Preventing ash in plastic molds

[lwwh67]

Is it possible to make a cp soap that is not insulated and does not go through gel stage in a plastic mold and not get ash?? I always get deep ash whenever I do not insulate the soaps well that I make in plastic molds. I have so many beautiful plastic molds

(darn milky way). Does anyone know of a recipe that does not get ash in cp soap and not insulated so it does not go through gel?

 

[AliOop]

I don't use Milky Way molds, but plastic wrap works pretty well for covering my silicone cavity molds to prevent contact with air. The hardest part is leaving them alone for two to three days to ensure that saponification is complete, so that there is no free lye to react with the air to create ash.

 

[lwwh67]

I don't use Milky Way molds, but plastic wrap works pretty well for covering my silicone cavity molds to prevent contact with air. The hardest part is leaving them alone for two to three days to ensure that saponification is complete, so that there is no free lye to react with the air to create ash.

Well, I am guilty of taking them out less than 24hrs after pour so that may be some of the issue??? I read somewhere that beeswax and a water discount and sodium lactate may help so I am going to try to use all of them.

 

[AliOop]

Water discount will help for sure, as well as soaping a little warmer if you can. I’ve not heard of using SL to prevent ash, but it definitely does help with unmolding. Beeswax is usually for hardening the bar but perhaps it works for ash, as well.

Some folks spray the top of the soap with 90% rubbing alcohol to prevent ash. That hasn’t been very successful for me, but it might be worth a try, too.

 

[lwwh67]

How warm would you think, like 110 or more?

I want to use the plastic individual molds to make test soaps and I don't think the plastic molds are supposed to get too hot so my normal way of soaping with insulating the molds to prevent ash won't work with these molds. I think 140 is the highest temp for these

 

[AliOop]

Ash is such a fickle creature that is affected by so many things, including your recipe, your relative humidity, etc.

I normally soap around 110º - 120º and use a pretty steep water discount (usually a 40% lye solution) -- and I still get ash if I don't cover my CP soap with cling wrap for the first 48 hours or so. So for me, it is a combination approach of higher temps, lower water, and covering with cling wrap that seems to work. Other people get a lot of success with spraying the RA right after pouring, so I'd encourage you to try that if you have some around. It's pricey right now if you try to buy it, because everyone wants to make hand sanitizer.

I actually leave the ash on some of my soaps as a pretty accent. But if I'm giving it as a gift, it is easy enough to steam it off or rinse it off. The soaps are nice and shiny afterwards.

 

[shunt2011]

I don't use individual molds often. I do make salt soap in them more often than not though. They always tended to get a lot of ash. I finally found a way to get it not to ash for the most part. I pour them, spray with 91% alcohol heavily and then cover with plastic wrap and then a towel. I've not had them gel. I then leave them alone for a couple days. I then remove from the molds and spray again well and cover for couple more days. Then they are generally okay to move to the curing racks. It's keeping the air off of them until fully saponified.

 

[mtinetti61]

I keep wondering if regional variances in the atmosphere like humidity, barometric pressure, or ????.. contribute to soda ash. When I lived in northern Minnesota I got lots of ash, and it would appear even when I carefully covered my soaps with plastic wrap, delayed unmolding for a full 48 hours-- whatever I did. Since moving to southern MN (Rochester and now Minneapolis) I haven't had nearly the problem.

 

[lwwh67]

When you say you cover them after you unmold, do you wrap each bar with plastic wrap? Thanks!

I don't use individual molds often. I do make salt soap in them more often than not though. They always tended to get a lot of ash. I finally found a way to get it not to ash for the most part. I pour them, spray with 91% alcohol heavily and then cover with plastic wrap and then a towel. I've not had them gel. I then leave them alone for a couple days. I then remove from the molds and spray again well and cover for couple more days. Then they are generally okay to move to the curing racks. It's keeping the air off of them until fully saponified.

 

[AliOop]

I keep wondering if regional variances in the atmosphere like humidity, barometric pressure, or ????.. contribute to soda ash.

Yes, absolutely, plus recipe differences, as well. My bars with AC get a lot more ash than ones without.

When you say you cover them after you unmold, do you wrap each bar with plastic wrap? Thanks!

I don't know how @shunt2011 does it, but I put one piece of cling wrap over the top of the entire batch. I press it down around the bars and the outside edges of the wrap. As she noted, the key is keeping air off of them until saponification is complete. Usually that is 48 hours, but can take significantly longer for cavity molds since they don't heat up as much and usually don't gel.

 

[AliOop]

combined with previous post

 

[lwwh67]

I don't know how @shunt2011 does it, but I put one piece of cling wrap over the top of the entire batch. I press it down around the bars and the outside edges of the wrap. As she noted, the key is keeping air off of them until saponification is complete. Usually that is 48 hours, but can take significantly longer for cavity molds since they don't heat up as much and usually don't gel.

Thanks. I think my biggest problem was unmolding too quickly. I will definitely try again with all of the suggestions. Much appreciated!