If you use silicone molds, it also takes longer for the soap before it's ready to unmold. 2 days is definitely average, but 3-4 is more likely for me.
Help with recipe for basic multicoloured soap
- Thread starter Soapprentice
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My experience is pretty much the same depending on the recipe. For ungelled 100% olive oil, they are consistently finished at about the 60 hour mark in a dry room @ 23 degrees C. Up to about 55 hours, they're still zappy and very soft. Then suddenly over the next 5 hours the change is amazing. They become rock hard, and I think if it ever stuck to the silicone I'd end up ripping the silicone before breaking off any soap! Keep in mind that I do use a water discount for this soap (40% lye to water).
What I find interesting is that nearly nothing happens for 55 hours, then boom - 5 hours later, done. My hypothesis is that olive oil when used alone has a very simple fatty acid profile, the majority being only 2 of them, and that these acids begin and end saponification at similar rates. In a more "balanced" recipe containing a complex mix of fatty acids, they all saponify at different rates and thus the soap reaches complete saponification more gradually and at a more even rate. Maybe? Hahaha!
Soapprentice
Well-Known Member
That does make sense. I want to make a castille soap... but the year long cure kinda keeps me thinking.... as I am just starting out and wanna experience my soaps asap..... beginner's curiosity I guess....
The sodium acetate does speed the initial hardening some. I typically unmold within 24 hours even less if I am using a recipe with a high percentage of "hard" oils ( like lard).
That does make sense. I want to make a castille soap... but the year long cure kinda keeps me thinking.... as I am just starting out and wanna experience my soaps asap..... beginner's curiosity I guess....
Yup, a year... preferably longer even!
Honestly for such a long time I thought the idea of making castile was the most stupid thing on earth. Like why would anyone make a bar of soap that's totally opposite of what a balanced soap should be? Plug 100% olive oil into SoapCalc and it's basically the worst thing a person could do. 100% lard... maybe (and I did!). Those 100% lard bars were pretty darn good by the way.
But at this very moment while writing this post I'm enjoying a glass of homemade wine I transferred from the oak barrel to the bottle in 2004. Yum!
I can certainly understand you. I probably made 60 soap batches before I tried castile. So I already had years upon years of soap supply on hand. Keep making soap you can enjoy soon for now.
