Really soft soaps?

[FlybyStardancer]

Okay, so the soap I made Monday is still too soft to unmold. I'm going a bit crazy here! I thought waiting one day would test my patience! Any suggestions for how long this will take, or how to speed it up?

OO 240g
Soybean oil 210g
CO 120g
Castor 31g

NaOH 85g
H2O 228g
Citric Acid 5g
Sugar 5g

Also a bit of TD and cocoa powder for coloring.

I didn't actively try to gel, or actively hinder it. Poured soap went into my unheated oven and has been allowed to stay there.

This is making me a bit worried for my shampoo bar attempt. That will have 40% OO, 30% avocado oil, and 10% each castor, jojoba, and mango butter. Should I do a large water discount on the shampoo bar? I may or may not have sodium lactate available for that attempt, depending on how long I let herbs infuse into the OO (I just got that started tonight).

And as an aside... I'm rather unhappy with how my silicone Wilton mold is (not) holding up.

 

[Obsidian]

I would heat the oven to 170* F, turn it off then place the soap in the oven and see if it will go through gel. That should help it harden.

If you mold is thin and very flexible, you might need a wooden mold to support it. I hate my silicone loaf mold, I prefer a paper lined wooden one.

 

[judymoody]

Well, it's mostly liquid oils and you used full water so it could take a week to firm up, particularly if the soap didn't gel. You could try forcing gel after the fact as obsidian suggests.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Unfortunately the oven is broken, and I have no way of heating it up. I meant to go down the isle with light bulbs at the store yesterday, but got in a hurry and forgot, so I can't even heat it up with the viewing light.

And as for the mold... I have it supported with a glass baking dish that it just fits in (though not enough to prevent bowing, sigh), but that's not really what's upsetting me the most. It's just ripping apart. I've already lost half of it when I was trying to get my first soap out of it, and that soap had hardened up quickly!

 

[Obsidian]

A light bulb would never get it warm enough to do any good. Another option is to set the mold on a heating pad and cover it with a couple towels. Otherwise, just be patient.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Maybe it would have had some effect when the soap was first made... I've been a bit cautious with the gel/not gel thing because I've been adding sugar to the soap batter. I also mean it when I say I don't have any way of heating up the oven... Doing it easy-bake style would have been the only real option. (No heating pad either--Dad took it, and I haven't been able to find a replacement in my price range that doesn't have a mountain of bad reviews.)

I had originally meant to do a water discount to try that out, but things ended up being that I needed to re-run the calculations through SoapCalc last-minute, and I forgot to change the water percentage settings.

 

[seven]

as a last resort, you can wrap the mold with lotsa old towels or blankets to induce heating. if you are worry coz of the sugar, take a peek at it once in a while, and if signs of overheating show, take off the insulation and place the mold in a cooler place.

a water discount does helps me thinks. i'm usually comfortable doing 2:1 (water:lye).

 

[grayceworks]

Bumping this thread to do more brainstorming on it...

 

[PinkCupcake]

I know it's too late now, but I thought I would chime in. I use sugar in all my soaps except those made with beer or milks, since they already have sugar. I don't CPOP, but I always insulate and use a heating pad for a little bit, just to make sure it gels. I have never had any trouble with overheating (yet), and I'll admit I'm not very diligent about checking the soap. I just set it on the pad, cover the mold with its lid, or a box if I have done a tall top, insulate with towels or a fleece throw, and set a timer for 1/2 hour. When the time is up, I turn the heating pad off and leave the mold wrapped up til the next day.

 

[shunt2011]

I've never used anything but a cover and some towels to insulate my soaps. I RTCP so sometimes it takes a couple hours for it to gel. I use milks and sugar in almost all my batches and rarely has it overheated. I do check it once in awhile and once it looks like full gel I'll take the towels off and slide the lid open a bit to let air in to cool some.

 

[PinkCupcake]

I should have added, I use close to full water in my soaps. I'm a slow worker, so I like having the extra time to pour and swirl. So my soap is never ready to unmold until 2 or 3 days after pouring, and often I let the unmolded loaf sit for another day or two before cutting. Soap teaches us patience.

 

[Miz Jenny]

I should have added, I use close to full water in my soaps. I'm a slow worker, so I like having the extra time to pour and swirl. So my soap is never ready to unmold until 2 or 3 days after pouring, and often I let the unmolded loaf sit for another day or two before cutting. Soap teaches us patience.

I've been using full water too and it's at least three days to unmold and another week to cut. I'm running everything through soapcalc, too. A pain, but I love the extra time it gives me to color and layer.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Ihaven't been using towels in the oven to help insulate... Maybe I should start. (I'm not good at remembering to cover with plastic wrap to protect them anyways.) Still haven't gotten a heating pad, which would be the only way to heat up the oven. My shampoo bars unmolded nicely after four days, but that second batch I did where I forgot to discount the water? A week in the mold, over a week OUT of the mold, and I still got bad DDM when I cut it but it needed to be cut to promote drying. Needing to be patient is one thing, but taking weeks is something else entirely!

I wonder how much room temperature has to do with curing times? My house as been staying pretty consistently in the low 60s. That will change when we start heading into spring/summer, though...

 

[PinkCupcake]

I've been using full water too and it's at least three days to unmold and another week to cut. I'm running everything through soapcalc, too. A pain, but I love the extra time it gives me to color and layer.

Exactly!! I have experimented with water discounting, but I ran into trouble when I had too little water. I had a couple of soaps firm up while I was stirring in my colors, so I went back to full water. I might try discounting again, but more carefully.

I can live with the long wait to unmold and cut, in order to have the time I need to color and play.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

I know it's too late now, but I thought I would chime in. I use sugar in all my soaps except those made with beer or milks, since they already have sugar. I don't CPOP, but I always insulate and use a heating pad for a little bit, just to make sure it gels. I have never had any trouble with overheating (yet), and I'll admit I'm not very diligent about checking the soap. I just set it on the pad, cover the mold with its lid, or a box if I have done a tall top, insulate with towels or a fleece throw, and set a timer for 1/2 hour. When the time is up, I turn the heating pad off and leave the mold wrapped up til the next day.

So far all of my soaps have had sugar, and most have had some citric acid balanced out by a bump in lye. I'm guessing that the oven itself is a bit too big to provide adequate insulation, with the troubles I've been having. Most of what I've used so far for molds have been silicone, so they've been on covered baking sheets for stability, which isn't as good for allowing towels to get in close to insulate, not to mention that I'm not good at remembering to cover them on top!