Food dehydrator for curing???
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abigtroutt
Well-Known Member
I was also wondering about the same thing. I also read people heat up their oven then dry the soap that way also. Does anyone know how to do that? I heard you heat the oven up to 200 deg then turn off the oven and let the soap sit in the oven for up to 24 hours...is this true or just another way to make a mess??
Thanks
Thanks
abigtroutt said:
I haven't tried that, but it would seem to me where there's heat involved, it'll just melt the soap.
There really aren't any shortcuts to curing soap. Have you tried a fan? That might help some, but basically it's going to take time no matter what.
carebear said:
I'm thinking about a non-heated dehydrator. If none are easilly available commercially, a person could simply buy one from WalMart or someplace, then take it to a electrician to have the heating element circiut cut.
They could just cut the wires near one of the heating element leads & put marrets over each bare wire to prevent shock or accidentally energising the heat element.
It's such a simple thing to do, anyone with two marrets, a screwdriver and a pair of sidecutter pliers could easilly cut & cap the heater wires.
This would cause the dehydration to be slower, but there wouldn't be any extra heat to screw things up...
There is another way to make soap that will be ready quickly - HP. It can be ready almost as soon as you take it out of the mold, although I would recommend at least a week of curing/drying.
Cheers
Lindy
Cheers
Lindy
Yes, you can use HP soap sooner, but the fact is, the quality of the soap won't be the same as a longer cured one. By that, I mean weeks of curing.
CP soap or HP soap that has cured a full 4 weeks will be milder, harder & it will last longer.
Personally, I wouldn't feel good about selling soap that isn't going to last long, because it wasn't cured long enough.
If it's for your own personal use, you're just going to use your soap faster & won't get to enjoy the mildness of an older, better cured soap.
Just my not-so-humble opinion.
CP soap or HP soap that has cured a full 4 weeks will be milder, harder & it will last longer.
Personally, I wouldn't feel good about selling soap that isn't going to last long, because it wasn't cured long enough.
If it's for your own personal use, you're just going to use your soap faster & won't get to enjoy the mildness of an older, better cured soap.
Just my not-so-humble opinion.
Re: No
You're probably right, but I'm an incurable tinkerer.
I MUST find another way for EVERYTHING!!!
I'm not evil, rebellious or anti-social, I just can't ever seem to be satisfied walking the well beaten path.
If everyone else is doing it, I'm not really too interested. Oh sure, I'll try it, but then I'll monkey around to see what else can be done...
My grandpa was like that too.
Maybe one day ther'll be some sort of therapy for guys like us...
mlj said:
You're probably right, but I'm an incurable tinkerer.
I MUST find another way for EVERYTHING!!!
I'm not evil, rebellious or anti-social, I just can't ever seem to be satisfied walking the well beaten path.
If everyone else is doing it, I'm not really too interested. Oh sure, I'll try it, but then I'll monkey around to see what else can be done...
My grandpa was like that too.
Maybe one day ther'll be some sort of therapy for guys like us...
Re: No
yeahhh sounds like you and i have a lot in common
welder said:
yeahhh sounds like you and i have a lot in common
Re: No
Well, I hope there is no cure for guys like you, 'cause the world would be pretty boring without innovators!
I'd appreciate knowing a way to get soap to dry faster, not so I can use it any sooner, but so the packaging isn't loose 4 months after packaging it.
If the world ever goes to hell in a handbasket, & modern technology has to go belly up (think brown outs, black outs & no petrol), we'd need Tinkers, er Tinkerers!!
welder said:
Well, I hope there is no cure for guys like you, 'cause the world would be pretty boring without innovators!
I'd appreciate knowing a way to get soap to dry faster, not so I can use it any sooner, but so the packaging isn't loose 4 months after packaging it.
If the world ever goes to hell in a handbasket, & modern technology has to go belly up (think brown outs, black outs & no petrol), we'd need Tinkers, er Tinkerers!!
well said!
Re: No
I am as much of a tinkerer as anyone...and I have ruined many a candle removing it too soon from the mold. So if you ever find a successful way to cure CP fast ...please let me know!
Happy Holidays to all!
Mary Lou[/quote]
I am as much of a tinkerer as anyone...and I have ruined many a candle removing it too soon from the mold. So if you ever find a successful way to cure CP fast ...please let me know!
Happy Holidays to all!
Mary Lou[/quote]
Re: No
I'm actually thinking that perhaps the "best" innovation for speeding up the curing of CP soap may be to let it cure normally for about 1/3 to 1/2 of its' normal curing time, then shove it into a non-heated, forced air dehydrator to drive off residual moisture.
That way, we could still sleep well knowing that the soap still had a reasonable time period to do its' thing normally, and also get the advantage of shorter curing times.
Only hands on testing would prove whether cool air dehydrating gave any speed benefit without sacrificing quality unnacceptably.
Hopefully it will be a cost effective way to get last minute orders ready sooner.
[/quote]mlj said:I am as much of a tinkerer as anyone...and I have ruined many a candle removing it too soon from the mold. So if you ever find a successful way to cure CP fast ...please let me know!
Happy Holidays to all!
Mary Lou
I'm actually thinking that perhaps the "best" innovation for speeding up the curing of CP soap may be to let it cure normally for about 1/3 to 1/2 of its' normal curing time, then shove it into a non-heated, forced air dehydrator to drive off residual moisture.
That way, we could still sleep well knowing that the soap still had a reasonable time period to do its' thing normally, and also get the advantage of shorter curing times.
Only hands on testing would prove whether cool air dehydrating gave any speed benefit without sacrificing quality unnacceptably.
Hopefully it will be a cost effective way to get last minute orders ready sooner.
Maria
Well-Known Member
I use a large dehumidifier in the soap room that runs all the time. It pulls a gallon of water out of the air every few days. I mostly make hot processed soap and once it is cut, I can wrap it the next day. If I leave it unwrapped for 4 or 5 days it doesn't shrink any more after wrapping. When I wrap it quicker, I have to go back a week later and tighten up the wrapper for any that did not sell.
Hardening is not a problem, if I don't cut it within 12 hours, it is difficult to do past that.
It takes a good 10 days to 2 weeks to cure cold processed soap this way.
Hardening is not a problem, if I don't cut it within 12 hours, it is difficult to do past that.
It takes a good 10 days to 2 weeks to cure cold processed soap this way.
welder said:
Wouldn't that basically be a fan?
I'm thinking a dehumidifier in a small enclosed space might make a slight difference in that it would actually REMOVE the moisture from the air and take it away (especially if you add a pump and hose), ensuring maximum evaporation for the soap. However I'm not sure the return would be worth the cost of the electricity.
I'm with the "just let it cure naturally" bandwagon.
ChrissyB
Well-Known Member
If you only make one batch of soap a week, and let it cure for four weeks, get started now, and then in four weeks time you will have perfectly cured soap to use, and then every week after that you will have new soap to use. You really can't beat soap that has cured properly.
xyxoxy said:
Yes, it would basically be a fan, only it would be blowing through a bunch of drying racks inside an enclosure that directs airflow for maximum evaporation.
Although I agree that adding a dehumidifyer may be a good option, food dehydrators very effectively dry food without them, and I'm not sure if the extra cost would be justified in the results.
Of course, a simple drying rack with no fan or dehumidifyer would be even cheaper still.
Personally, I'm with the open minded/scientific approach bandwagon, that's why I said earlier that I'm not sure whether there would be any appreciable benefit to enhanced drying.
For the average home hobbyist, a set of drying racks is sufficient. Someone banging out 3000 bars per day may have a different view.
ChrissyB said:
That's true Chrissy, but slowly and properly may be two different things.
I'm not saying that there's anything improper about doing it the old fashioned way, I'm only saying that if a faster process brought the same quality of result, commercial operations may find an incentive to a new way, that's all.
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