Oven gel after cure?

[girlfromnovascotia]

So I have a 3 lb cold process bar that I made a 100 degrees or less. It is cured 24 hrs. I would like to try the oven process to get the soap to harden a bit and get to the gel stage.

should I slice it first or will the whole loaf gel?

 

[Tara_H]

For a quick answer since I'm just passing through - you can put it in the oven without slicing or unmoulding. It will get softer so if you've already taken it out of the mould it may collapse, but you can just put it back in if needed.
I'm sure more people will be along in a bit with more detailed replies!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

24 hours is not “after cure”. It is a point in time where the actual curing hasn't even started properly. But that's good news for you, @girlfromnovascotia ! It means that late CPOP (“emergency CPOP”) will probably bring your soap into gel phase with ease.
I second @Tara_H – do as little as possible with the loaf, don't slice it. If appropriate/possible, put it back into the original mould.

But also note that CPOP is not a panacea to magically make soap harder. By the most part, gelling vs. not gelling only manipulates the speed at which the early stages of curing takes place, and alters colour/transparency a bit. If it is a slow/soft recipe, it won't become super hard by putting it into the oven for a few hours. Soaps tend to “forget” a good part of their heat treatment over the weeks and months of curing. For hardness, the most important factor is the recipe (saturated fatty acids), on second place is the water content. CPOPing won't change moisture much, letting the sliced soap sit and cure for several weeks will.

 

[girlfromnovascotia]

24 hours is not “after cure”. It is a point in time where the actual curing hasn't even started properly. But that's good news for you, @girlfromnovascotia ! It means that late CPOP (“emergency CPOP”) will probably bring your soap into gel phase with ease.
I second @Tara_H – do as little as possible with the loaf, don't slice it. If appropriate/possible, put it back into the original mould.

But also note that CPOP is not a panacea to magically make soap harder. By the most part, gelling vs. not gelling only manipulates the speed at which the early stages of curing takes place, and alters colour/transparency a bit. If it is a slow/soft recipe, it won't become super hard by putting it into the oven for a few hours. Soaps tend to “forget” a good part of their heat treatment over the weeks and months of curing. For hardness, the most important factor is the recipe (saturated fatty acids), on second place is the water content. CPOPing won't change moisture much, letting the sliced soap sit and cure for several weeks will.

thank you for the excellent info. I guess I misspoke when referring to post 24 hrs as cured. I cure my soap for min. of 3 weeks. I do all natural and find the gel phase makes my natural colourants a bit brighter and I tend to like the sheen of a gelled bar when it loses the excess moisture.

 

[earlene]

You can encourage gel in ungelled soap in or out of the mold. I have done it both ways. It's just as easy to do it in the mold if that is where it still sits. If the soap is already cut and you find partial gel upon cutting, the gel phase can be encouraged with sufficient heat (may depend somewhat on the specific formula used as some gel at lower temperatures than others). You can put the cut soap back into the mold and then heat it, or you can leave the cut bars out of the mold and place them on a tray and then heat them.

I heat my oven to the lowest heat (for my oven that is about 150° F, and when my oven thermometer registers 150° F, I put the soap inside, turn the oven off, and leave the soap inside the oven for a couple of hours and check. You could just leave it overnight and check it in the morning. Just make sure you do not leave the heat on if you leave it in the oven for long. I have made that mistake & ended up with bubbly bumps on the top of the soap that had to planed off. So be sure to turn off the oven.

I always use an oven thermometer because I have learned that oven temperatures are not always what one expects based on the fact that malfunctions sometimes occur.

 

[girlfromnovascotia]

You can encourage gel in ungelled soap in or out of the mold. I have done it both ways. It's just as easy to do it in the mold if that is where it still sits. If the soap is already cut and you find partial gel upon cutting, the gel phase can be encouraged with sufficient heat (may depend somewhat on the specific formula used as some gel at lower temperatures than others). You can put the cut soap back into the mold and then heat it, or you can leave the cut bars out of the mold and place them on a tray and then heat them.

I heat my oven to the lowest heat (for my oven that is about 150° F, and when my oven thermometer registers 150° F, I put the soap inside, turn the oven off, and leave the soap inside the oven for a couple of hours and check. You could just leave it overnight and check it in the morning. Just make sure you do not leave the heat on if you leave it in the oven for long. I have made that mistake & ended up with bubbly bumps on the top of the soap that had to planed off. So be sure to turn off the oven.

I always use an oven thermometer because I have learned that oven temperatures are not always what one expects based on the fact that malfunctions sometimes occur.

Great advice. Thanks