Newbie CP soap maker looking for some help

[MountNView]

Hello Everyone,

I just made my 8th batch of CP goat's milk soap. It was about 7 lbs of soap and my biggest batch. I had more soap than what would fit into my loaf mold so I put the rest of it in a 3" pvc pipe mold which filled about 6 " of it. I wasn't prepared for the extra soap so by the time I got it into the PVC it was starting to set. The loaf soap went through a gel phase by the soap in the PVC did not. The next day the loaf soap had some liquid seeping around the edges. I did unmold and cut it but it did not set up as well as what was in the PVC mold. That harden up nicely and looks normal. This has never happened before. Can anyone tell me what might have caused this?

I would appreciate your help and experience.

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

Was it just a little oil seeping out, or a layer of oil? It sounds like you may have gotten some separation in the mold...but hard to know without pictures and recipe/method. Did you use a lot of fragrance oil? What temp did you soap at?

 

[MountNView]

Thank you for your quick reply. It was a little seeping but the color of the soap also looks darker too that what molded in the PVC. .5 per lb on the fo. Oils were 118 and lye mix at 115 or so. I will post a picture if that will help you...but I will have to do that later.

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

Sounds like your soap overheated a bit during gel phase, which would account for the darker color and some oil seepage. Milk soaps, because of the sugars in the milk, are prone to overheating. Your FO rate is fine. I also normally soap between 110-120*, unless I'm using an accelerating EO or beer/milk. Try dropping down to 100* next time, and if you want you can put your soap in the fridge or freezer to inhibit gel phase. It may take a little longer to unmold, but it will help with the overheating.

 

[MountNView]

Well I probably added to the problem by wrapping the mold with towels. I thought that is what you should do to help reach the gel phase. Is that phase not necessary? Is there anything I can do to fix this soap? Thank you so much.

 

[ruby61]

Most of the time with goats milk you do not need to cover with lid or towels. The sugar heats up the soap and you really don't need the extra insulation and may cause the seepage or cracking. I usually put my right in the fridge and occasionally still have trouble with overheating. I actually soap goats milk slightly higher than room temp around 85 to prevent problems with the burning of gm.

 

[MountNView]

I'm sure that was the cause. Is there anything I can or should do with this batch of soap to correct this?

Thank you very much for your replies. I appreciate your knowledge and willingness to share.

 

[My Mountain Soaps]

i have had the same problem, thank you very much ruby61 for helping. I used a recipe with powdered milk in a wooden mold. there was a lot of oil seeping out, and there were big air pockets in the upper portion of the soap. I used 6 oz coconut oil, 5 oz almond oil,5 oz hazelnut oil, 2 oz olive oil, 7 oz aloe vera, 1 oz castor oil, .3 oz honey, and .8 powdered milk, 7 oz water and 3 oz lye. i mixed/melted all liquids (Except water), mixed the lye, then when they were in the 110-115 temp range, i mixed to light trace, then added the powdered milk, and about .5 ounces in essential oils. it yielded a 2 lb batch with some overflow that i put into a plastic mayo jar. that jar set up better than the wooden mold, so i think that you are right in that it got too hot. Unless you have other ideas? its a good thing that this soap is just for me, other wise no one else may want to use it based on the appearance! i think that i am going to look into getting a different type of mold, a plastic one that wont conduct so much heat.