Is this mold?

[RødgrødMedFløde]

I've genuinely never had issues with mold. But tonight, I go grab a parkway jar that I filled with my latest shaving soap recipe test made last week, I turn it upside down, and through the translucent plastic I see pink...

I typically make batches using around 13 oz of fats with a 1:5.25 concentration, so pretty moist. I typically fill up one parkway jar and pour the rest into single bar molds. And the edges seem to stay wet for a while.

so I was just wondering if it was trapped moisture after a hot processing the soap? Or is it possible the plastic jar had some nastiness in it? Or is this pink stuff something different altogether?

I've genuinely never had issues with mold. But tonight, I go grab a parkway jar that I filled with my latest shaving soap recipe test made last week, I turn it upside down, and through the translucent plastic I see pink...

I typically make batches using around 13 oz of fats with a 1:5.25 concentration, so pretty moist. I typically fill up one parkway jar and pour the rest into single bar molds. And the edges seem to stay wet for a while.

so I was just wondering if it was trapped moisture after a hot processing the soap? Or is it possible the plastic jar had some nastiness in it? Or is this pink stuff something different altogether?

For reference, no issues with the top of the jar or the bars I made from the same batch. The jar was left completely open for about 5 days then the lid put on for about 2 days prior to me opening it today.

 

[artemis]

Disclaimers:
1. I don't make shaving soap, so I know nothing about cure time for such a thing
2. I don't know what that pink is

Having said that, I don't think I would cover soap for at least 4 weeks. There's a lot of water that needs to evaporate out. I am assuming the same is true for shaving soap? So ... Ya. Maybe there was too much moisture trapped in the bottom.

 

[VikingChick]

I’d be surprised if mold could grow at the high pH of soap. I’d be more inclined to think that’s probably condensed moisture. Did you use any essential oils? I once made a batch of shaving soap with cedarwood and clove EOs and it turned pinkish.

 

[RødgrødMedFløde]

Disclaimers:
1. I don't make shaving soap, so I know nothing about cure time for such a thing
2. I don't know what that pink is

Having said that, I don't think I would cover soap for at least 4 weeks. There's a lot of water that needs to evaporate out. I am assuming the same is true for shaving soap? So ... Ya. Maybe there was too much moisture trapped in the bottom.

So, It's definitely a bit of a different animal. Most of us shave soapers Use ratios of water to lye that are much higher, And when combined with the use of KOH and The appropriate distribution of soft oils, leave us with something we call "croap." It's significantly better that way, and the goal is often a Play-Doh consistency or even a little softer.

That said, it's pretty common to cap somewhere between 48 hours and 10 days depending on the level of water loss you desire. In my search for the holy Grail of shave soap recipes, I'm typically making somewhere around 30 lb a month, not being sold to the public lol And this is a pretty typical capping point for me. Yet the first time I've ever experienced this.

You may have hit the nail in the head with a moisture trapped underneath, however, as I realized that this parkway jar is a reused jar. In fact, I believe it's from a Phoenix artesional accoutrements shaving soap. It makes me wonder if I got a little bit of serratia marcescens in the jar. It's a gram-negative bacteria, so I could just put it on a slide and do a gram stain... I'll get back to everyone tomorrow when I have time to do it!

I’d be surprised if mold could grow at the high pH of soap. I’d be more inclined to think that’s probably condensed moisture. Did you use any essential oils? I once made a batch of shaving soap with cedarwood and clove EOs and it turned pinkish.

Two FO's at a ratio to each other and my total oil weight that I've used 4 times before... Good idea though!

 

[MichaelP]

It makes me wonder if I got a little bit of serratia marcescens in the jar. It's a gram-negative bacteria, so I could just put it on a slide and do a gram stain.

​

I was wondering the same thing. Cool that you know microbiology and can do a gram-negative stain. I'm curious now to hear if that's the culprit... For those who may not know about Serratia marcescens , here's the first few sentences from Wikipedia "Serratia marcescens (/səˈreɪʃiə mɑːrˈsɛsɪnz/)[3][failed verification] is a species of rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria in the family Yersiniaceae. It is a facultative anaerobe and an opportunistic pathogen in humans. It was discovered in 1819 by Bartolomeo Bizio in Padua, Italy.[4] S. marcescens is commonly involved in hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), also called nosocomial infections, particularly catheter-associated bacteremia, urinary tract infections, and wound infections,[5][6] and is responsible for 1.4% of HAI cases in the United States.[7] It is commonly found in the respiratory and urinary tracts of hospitalized adults and in the gastrointestinal systems of children."

 

[DeeAnna]

I'm guessing bacteria, not mold.

 

[RødgrødMedFløde]

​

I was wondering the same thing. Cool that you know microbiology and can do a gram-negative stain. I'm curious now to hear if that's the culprit... For those who may not know about Serratia marcescens , here's the first few sentences from Wikipedia "Serratia marcescens (/səˈreɪʃiə mɑːrˈsɛsɪnz/)[3][failed verification] is a species of rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria in the family Yersiniaceae. It is a facultative anaerobe and an opportunistic pathogen in humans. It was discovered in 1819 by Bartolomeo Bizio in Padua, Italy.[4] S. marcescens is commonly involved in hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), also called nosocomial infections, particularly catheter-associated bacteremia, urinary tract infections, and wound infections,[5][6] and is responsible for 1.4% of HAI cases in the United States.[7] It is commonly found in the respiratory and urinary tracts of hospitalized adults and in the gastrointestinal systems of children."

I thought you might be interested in the update! Unfortunately, the microscope I have is binocular, so I can't hook a camera up to it. And, I didn't try to get a cell phone pic, which don't look great but you can definitely see what you're taking a picture of.

That said, my 6 year old son and I attempted to Gram stain a sample. I'm not sure if it's because of the lipid content or what, but we definitely couldn't get a good stain, even with a thin smear. So we got a hold of a nutrient agar plate and a MacConkey plate and cultivated it! We grabbed a sample and sure enough, pink/red rods! Cool stuff!

Anyway, at least it's an isolated event. The bars I made are completely mold free. The bacteria must have been present in the jar I used. I guess that's the last time I use a used shaving soap jar without sterilizing it!

 

[paradisi]

There are good and proper reasons corporations don't reuse packaging. And that they use sufficient preservatives. You've discovered one.

 

[cmzaha]

I made and sold shave soap, but always added in a preservative just to be on the safe side. This I did discuss with a microbiologist and he agreed it was not a bad idea since shave shop in a jar or cup has water added. He also used my shave soap and taught soapmaking so we had quite a few discussions about it.

 

[MichaelP]

So we got a hold of a nutrient agar plate and a MacConkey plate and cultivated it! We grabbed a sample and sure enough, pink/red rods! Cool stuff!

So cool that you could do that! Great confirmation!!! Great learning lesson too!

 

[Becky1024]

Cool stuff! I make shave soap but in a cylindrical mold and cut into pucks so the water can evaporate out.

 

[VikingChick]

How interesting! I wouldn’t have thought a gram negative bacteria could grow at a high(er) pH. Great detective work!

ETA: A little more info on Serratia: