wet here lately so I guess there's a lot of moisture in the air. The affected soaps have a high olive oil content

Thanks in advance

 

[Seawolfe]

The high moisture is probably the cause. I just noticed that some of my coconut oil soap I made for laundry has some spots of DOS, while none of my other soaps do, and those bars are in the humid laundry room.

If your olive oil was on the older side, that can contribute to DOS. I've heard that some olive oils are adulterated with other oils, and that can cause problems as well. Some people use Rosemary oleoresin as an antioxidant. I have a batch of Castile that used Rosemary EO that did not get DOS, when the unscented batch did, but that could be coincidence.

I had one batch of lard soap go all oily and sticky, and it smelled like wet cardboard. I traced it back to a sub par tea tree oil that I scented it with.

Hope something here helps

 

[Cookie]

Thanks Seawolfe

I was figuring maybe it had something to do with the moisture because I just noticed it in the last couple of weeks.....and I look at them reasonably often. I'll have to have a think about how to handle it because I'm not really sure what to do

I've moved them all inside the house now

 

[Susie]

Just keep them inside the house where you have decent air flow. You don't have to have a fan or anything running, just open air.

 

[Cookie]

Thanks Susie, I now have a great rack I got at a charity shop that should be just the thing. I've spent the afternoon rearranging my soap :wave:

 

[pamielynn]

It's been so humid down here in Texas this spring, that my soaps are sweating in the HOUSE. Can't wait to see what they're going to do once we get to market

 

[Seawolfe]

To protect our oceanographic electronics at sea we use dehumidifiers like this: http://www.remington.com/products/accessories/storage-and-safety/model-365-mini-dehumidifier.aspx. The salient features being that once the crystals change color you simply plug the unit into a wall to dry out and recharge them - so we keep them in pairs to swap out when there is a color change. I would guess that one of these and a fan in a fairly enclosed room might help?