how to avoid ash?

[TygrAnn]

what methods are used to avoid ash?

someone said they use 90% alcohol but will regular rubbing alcohol work and if so...when should you use it?
as soon as it is in the mold... after is has set.. when you cut it into bars?

and how... ie spray, rub etc?

 

[donniej]

I once had my dehumidifier pointed at my drying racks and it caused a few racks to get ashy white all over them. I'd avoid doing that.

Sorry, I never heard about the alcohol trick.

 

[evatgirl73]

I'm experimenting with the isopropyl alcohol myself. I have read that it can help mprevent ash, so I've been spraying the last couple of batches with textured tops to see how it works for me.
It *did* completely get rid of some very mild ash on a goat's milk batch that was already curing, it has *not* gotten rid of severe ash on two other batches curing. I have sprayed the tops of the recent batches quite liberally, it has made the tops harder than the rest of the soap and I'll let you know if it helped with the ash or not. Of course, there's no telling if these particular soaps would have gotten ash bad or not....

 

[rubyslippers]

I've had good luck just lightly misting my soap as soon as it is poured into a log mold with plain ole rubbing alcohol and then placing a sheet of Glad Press N Seal on top of the poured soap and smooth it out gently so that no air gets to the soap. Once the soap is set and ready to be cut, I peel off the press n seal and slice it. This is a tip I got from someone on this forum (sorry - can't credit the poster because I don't remember the name) but it has worked like a charm and I no longer have a problem with ash.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Keep your soap covered with plastic wrap until you unmould it. Once you've unmoulded and cut, spray lightly (all over) with alcohol and put on racks to dry.

 

[TygrAnn]

thanks everybody.. I'll give the plastic wrap and alcohol spray a try

 

[IanT]

Keep your soap covered with plastic wrap until you unmould it. Once you've unmoulded and cut, spray lightly (all over) with alcohol and put on racks to dry.

I agree

Since ash is the resultant biproduct of the saponification process, when the raw soap comes in contact with air, ash is formed. You can cut down on the amount of ash by covering your soap with plastic wrap. Ive never had a problem with ash on my soaps, but then again I always cover them with plastic wrap to ensure that less air comes in contact with it. I never unmold early, and I havent even used alcohol yet... no need to IMO if everything is done correctly, and I dont like thinking about the leftover residues that could possibly be there when you use alcohol ... or how it might change the soap-chemistry (donnie.. how, if at all does alcohol change the composition of soap molecules? I know it can be used as a denaturing agent... so thats what Im mainly thinking of?)

 

[jhwest]

I usually do CPOP so plastic wrap doesn't work for me. I had been getting horrendous ash and tried everything to get rid of it: distilled water, bought all new fresh oils and butters (thought maybe the old stuff was causing more oxidiization or something), but nothing worked!!! So finally I took an old Silpat I had sitting around and trimmed it to cover my log mold. Then I placed the wooden lid on, which I hadn't been doing.

Voilá! Not a speck of ash since then! I can't tell you how excited I am to finally get rid of that awful stuff!

P.S. They sell Silpat silicone baking mats just about everywhere that sells kitchen stuff in case you don't have one.

 

[IanT]

I usually do CPOP so plastic wrap doesn't work for me. I had been getting horrendous ash and tried everything to get rid of it: distilled water, bought all new fresh oils and butters (thought maybe the old stuff was causing more oxidiization or something), but nothing worked!!! So finally I took an old Silpat I had sitting around and trimmed it to cover my log mold. Then I placed the wooden lid on, which I hadn't been doing.

Voilá! Not a speck of ash since then! I can't tell you how excited I am to finally get rid of that awful stuff!

P.S. They sell Silpat silicone baking mats just about everywhere that sells kitchen stuff in case you don't have one.

Yup ! that wooden lid limited the amount of oxygen that was exposed to the soap! Thereby reducing the ash biproduct that occurs when raw soap comes in contact with air!!

whats a Silpat?? never heard of one! ( )

 

[honor435]

hmmm, i cover with wooden top and still sometimes get ash?, i dont mind it, sometimes it looks cool.

 

[evatgirl73]

So what do people do for the textured tops?? I can't put plastic wrap on top of it. I don't use a wooden mold (I use silicone) so I don't have a lid, l and even if I did, my tops generally extend above the "rim" of the mold anyways so a lid would be moot.
I tried laying plastic wrap down on a slab mold, and it's VERY noticeable that I did.... I've also received soaps from others where I can instantly tell it was covered in plastic wrap. How do you prevent that from shwoing, is there a trick to it??

 

[honor435]

how bout dont cover it, but put on heating pad?

 

[carebear]

some swear that incorporating 2% beeswax into the formula helps. i haven't tried that.

i do know that if my formula is 75% or more hard oils (I make some 100% hard oils formulas too), my soap MUST gel or it gets a very thick, sticky ash.