Gelling too fast?

[Obsidian]

I made a 2 lb batch with 50/50 oatmeal water and carrot juice. I poured it roughly 30 minutes ago and its almost completely gelled already. Does the speed of gel coincide with overheating? Its going in the freezer soon.

 

[Lindy]

It's heating up because of the additives. It could be starting to overheat but if it is gelling then you need to let it finish or you will end up with a partial gel. The risk is that it could crack.

 

[Lion Of Judah]

i would say yes, that's a lot of heat. is that without insulation?

 

[Obsidian]

Yes, no insulation. Its in a thin silicone mold thats inside a metal bread pan.
There was one tiny crack appearing so I put it in the freezer. I don't care about partial gel, I just don't want it to get caverns and separate like my last carrot soap did.

It cracked more and had a layer of oil so I took a chop stick and tried to stir it up. It had completely separated in the mold. There was a least a inch of pure oil under the surface skin. I tried mixing it back together in the mold but its not working, its in the crock pot now.

If I use carrots again, it will immediately go in the freezer.

 

[Lindy]

Wow - I'm sorry that happened to you

 

[Ruthie]

I had no idea carrots would do that. That's too bad! !

 

[Obsidian]

This has been a troubling batch. I cooked it just long enough to get it to come together, I didn't want to do a full HP because I don't much care for the looks. It hardened, passed the zap test but wouldn't lather/left a oily feel on the skin. I used 7% SF, though maybe with 10% shea that was too much.
Chopped it up and added 2 more grams of lye to bring the SF to 5%. Cooked if for about a hour, used a tad bit too much liquid as I was able to pour it into the mold instead of glopping it. It might take awhile to dry out but at least it lathers now and doesn't leave the skin oily.

 

[ocean_soul]

Wow, I've used pureed carrots before but never carrot juice in my soaps. Just out of curiosity, how warm were you soaping? I think my carrots-lye solutions in the past have hovered around 80-90 or so. If I ever try a recipe using oat milk and carrot juice I'll be sure to monitor that sucker like a hawk!

 

[Obsidian]

I'm not sure of the temps but it wasn't hot. The lye solution was probably around 90 and the oils were cooler. I technically didn't use juice, I boiled some carrots then blended a few pieces with the water they were cooked in then strained the mess through a fine sieve. It was more like puree mixed with some water.
Last time I used carrot baby food and it over heated too.

 

[Relle]

I had no idea carrots would do that. That's too bad! !

Carrots are full of sugar.

 

[MzMolly65]

Obsidian? Does it separate if it overheats? The batch I made was full of watery ick but I thought it was because I had false trace. Now I'm wondering if it was because it overheated instead.

 

[Obsidian]

If it overheats bad enough then yes, it will cause separation. Every separation I've seen isn't watery, its oily. Looks like thick apple sauce floating in oil.

 

[MzMolly65]

Looks like thick apple sauce floating in oil.

ahh .. good to know, thanks for that information. Mine looked like soap swimming in water so must have been false trace rather than separation. It was also lye heavy and I ended up rebatching it .. which also didn't work well so then I shredded it and turned it into sugar soap scrubs .. which finally produced a decent end result.

 

[grayceworks]

When I HP my carrot soap, it always separates many times into that applesauce stuff while it is cooking, and I have to keep blending it back together. I have never attempted it CP after seeing that. lol

I used a lot of liquid in mine also, and it was easily pourable and smooth like CP, which was nice. It is my favorite of all my soaps, even though it's a bit softer than my others. My skin loves it. I think you'll love yours!

Yes, it did take a long time to dry. You might notice when you cut them, that there's a lighter layer of drier soap around the edges, and darker middle, like a perfect square around the soap. It will even out as it dries. It does take a while though.

 

[ca_soap]

I made a carrot soap a couple months back. I juiced the carrots with a juicer then used the fresh juice in place of water. I allowed the lye/carrot juice to cool before adding it to the oils which prevented any over heating issues.

 

[cmzaha]

I have also never had this problem with using carrots. I use carrot infused sunflower with pureed carrots, gm, coconut milk and carrot juice (from fresh carrots) with no seperating or overheating. Soap at room temp with all liquids cool. But then it does go in the freezer!

 

[grayceworks]

I think so much just depends on the amount, the recipe, other potential "heaters", method, and environment. Everyone's is different, and several have recipes that heat up, while several others have recipes that do just fine.

My recipe uses a lot of stuff that heats up, and is heavy on the purees, so I chose to just HP right from the start rather than worry about it. I did with pumpkin too, because I had read a recipe that said "HP this or else! " lol.

Obsidian, sounds like your recipe decided to try and cook itself in the mold, but I have no doubt it will turn out just fine.

And like with MzMolly's, sometimes there's just no making it behave the way you initially intended lol. But I'm glad the sugar soap scrubs worked! That was a great idea! I filed that idea in my file in case I have that happen down the road.

I think you just have to try and consider every factor in a particular recipe and try and compensate for it in how you process the recipe. But soap is always full of surprises!

 

[Obsidian]

I was able to cut my soap last night, its still quite soft but looks smooth like CP. I was really surprised by the color, I expected it to be some what orange but it looks more like pale butter.
I never used this recipe before, I'll have to try it again sometime without any additives and see how it performs. Its high in lard and olive oil, also has shea, palm kernel flakes and castor.
The only other soap I ever made that separated like this was my potato soap, maybe the starch from the oat water was just too much when added with the carrots.

 

[ca_soap]

I had the same surprise, color looked great when I molded it, come back the next day and I'm thinking the soap gremlins switched my soap with someone else's whole different color.

 

[MagicalMysterySoap]

I had the same surprise, color looked great when I molded it, come back the next day and I'm thinking the soap gremlins switched my soap with someone else's whole different color.

View attachment 7150

Your soap is absolutely beautiful.