soap discolouration during curing time...

[nickbar]

Hello all!

I ve made two batches of soap on March 2016.
I went on vacation on July 2016 and the soaps seem fine so far...
When i returned from holidays on August here is what i saw on my wardrobe...

On the first two pics is a 100% olive oil pomace, (SF 5%) soap. It seems that it has gone through partial gel ??? Also its side got a dark brown colour as the other side keep its light brown colour.

On the other pic there are two soaps made by 10% coconut, 10% palm oil, 80% olive oil, SF 5% and mica fantasia pink. As you can see one soap of them got discolour (dark brown too) on one side...

All that period the soap were inside my library wardrobe.

Could anyone help me what happened that time and maybe a solution to overcome these problems next time?

Sorry for the bad resolution of the pics.

 

[Susie]

They were inside a closed wardrobe without air flow?

 

[nickbar]

yes. The wardrobe was closed. it didnt happen to all soaps. Only some of them...

 

[dillsandwitch]

Looks like DOS to me. How do they smell?

 

[topofmurrayhill]

It's hard to be sure from these photos whether it's DOS. I suppose that could be a reasonable explanation, but I've never seen a pattern like that, where it happens to one side of some of the bars. Is there anything special about the affected ones, like maybe they came from the side of the mold?

One thing I see BTW is that you didn't get much out of that mica. Likely it's made with manganese violet, which fades to gray in CP soap.

 

[Susie]

Looks like DOS to me. How do they smell?

Me, too. Which is why I don't store soaps in closed areas. Airflow is my friend with my high humidity.

 

[nickbar]

Can DOS happen due to inadequate air flow? The true is that the soaps have a strong smell of oil if you put your nose close.... But the one with the pink mica has also a fragrance and you cant smell this "bad" oil ...

Ok. Here are some better quality pics. The first two pics is from my castile soap (2 sides, 100% olive) and the other two from my bastile (oo, c.o, palm, rose f.o and mica fantasia pink). The other soap on these pics hasn't affected.

 

[Susie]

DOS smells like rancid oil. If you can't smell the rancidity, chances are that that is not DOS. If your nose is not as sensitive as others, you may want to get someone else to sniff.

Yes, soaps can go rancid/get DOS when they do not have adequate airflow. I know this from personal experience. I don't even store my soaps in closed areas after cure. But, the humidity is high where I live (even inside my air conditioned/heated house), so it may be different for others. (The meteorologist on TV just said our humidity is "extremely low" today at 38%.)

 

[topofmurrayhill]

Thanks, those photos are much clearer. I suppose it must be DOS, though it's occurring in some unpredictable patterns. Other types of discoloration, say from partial gel or certain fragrance oils, are either noticeable right away or become apparent in a matter of days. While your symptoms could resemble more than one thing, oxidation is the only one that appears after months. Could be caused by your ingredients or insufficient drying due to humidity and lack of air flow. Try to compare the smell of the affected parts with the good bars.

 

[penelopejane]

The second soap in the first post where the centre of the bar shows a different colour is because it didn't gel. Next batch cover and wrap your soap in the mood after you make it and put it in an oven preheated to 100* F and immediately turn the oven off and leave it undisturbed overnight.

You have to store your oils in a cool place to make them last in good condition as well as your looking after your curing soap.

 

[nickbar]

For a castile soap during curing time (3 months) there has to be an adequate air flow i suppose, as i used to close my wardrobe but i opened it daily to keep an eye on soaps...

I forgot to mention that the soaps didnt have smell of rancidity... They have a medium to strong olive oil smell but its not that rancid smell...

 

[penelopejane]

Every single soap has to have airflow during cure. Opening the cupboard door is not airflow. Some people have fans on their soaps 24/7. You have to take your soap out of the cupboard now.

Castile gets better qualities after 6 months, better again after 12 months and excellent after 24 months. You are going to have to rethink your storage area: