MissTorrie
Member
Hello from South Carolina!
I just made my 10th batch of cold process soap, including experiments with buttermilk and herbal tea in place of water. I have been incredibly lucky and haven't had to deal with any major disasters, and my cured soaps are being enjoyed thoroughly by family and friends.
I just finished a Rosemary Mint batch. I used what I now believe to be too large a percentage of soft oils: olive, sunflower, and safflower, with shea butter and coconut oil. I like gel stage and wanted the spurlina-colored green to be a tad more vibrant, so I insulated thoroughly with wax paper, and three blankets, which I now think may have been a mistake with so many soft oils. I un-insulated after 24 hours to find they were still very soft, so I left them in the molds for another 3 days, for a total of 4 days in the mold. When I un-molded they were in good solid shape, if a bit gooey, so I stood the bars up so air could hit all sides of the soap. I rotate once a day.
Now my air conditioner is freezing up, so it's not cooling efficiently. We have to periodically leave it off for 1-2 hrs to let it defrost and start cooling again. We clearly have a clog somewhere and we'll be having an HVAC guy coming in in the next couple of days. Until then, I regularly have temperatures of close to 80 degrees in the curing room.
So now the problem is my soft oil soap, which was hardening up nicely, is getting gooey and very soft again. When I went with gloved hands to turn them over just now, I was leaving indents with my fingers. If I wanted to squeeze them, they'd become completely deformed (I'm not doing that )
So what can I do to mitigate the high temperature in the mean time? Can I use a fan? I'm worried that will kick up particulate that could embed in the soft soap, but I might be overthinking that. I had my buttermilk bars in the fridge for two days, and that resulted in a good hard bar that I think is the best I've ever made. Can I put these in the fridge in the meantime or will the back and forth extremes in temperature mess with the process? What about my already cured and curing soap without the texture issues?
I'm a newbie, and this is my first post on this forum. The other threads and posts I've been reading have been really helpful so I appreciate the time anyone spends on this question in advance.
I just made my 10th batch of cold process soap, including experiments with buttermilk and herbal tea in place of water. I have been incredibly lucky and haven't had to deal with any major disasters, and my cured soaps are being enjoyed thoroughly by family and friends.
I just finished a Rosemary Mint batch. I used what I now believe to be too large a percentage of soft oils: olive, sunflower, and safflower, with shea butter and coconut oil. I like gel stage and wanted the spurlina-colored green to be a tad more vibrant, so I insulated thoroughly with wax paper, and three blankets, which I now think may have been a mistake with so many soft oils. I un-insulated after 24 hours to find they were still very soft, so I left them in the molds for another 3 days, for a total of 4 days in the mold. When I un-molded they were in good solid shape, if a bit gooey, so I stood the bars up so air could hit all sides of the soap. I rotate once a day.
Now my air conditioner is freezing up, so it's not cooling efficiently. We have to periodically leave it off for 1-2 hrs to let it defrost and start cooling again. We clearly have a clog somewhere and we'll be having an HVAC guy coming in in the next couple of days. Until then, I regularly have temperatures of close to 80 degrees in the curing room.
So now the problem is my soft oil soap, which was hardening up nicely, is getting gooey and very soft again. When I went with gloved hands to turn them over just now, I was leaving indents with my fingers. If I wanted to squeeze them, they'd become completely deformed (I'm not doing that )
So what can I do to mitigate the high temperature in the mean time? Can I use a fan? I'm worried that will kick up particulate that could embed in the soft soap, but I might be overthinking that. I had my buttermilk bars in the fridge for two days, and that resulted in a good hard bar that I think is the best I've ever made. Can I put these in the fridge in the meantime or will the back and forth extremes in temperature mess with the process? What about my already cured and curing soap without the texture issues?
I'm a newbie, and this is my first post on this forum. The other threads and posts I've been reading have been really helpful so I appreciate the time anyone spends on this question in advance.