Help! Partial Gel - Goat’s Milk and Honey

[Kitkathy07]

Hi all! I need your help, advice, tips, and/or tricks. I’ll take it all . I made an oatmeal, goats milk and Honey soap that partial gelled on me. I applied powdered milk to water and 1/2 tsp of honey then froze. Added lye to the ice, soaped at 93 degrees oils and 95 degrees lye. Put in mold and designed too within 5 min and put in fridge over night. When I cut next day I have this in the center. Will it fade? Or will I have to rebatch? What could I have done differently to prevent this?

 

[The_Phoenix]

Very nice! Recommend not putting in the fridge next time. I've never experienced partial gel, so not sure if it diminishes.

 

[AliOop]

Nice looking soap! Partial gel sometimes resolves, either partially or fully. You've got a pretty good case of it going there, so it may get a little bit less pronounced, but probably will not go away on its own. The good news it, partial gel in no way affects the safety or quality of your soap.

Rebatching is up to you, but I wouldn't bother since it is perfectly fine to use, give away, etc., and rebatching almost never looks better than the first iteration of the soap.

You can add a bit of extra heat to encourage the soap to finish gelling all the way through. Put the bars back in the mold and follow a typical CPOP process, or put the loaf on a heating pad for a few hours. I've had mixed success with that; it usually works best if I do it immediately after unmolding. The longer I wait, the less change there is in the appearance of the ring.

My recommendation? Embrace it as-is, or do some soap stenciling or stamping to make the gel ring look like part of the design. Post #15 in this thread shows a fantastic example of stamping over a gel ring, courtesy of our own @Kari Howie.

 

[dmcgee5034]

Agree with the above great advice.
It’s lovely looking soap. I make GMS and got this as well when I put it in the fridge or freezer. Good advice to skip that unless it’s really hot where you are/where your soap sits. Knock on wood, now that I just leave it on the shelf in my soap room (spare room - haha), I haven’t had any issues. Since it’s GM, I don’t gel my soaps, but am now adding a smidge of neon micas to my colors to get more pop than the ungelled muted pastels, unless I’m going for pastel intentionally. HTH

 

[Kitkathy07]

It’s lightened up a bit more, thankfully. I think I will definitely stamp it though as it is still noticiable. First time for everything. I live in Florida and soap indoors for the most part. Will it gel completely without putting into the fridge or completely cure? I was afraid that if I didn’t put in fridge it might crack. @The_Phoenix @dmcgee5034 @AliOop

 

[AliOop]

At first, you will have to keep your eye on it to see if it will gel completely when out of the fridge, or if it gets so hot that it begins to crack. If that's a concern, then elevate the mold on some soup cans (or cans of beans, or whatever) so there is airflow underneath it. You can also set a fan to blow on it. After awhile, you will get to know your recipe well enough to have a general idea of the best process for the result you are seeking.

 

[The_Phoenix]

As I recall, when I first made goat milk and/or soap with honey, I had read that the soap was prone to overheating and cracking. I remember that I refrigerated my first batch of beer soap, concerned that it would overheat and “explode.”

I experimented with a future batch and did not refrigerate it. And had zero issues. I did not refrigerate my first goat milk soap batch, and had no issues. The only time a soap batch came close to overheating was a pumpkin and coconut milk soap. It went into gel phase less than fifteen minutes after pouring it into the mold. I left it at room temperature and let it do its thing. It never cracked, but it definitely got hotter than my usual batches.

The short story is that soap cracking and over-heating is somewhat rare. Next time you make your soap, leave it at room temperature after the pour and see what happens.

 

[Kitkathy07]

As I recall, when I first made goat milk and/or soap with honey, I had read that the soap was prone to overheating and cracking. I remember that I refrigerated my first batch of beer soap, concerned that it would overheat and “explode.”

I experimented with a future batch and did not refrigerate it. And had zero issues. I did not refrigerate my first goat milk soap batch, and had no issues. The only time a soap batch came close to overheating was a pumpkin and coconut milk soap. It went into gel phase less than fifteen minutes after pouring it into the mold. I left it at room temperature and let it do its thing. It never cracked, but it definitely got hotter than my usual batches.

The short story is that soap cracking and over-heating is somewhat rare. Next time you make your soap, leave it at room temperature after the pour and see what happens.

Thank you so much for all your advice! I really appreciate the help.

As I recall, when I first made goat milk and/or soap with honey, I had read that the soap was prone to overheating and cracking. I remember that I refrigerated my first batch of beer soap, concerned that it would overheat and “explode.”

I experimented with a future batch and did not refrigerate it. And had zero issues. I did not refrigerate my first goat milk soap batch, and had no issues. The only time a soap batch came close to overheating was a pumpkin and coconut milk soap. It went into gel phase less than fifteen minutes after pouring it into the mold. I left it at room temperature and let it do its thing. It never cracked, but it definitely got hotter than my usual batches.

The short story is that soap cracking and over-heating is somewhat rare. Next time you make your soap, leave it at room temperature after the pour and see what

At first, you will have to keep your eye on it to see if it will gel completely when out of the fridge, or if it gets so hot that it begins to crack. If that's a concern, then elevate the mold on some soup cans (or cans of beans, or whatever) so there is airflow underneath it. You can also set a fan to blow on it. After awhile, you will get to know your recipe well enough to have a general idea of the best process for the result you are seeking.

thank you so much for your quick response and your helpful tips. I greatly appreciate the help from you guys.

 

[AliOop]

You are so welcome! I agree with everything @The_Phoenix said, and will note that because you added honey to your GMS, that can cause some overheating. So it's good to watch the next couple of batches to get a feel for whether the amount of honey in your recipe is going to cause that. Let us know how it goes for you (and don't forget to those us these ones if you stamp them).

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Hi all! I need your help, advice, tips, and/or tricks.

 

[JuliaNegusuk]

I make a soap with honey. I don't bother with ice cubes, just keep the lye cool by putting the lye container in a bowl of water. I mix at about 110 degrees f. But I do put it in the freezer for about half hour before transferring to the fridge. It isn't a goat milk soap though. But will tend to gel in the middle if I don't do this.