Honey soap help

[soapstarter]

Hi i am very new.to soap making and stupidly decided to make a honey and oat soap as ny first ever soap not realising much about the gel phase... mixed notes across serval recipes online some say wrap the soap mould in a towel but keep an eye on it so.it doesn't overheat and crack. Some recipes say to do nothing as honey will heat up soap anyway so leave it as it is and a few recipes advise putting honey based soap in the fridge
Can anyone explain what to do with a honey soap ... leave it? Wrap it? Or put in the fridge
I did wrap it but it was getting so hot I unwrapped it
Thank.you for helping

Hi i am very new.to soap making and stupidly decided to make a honey and oat soap as ny first ever soap not realising much about the gel phase... mixed notes across serval recipes online some say wrap the soap mould in a towel but keep an eye on it so.it doesn't overheat and crack. Some recipes say to do nothing as honey will heat up soap anyway so leave it as it is and a few recipes advise putting honey based soap in the fridge
Can anyone explain what to do with a honey soap ... leave it? Wrap it? Or put in the fridge
I did wrap it but it was getting so hot I unwrapped it
Thank.you for helping

I've been Reading up.on gel phase and.partial gel phase and seen photos of the circle in the middle of the soap ... would love a nice creamy soap with no rings/ circle's at what's the best way.to ensure this please ?

 

[not_ally]

It depends on whether or not you want to gel or not gel. Do a search here to get a good sense of the difference, but as a quick summary, gelling makes the colors more intense and the soap will get harder faster in the mold (so you can unmold more quickly); ungelled soap will have a lighter but creamier appearance and it will be softer, so you'll have to wait longer to unmold.

To gel a soap you increase the temp of the soap after you mold it, by putting it in a warm place (eg a v. low temp oven, or wrapped in blankets, or on a heat mat.) To avoid gel you put the molded soap in a cold place, the fridge or the garage of the homes of many of our US members who are suffering through a cold snap right now (sorry, you guys who going through this). The partial gel ring happens when the soap starts to gel but doesn't get/stay hot enough to finish the process.

I like gelled soap so to ensure that I CPOP (Cold Process Oven Process), here you preheat your oven to the lowest possible setting (usually between 120F and 170F), switch off the oven and put the soap into the oven for a couple of hours (I usually leave it overnight, with my usual soap recipe I can then cut it in the morning. If, on the other hand, I wanted an ungelled soap, I would put it in the fridge overnight. Generally if you want to avoid that partial gel ring I would go one way or the other rather than just (eg) pouring it and leaving it out at normal room temperature.

Regarding your soap, I probably would have left it wrapped, with that amount of honey (it was 1 tspn, right?) I doubt it would have overheated so much it was a problem unless there was something else at play like including milks or a problematic FO or EO. What made you think it was getting too hot?

One more thing, regarding the recipe on your other post: if you are using a recipe from someone else, always run it through a soap calculator. No matter where you get the recipe from, it could easily have a mistake in it - even just from being mistyped - with bad/dangerous results. Also, you can just cut and paste the calculator recipe result in your post here, which would give people here enough information to actually help you, eg, superfat, lye concentration, percentages of oils rather than amounts. Also include any additives (like you did with the honey), and the FO/EO, often those will provide necessary information on soap performance.

When you provide amounts of oils (rather than percentages) and omit the other information, people are much less likely to reply to your questions because then they have to do that work to figure it out rather than you providing it in the first place. I use a calculator called soapcalc, at this link SoapCalc

Let us know how it turned out!

 

[soapstarter]

It depends on whether or not you want to gel or not gel. Do a search here to get a good sense of the difference, but as a quick summary, gelling makes the colors more intense and the soap will get harder faster in the mold (so you can unmold more quickly); ungelled soap will have a lighter but creamier appearance and it will be softer, so you'll have to wait longer to unmold.

To gel a soap you increase the temp of the soap after you mold it, by putting it in a warm place (eg a v. low temp oven, or wrapped in blankets, or on a heat mat.) To avoid gel you put the molded soap in a cold place, the fridge or the garage of the homes of many of our US members who are suffering through a cold snap right now (sorry, you guys who going through this). The partial gel ring happens when the soap starts to gel but doesn't get/stay hot enough to finish the process.

I like gelled soap so to ensure that I CPOP (Cold Process Oven Process), here you preheat your oven to the lowest possible setting (usually between 120F and 170F), switch off the oven and put the soap into the oven for a couple of hours (I usually leave it overnight, with my usual soap recipe I can then cut it in the morning. If, on the other hand, I wanted an ungelled soap, I would put it in the fridge overnight. Generally if you want to avoid that partial gel ring I would go one way or the other rather than just (eg) pouring it and leaving it out at normal room temperature.

Regarding your soap, I probably would have left it wrapped, with that amount of honey (it was 1 tspn, right?) I doubt it would have overheated so much it was a problem unless there was something else at play like including milks or a problematic FO or EO. What made you think it was getting too hot?

One more thing, regarding the recipe on your other post: if you are using a recipe from someone else, always run it through a soap calculator. No matter where you get the recipe from, it could easily have a mistake in it - even just from being mistyped - with bad/dangerous results. Also, you can just cut and paste the calculator recipe result in your post here, which would give people here enough information to actually help you, eg, superfat, lye concentration, percentages of oils rather than amounts. Also include any additives (like you did with the honey), and the FO/EO, often those will provide necessary information on soap performance.

When you provide amounts of oils (rather than percentages) and omit the other information, people are much less likely to reply to your questions because then they have to do that work to figure it out rather than you providing it in the first place. I use a calculator called soapcalc, at this link SoapCalc

Let us know how it turned out!

Thank you so much for such a helpful reply. Wish I'd found thus forum a few hours before I did. Your explanation clarifies perfectly why for.similar oat and honey recipes some advised the fridge some the wrapping and keeping warm method
I'm expecting a big ring in my soap as I left on counter then covered for 2 hours and it was getting very hot then uncovered and left on counter uncovered
Can I ask then if you fridge the soap is that when you need to wait 2 to 3 days before unmoulding? And if wrapped warm typically.you wait 1 day / 24hours? Which soaps then can be left on counter without being warmed? I've seen so many recipes that advise pour into mould and leave for 1 or 2 days ...
My soap is pretty hard today having made it yesterday and left on counter with the 2h towel wrapping ... should I unmould today or leave it for another day ?
Thanks so much again

 

[not_ally]

I don't have much time this am (i'm in California), so will try to answer quickly, then you should search here or google on when to unmold and cut soap. Recipes will vary on when to unmold/cut depending on whether the soap is supposed to be gelled/ungelled (as I said above, you can umold/cut gelled soap quicker), what the recipe is (for example you need to cut salt soap very quickly, sometimes a couple of hours, it will crumble otherwise), your ambient temperature.

People generally say that soap is ready to cut if it feels like cheddar cheese, ie, it is relatively hard but with a tiny bounce/resilience to it. Not sure how helpful that is in this instance, but cutting slightly early is not the end of the world, you might leave a little soap behind in the corners. It's pretty hard to wait for very long with beginning batches because it's so tempting, and the cutting is the best part (that never changes). Have fun!

 

[SoapMedic]

I throw my oatmeal milk and honey soap in the freezer after I pour. I have left it there between 4 and 24 hours without issues. Otherwise it heats up enormously and I get a ring, brown discoloration and cracking. The freezer prevents gelling so my soap stays a nice cream color. ( it is unscented with goat milk) Regardless of how many hours it spends in the freezer I let it sit, covered with a lid or towel, in its silicone log mold for 24 hours before I cut.
Keep good notes on what works for you and have fun!

 

[soapstarter]

I throw my oatmeal milk and honey soap in the freezer after I pour. I have left it there between 4 and 24 hours without issues. Otherwise it heats up enormously and I get a ring, brown discoloration and cracking. The freezer prevents gelling so my soap stays a nice cream color. ( it is unscented with goat milk) Regardless of how many hours it spends in the freezer I let it sit, covered with a lid or towel, in its silicone log mold for 24 hours before I cut.
Keep good notes on what works for you and have fun!

Thank you ill definitely try this next time. I cut my soap just now so it was nice and creamy on the exterior howverr i can just about see a very subtle shade difference on the inside of the soap ... I saw a post on this forum somewhere where a soapmaker had posted a photo of a very prominent dark circle in the soap and someone had commented that during curing it would lighten. Given mine is barely noticeable hoping it resolves. Soap is solid lovely colour smells amazing but the cut sides are not silky smooth like the exterior look a bit grainy or rough. Going to try this soap again and throw it in the fridge. Will try a different receipe and use the oven method suggested by not_ally. Thanks so much

I don't have much time this am (i'm in California), so will try to answer quickly, then you should search here or google on when to unmold and cut soap. Recipes will vary on when to unmold/cut depending on whether the soap is supposed to be gelled/ungelled (as I said above, you can umold/cut gelled soap quicker), what the recipe is (for example you need to cut salt soap very quickly, sometimes a couple of hours, it will crumble otherwise), your ambient temperature.

People generally say that soap is ready to cut if it feels like cheddar cheese, ie, it is relatively hard but with a tiny bounce/resilience to it. Not sure how helpful that is in this instance, but cutting slightly early is not the end of the world, you might leave a little soap behind in the corners. It's pretty hard to wait for very long with beginning batches because it's so tempting, and the cutting is the best part (that never changes). Have fun!

Appreciate all the advice and will definitely have a read through all the help and advice posted on the forums. It felt like cheese so I went ahead and cut it. And yes I've been wanting to cut it all day. Had to stop myself from doing it until I saw your response
Should have made a simple soap without honey and essential oils but sort of glad I did as learnt so much about gel phase