One pound test, big oil pockets

[ozarkscents]

That is full gel. Then the center overheated. Look at the residue on the mold compared to the loaf edge. I had to use a magnifying glass to see it, but there is a big difference once you do. I do not see a partial gel ring.

Did any liquid leak out of the soap? If so, you need to figure out what it was, and how much it was.(Weigh the paper towels it soaked into, then weigh the same number of paper towels to get the weight of the difference.) If it was oil, I would replace that amount in the pot when rebatching. If it was NaOH solution, worst case scenario is you get a higher superfat.

I know that most new soapers think the way to try new recipes is to make very small batches(this one is 1 lb/537 g) to not waste ingredients should something go badly. It is really not a good idea. Small errors in weighing or too many ingredients that create heat cause are greatly magnified when you are dealing with a small batch. It is much better to deal with cheaper ingredients in larger amounts(32 oz/1000 g of oil range) until you get the process down and learn what to avoid. And probably your soap would have been fine if you had used individual bar molds, or not insulated, used less heaters, etc . But it takes time and practice to get the hang of all those things.

I love all this discussion about this mess! I'm in bed w/my tablet right now. I'll get back to the discussion in the am.

Terry

 

[cmzaha]

I am one hundred percent with Susie on this one. I have a rose fo that will do the same and it does fully gel then will start to volcano with leaves caverns in the soap. The light colored center will usually be quite soft also and if you give the soap a squeeze oil will most like squish out

 

[ozarkscents]

That is full gel. Then the center overheated. Look at the residue on the mold compared to the loaf edge. I had to use a magnifying glass to see it, but there is a big difference once you do. I do not see a partial gel ring.

I know that most new soapers think the way to try new recipes is to make very small batches(this one is 1 lb/537 g) to not waste ingredients should something go badly. It is really not a good idea. Small errors in weighing or too many ingredients that create heat cause are greatly magnified when you are dealing with a small batch. It is much better to deal with cheaper ingredients in larger amounts(32 oz/1000 g of oil range) until you get the process down and learn what to avoid. And probably your soap would have been fine if you had used individual bar molds, or not insulated, used less heaters, etc . But it takes time and practice to get the hang of all those things.

I've been making soap for over 10 years, off and on. I wanted to try the cinnamon leaf EO, that's why I did the small loaf. I figured I would throw in pumpkin and GM also, just to see what happened. :-o Well, I see what can happen and next time, I'll put it in the fridge or freezer! I have a silicone muffin pan that should work great for this little batch instead of the one pound loaf.

I love to experiment!

Terry

 

[Susie]

I've been making soap for over 10 years, off and on. I wanted to try the cinnamon leaf EO, that's why I did the small loaf. I figured I would throw in pumpkin and GM also, just to see what happened. :-o Well, I see what can happen and next time, I'll put it in the fridge or freezer! I have a silicone muffin pan that should work great for this little batch instead of the one pound loaf.

I love to experiment!

Terry

Sorry! I saw the join date and jumped to the wrong conclusion!

 

[Susie]

I am one hundred percent with Susie on this one. I have a rose fo that will do the same and it does fully gel then will start to volcano with leaves caverns in the soap. The light colored center will usually be quite soft also and if you give the soap a squeeze oil will most like squish out

I have never had it happen with a scent, but I tried using sweet potato puree in a batch with CM, so I have seen this in person.

And I know that the residue on the mold is ungelled. That is exactly why I compare the soap block to the residue. The residue is the "ungelled" color, where the soap bar is the gelled color. There is a distinct difference.

 

[JustBeachy]

Ok, had to put my daughter on a plane back to her moms this aft, so needed something to get my mind off her leaving. Started up the experiment. First, hats off to all those people who can get their soaps to overheat. haha I couldn't get mine to even mound up, much less mushroom out of the mold. I used my normal recipe, which already includes 1.4 % beeswax and 60 % of the liquid is coconut milk.

To that I added, for a one pound batch, (oils), 3 TBS of Sugar, with 3TBS water and 1 TBS Honey. Just to go a little overboard.

Mixed well, trace took a lot longer than my normal soap, but here it is poured.


I put it in the 170 F oven and waited. At 15 minutes it was already starting to separate. No signs of mounding. Small layer of oil starting to gather on the top.


At 42 mins, it was showing signs of gel, in the center. Oil on top now is 1/4 inch thick. Under the oil there is a crack or two forming. At this point, in order to try to stop the gel and produce the gel ring I'm looking for I pulled it out of the oven and left it uncovered to see if it would cool down and prevent a full gel.


I'll watch it over the next few hours to see when it's cooled down enough to know gel has stopped and shoot some more pics. I'll look at doing a messy cut tomorrow if possible and post more pics.

 

[JustBeachy]

Checked the soap periodically throughout the night at 30 min intervals. The top of the loaf was cool to the touch within 5 hours and never hit gel. Since I can slide the bottom of my mold out, without totally removing it, I was able to check the bottom throughout the process. At 5 hours the bottom was still real soft and a little warm, but no longer hot at all. Sides of the mold were no longer warm at all.

Ok, at 14 hours the soap still has a thin layer of oil on top, but feels firm. I took the mold apart to make sure I didn't damage the loaf to un mold. Here's the soap right out of the mold.




Soap is firm top and sides. Upon cutting, I found the soap tunneled on the bottom section. Was hoping to get this closer to the center, but I guess that would only happen when I'm not trying to overheat a soap.


As I observed during the CPOP and right afterward, the soap never hit full gel. The tunnel ended before it made it through the ends.


The colors morphed drastically, so the gel ring isn't as obvious in the picture, but it was definitively a ring on the soap.



While I would have liked to see this ring more centered in the loaf, I was able to produce a overheated soap, that did not hit full gel. So the part of my theory that a soap can overheat without hitting full gel was proven.

My theory that the air pockets created by the tunnel can insulate the rest of the soap, remains unproven.

Other experiments I ran during this OH. The yellow/red oxide color mixture I tried morphed into a really ugly rust brown. One of the three Coconut FO's I purchased, didn't make it through the process at all. Added 1 ounce per pound and it's barely noticeable.

The remains of this ill fated soap is now in the crockpot being rebatched. It was zapping hard by the way.