Salt soap fail

[Cuckoo Bananas]

Not an epic fail but a fail non the less

When I tried to cut it it just started to crumble. I guess that is why everybody superfats it so high with salt bars. I just left it on the default 5% from soap calc....Will this crumbly soap still be OK if I put it in a mesh bag to wash with (after cure of course)?

What is the ideal superfat for salt bars and how many times did everybody have a go at them before they got them right?

 

[Fragola]

Sorry, my mistake Sometimes I see things ... happening I wanted to warn you in the other thread about crumbly soap, but thought that maybe I am being redundant.

As I was saying, as soon as you add the salt it starts to rockify and it doesn't take long. Ask me how I know ...

Mine did that with 15% SF, and I believe crumbling has nothing to do with the SF.

The SF is because of CO, which is very cleansing and drying to the skin. I've got some lovely sunflower salt bars, with normal SF.

If you can use individual molds, do that. If you must cut it, watch it like a hawk and cut it as soon as possible, preferably using a wire cutter (or my cheap version - a piece of wire).

Yes, you can put it in a baggie. Or who knows? Maybe it makes a good dish washing powder. Myself, I'd cut it to small crumbs and try to incorporate in a second batch. But I am not really, giving you this advice, because who knows what might go wrong this time !

 

[Dragonkaz]

I use muffin moulds for my salt soap. My first salt soap was poured into a silicon log mould and some silicon muffin moulds. At around 4 hours post pour, I cut the log. It cut ok, but the edges were still crumbly. The soap in the muffin moulds looks so much better.

I used the cut bars and gave them to friends as 'try and tell' testers. They didn't look great, but the reviews were mostly fantastic!

I superfat at 20% for my 100% CO salt soap and use 70% table salt.

 

[falldowngobump]

I gave up on cutting my salt bars. I always use a silicone muffin type mold. My family knows it's a salt bar without me telling them because of the shape.

 

[Bama]

I have had good results with mine in loaf. I put in oven for less than 1 hr and then I cut while still warm. So far I have not had crumbly soap.
use sunflower oil along with the coconut. I think I put shea butter this last batch. I have a batch curing right now that is doing well.

 

[paillo]

i cut my loaves in about two hours while they're still warm. any longer than that and the edges crumble. mostly doing in individual molds now, though, because they are just so pretty -- and to avoid the crumbling problem

 

[IrishLass]

I've found that if you cut them just right after they start firming back up from full gel when the soap is still quite hot, there's less crumbling when you go to cut. But the best way to make a salt soap, if you ask me, is to pour them into individual molds such as the plastic, heavy duty, Milky Way Molds, or a slab mold with dividers, or individual silicone molds, etc... Doing so will completely eliminate the need to cut and the subsequent crumbles around the edges when you do.

As Fragola pointed out, the crumbling is not so much related to the superfat, but to the amount of salt instead. I like to make my salt bars with only 25% salt and they are much less crumbly than the batches I've made with a higher amount of salt when I go to cut them. I superfat mine at 13%.

Yes- you can use your crumbly salt bar in a mesh bag after it cures. You can also grate them up and use the gratings in a regular bar. I've done that many times. The size of my salt bar gratings look like a course grained salt, and I just throw them in a regular, non-salt batch like I would throw in salt for a salt soap. The resulting soap comes out quite nice. It's kinda like making a salt soap the long way around. It cuts much nicer, too, btw.


IrishLass

 

[soapbuddy]

Salt bars cut the best within a couple of hours after pouring in my experience. They tend to gel fast and hot and you can't always see when they gel. If you use individual molds, then you won't need to cut them.

 

[nattynoo]

Oh Cuckoo.....noooooo. That sux!! I was really looking forward to seeing how u got on.
IMO you need to up that SF....way up it!! Like SF@20% it counteracts the harshness of the high CO.
My first salt soap I did a very basic 100%CO with 20%SF & 100% salt. It worked fine but took some refining. I've still got 2 pieces of that original soap to compare with and the ones I do now are alot better.
Just have another go. Make it a small batch maybe, till you get it right.

 

[Cuckoo Bananas]

Thanks for all the comments, I didn't even think about using anything other than my trusty log mould (I love my log mould lol).

And I think I must have left it in too long then, it was in there for about 3 hours and I feel really silly now because I had thought about going out to check on them after about an hour but I have it so ingrained into me about not peeking and to leave them alone to do their magic. I did notice when I did cut it it wasn't very warm at all so was obviously way past that ideal cutting period

I just chucked it all back into a bigger pot that I haven't been using and onto my storage shelves, if I move the soap around a bit in the pot every so often so it can all get some air will this be ok to cure? I might rebatch all the small powdery bits and leave the big chunks for the shower.

 

[soapbuddy]

You could shred them (or chunk them) and add them to another batch. When I cut mine the soap is still very hot and I have to use gloves.

 

[saltydog]

I cut my logged salt soap at just under 2 hours. It is very hot and I have to wear gloves, but it cuts nice and clean.
Now I just use individual molds so I don't have to watch it so closely, too much pressure! No worries, next time will be awesome