How to Tell if it Gelled

[MellonFriend]

So, I'm having trouble understanding whether my bars gelled. The first batch, I know did because I checked on it hours after I put it in the mold and it looked wet all the way out to the edges. Now the second two batches, I'm just not sure. I checked on them about two-three hours after I put them in the mold after they started to cool down and they were completely opaque at that point. Is it possible that I just missed the gel phase or was that too short of a time for them to gel?

What do you think? Can you tell by just looking at them?
Batch 1

Batch 2

Batch 3

 

[CpnDouchette]

It's taken me a while to work out if a bar has gelled after unmoulding without checking on it during that first 12 hours. Generally colours are brighter if it's gelled, more creamy or pastelly if not. It very much depends on your recipe, temp you soap at, the natural colour of your soap and the amount of colourant you used.

I would say hazzard a guess that the above haven't gelled, but equally, if I don't force gel or do something to actively stop gel (i.e. by an open door) then I always get a partial gel. Also, I've only been making soap for like 6 months, so it's hardly as though I have years of experience to draw upon!

 

[DeeAnna]

Your soap doesn't have a partial gel, but I can't say if each batch got warm enough to gel or not. There is truth that gelling makes colors more saturated/brighter, but you'd want to compare a sample of the color in not-gelled soap with a sample of the same color in gelled soap.

Taken out of that context, it's hard to tell gel vs. not-gel just by looking at color. A pastel blue in a batch of gelled soap will look softer and less saturated than a medium blue in another batch of soap that didn't gel.

I also don't always see the visual cue of a darker oval of gelled soap, but I don't stress over it.

In the first few hours after pouring the soap, I check the sides of the loaf to see if the soap and the mold are obviously warming up. Definitely and pleasantly warm is a good sign.

I also check for cracking and swelling of the top -- if I see swelling, the soap is getting overly warm. Cracks are a step further into overheating. In either case, I usually sit the mold on several soup cans or a cookie cooling rack and put a little fan to blow room temperature air over the entire mold. That works well to cool things down.

The second thing I check the next day is whether the loaf is reasonably firm all over something like refrigerator-cold cheese, or if the loaf feels soft-ish to a gentle finger press more like molding clay. The extreme corners sometimes stay a bit softer than I'd like, which means they didn't gel, but if most of the loaf is firm, I don't worry too much. If the entire loaf is soft and dentable, then the soap didn't get warm enough to gel.

 

[Zing]

Great looking soap there! I'm a geller. What do you do after pouring? I cover my loaf mold with cardboard, place on a heating pad, and cover with several towels. I turn the heating pad on high and it has an auto shut-off after 2 hours. One of my simple pleasures is to reach under the towels and feel the warm soap which I am somehow compelled to do several times. If I pour in the evening, it is often still warm the next morning.

 

[MellonFriend]

Great looking soap there! I'm a geller. What do you do after pouring? I cover my loaf mold with cardboard, place on a heating pad, and cover with several towels. I turn the heating pad on high and it has an auto shut-off after 2 hours. One of my simple pleasures is to reach under the towels and feel the warm soap which I am somehow compelled to do several times. If I pour in the evening, it is often still warm the next morning.

Thanks!
I covered my molds with a piece of cardboard and then wrapped the whole thing is a tea towel that is on the thicker side. I'm pretty sure batch two did not gel. It just seems kind of soft and has zero shine as compared to the other batches.

How long does it generally take for a soap to complete the gel phase? Or is that completely variable?

I almost wish I would see a partial gel in a batch so that I know it happened.

 

[Susie]

I force gel mine using a heating pad and towels, and use @DeeAnna's method of checking.

 

[Zing]

I'm sure many factors affect the length of the gel phase. Like I said, when I soap in the evening, the mold is still warm the next morning. But I typically unmold on the 24th hour and the mold is at room temp.

 

[DeeAnna]

Shine and translucency are also affected by the colorants you used. Titanium dioxide and other pigmented colorants can make soap look opaque and dull, especially if you use a fair amount.

Also water content, additives, and your choice of fats can affect the softness. You haven't shared anything about your recipe(s) including the amount of water you use, so there's no way to give reasonable advice about that.

 

[MellonFriend]

Shine and translucency are also affected by the colorants you used. Titanium dioxide and other pigmented colorants can make soap look opaque and dull, especially if you use a fair amount.

Also water content, additives, and your choice of fats can affect the softness. You haven't shared anything about your recipe(s) including the amount of water you use, so there's no way to give reasonable advice about that.

Would it help if I shared my recipes? I wouldn't mind.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Great looking soap there! I'm a geller. What do you do after pouring? I cover my loaf mold with cardboard, place on a heating pad, and cover with several towels. I turn the heating pad on high and it has an auto shut-off after 2 hours. One of my simple pleasures is to reach under the towels and feel the warm soap which I am somehow compelled to do several times. If I pour in the evening, it is often still warm the next morning.

Most of my batches start with 500 - 1000 g of oils. I do exactly the same as Zing except that I also put the smaller molds in a small cardboard shoe box. My soaps gel within two hours most of the time (visual check), even at 37% lye concentration. I’m usually adding aloe for all or part of the water or adding sugar. My coconut is typically 20% or less. I tend to avoid accelerating/heating FOs. I *think* a higher percentage of CO (> 25%?) would also make a loaf heat faster, as would more water. Larger loaf molds retain more of the generated heat, which will encourage gel. I take the towels off the next morning and let the soap reach room temperature before I cut, which is typically at the 20-24 hr mark. When I use individual cavity molds I usually CPOP to help them along. They don’t always gel, but they usually firm up pretty well.

 

[MellonFriend]

Well my molds are definitely room temperature at 24hrs. I'm cutting my bars at 15 hours actually. I didn't know you could go longer than that. My bars aren't super hard or anything so I probably could go longer... that is if I can stand waiting.
My batches were around 700-970 grams. I used 33% lye concentration. No FOs that are accelerating and coconut oil all under 20% accept for that last batch. I used a box as a mold that is about five and a half inches by seven inches. Not sure if this info is helpful at all. I think next time I'll take some more serious measures to insure that it is gelling. Is it okay to take peeks at it during this process? I mean will it interrupt the building heat if check on it every once and a while after I have wrapped it up?

 

[Zing]

In the immediate hours after pouring, I unwrap all the layers for a quick peek to see if it's overheating or cracking.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I peek too.

 

[MellonFriend]

Good, I feel like I need to see what it's doing in order to learn. Thanks guys!

 

[Orebma]

Great looking soap there! I'm a geller. What do you do after pouring? I cover my loaf mold with cardboard, place on a heating pad, and cover with several towels. I turn the heating pad on high and it has an auto shut-off after 2 hours. One of my simple pleasures is to reach under the towels and feel the warm soap which I am somehow compelled to do several times. If I pour in the evening, it is often still warm the next morning.

I love having a little touch of my soap in its cocoon too!

 

[Susie]

We all peek. I watch mine most closely the first four hours or so. That gets me past the biggest danger of overheating/cracking/volcanoing.

Once I see gelled soap at 90-95% of the top of the mold, I turn the heating pad off and start unwrapping. I know there is enough residual heat to finish gel already in the loaf. Then, once it is firm enough to unmold, I will do that and just let my loaf sit until I think it is cool enough/firm enough to cut. Sometimes it is in as little as 12 hours, sometimes not. If I am making uncolored or single colored soap, I soap hotter, so it is ready to cut faster. If I want pretty swirls, I soap at room temperature, so it takes longer. Experience will teach you the right feeling that yields the prettiest bars.