Gelling Oatmeal Milk and Honey

[User196221]

Made a batch of OMH yesterday and gelled it.....watched the temperature closely and the surface reached 127 degrees before it started to cool down.....at what temperature is it tooo hot and needs to be refrigerated?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Not to be facetious, but how long is a piece of string?

How hot is too hot will be particular to your mould, recipe and so on. If it starts to swell too much then cool it down - gelling can be trial and error for each person as no one has the exact same set up

 

[User196221]

Had to look facetious up in the dictionary......sorry I asked such a dumb question......maybe you should change your name to the "Facetious Gentleman"...not so sure about the gentleman part either

 

[Little-Bits-N-Pieces]

No need to take offence. But it really does depend on the recipe and what's in it. Some recipes can handle more heat than others, some get hotter faster than others, the ambient temperature matters, etc. How hot is too hot for a soap can't be specifically answered, there is too many variables.

Is it just scented with OMH, or does it have OMH in it? Honey heats soap faster, milk heats soap faster, sugars no matter what they are in will heat it faster. With milk soap, you generally don't want to gel it, because it can get too hot and volcano out of the mold or crack, and the soap is generally darker as well.

You just have to watch it, pay attention to how it looks, and if you think it's getting too hot, it probably is.

 

[ariella42]

It also depends on how you want your soap to look. If you're using milk, higher temps will result in a darker color like Lacie said. I usually gel or HP my soaps (and I use goat milk in all of them) because I actually like the brown color in some of my soaps. If I don't want uncolored bits to be brown, I'll put my CP soaps in the freezer to help prevent gel.

 

[User196221]

Thanks for you kind replys...I had oatmeal, little bit of honey, goatmilk and OMH fragrance oil in this soap..also soaped between 80 and 90 degrees..was kinda suprised that the surface didn't get any hotter.......cut it today and think it looks pretty good. Thanks again!!

 

[lenarenee]

Made a batch of OMH yesterday and gelled it.....watched the temperature closely and the surface reached 127 degrees before it started to cool down.....at what temperature is it tooo hot and needs to be refrigerated?

This is not a stupid question; its a newbie question. It's quite logical to wonder if there is a specific temperature range that's appropriate for gel.

I try to discourage gelling, so I rarely have to deal with overheating. My oatmeal/milk/honey soap gels but no cracking because I go light on the milk and honey. Certain fragrance oils and essential oils can cause your soap to heat up more than normal. Arabian Spice from Brambleberry is one...had full gel at 45 minutes. It started to crack so I put in the freezer. Yummy smell though!

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your future soap!

 

[Dorymae]

Had to look facetious up in the dictionary......sorry I asked such a dumb question......maybe you should change your name to the "Facetious Gentleman"...not so sure about the gentleman part either

Wow user if you looked up facetious then you know it means to be joking inappropriately, in other words he did NOT wish to cause offense. You certainly did take offense though, sometimes people just joke around. If he had said it without saying " not to be facetious" , then I could have understood your defensiveness.

People need to lighten up a bit, soap making is fun and no one here is going to truly berate anyone from trying to learn. Maybe I just have a thicker skin than most, but I've seen quite a few newer people jump the gun on being offended.

 

[jnl]

my honey oatmeal goats milk soap was in full gel after an hour on the counter and started to crack. so i shoved it in the fridge for an hour then decided to move it to the freezer for a couple hours then back to the fridge. turned out great and no crack.

then i made another soap and tried to prevent gel, so i pre-froze the mold, kept my temperatures really low, and put it right into the freezer for a bunch of hours and then to the fridge. unfortunately the inside gelled anyways, and the outside didnt. so i have a darker circle in the center where it gelled, and it doesnt look as nice.

so in the future i will let the gel happen, and if its starting to crack or swell i will stick it in the fridge/freezer. i would rather have it all gel and the same color than partial gel with a dark circle in the middle.

im a newbie. but i tried everything to prevent gel (and it was only a 2lb block mold), and i couldnt stop it from happening.

the soaps i poured into very small individual silicone molds never gelled and were never cooled. so if you dont want any gel, maybe try individual bar silicone molds and put in the fridge.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Had to look facetious up in the dictionary......sorry I asked such a dumb question......maybe you should change your name to the "Facetious Gentleman"...not so sure about the gentleman part either

While my post was not meant to offend, it is clear that yours is. Please bear in mind that personal attacks are against the forum rules.

As you can see from the other posts here, there is no "x = perfect" for all circumstances when it comes to gelling, that you need to try it and find what works for you in your situation - hence the 'how long is a piece of string?' question, there is no definitive answer.

But please do keep asking questions - it's how we all learn from each other.

 

[reinbeau]

I gel all of my GMOH soaps. The difference in color is striking. The warm brown is gelled, the whiter one is ungelled. I have yet to have it crack, volcano (no doubt I've just jinxed myself) or explode The black one is also goat's milk soap with activated charcoal.