Soap isn’t hardening properly!

[JazzyC123]

I have recently made a coffee soap (with coffee grinds incorporated) and for some reason it is barely hardening. It hasen’t been 24 hours but i let it sit in the freezer overnight and it went from being rock hard to a semi- hard mush. Now the texture on the top is holding up, but with all my other batches that I have made, they have all stayed hard after pulling them out of the freezer. All my other batches have turned out perfect and I have used the exact same ingredients for all of them and haven’t had any issues thus far. The only difference with this soap is the coffee grinds that were mixed in. Any suggestions why it couldn’t be hardening as quickly? I am quite an impatient person so it may be just that but, if anyone has suggestions on what to do or what it might be, that would be wonderful!

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Well its sure pretty soap. I'd give it time' maybe its just that? review your recipe to assure all is ok.

 

[amd]

My first thought is that the freezer slowed down the saponification process. Leave it at room temp and it should catch up. Is there a reason you put it in the freezer?

My second thought is possible a mismeasurement of an ingredient. Either too much oil or not enough lye. I'd follow above and see what happens.

 

[ImpKit]

Obligatory troubleshooting questions:

What is the exact recipe you used?

Besides the coffee, did you use a fragrance oil that is different from past batches?

Any additional additives besides the coffee ground (sugars, silks, salts, etc)?

 

[JazzyC123]

Well its sure pretty soap. I'd give it time' maybe its just that? review your recipe to assure all is ok.

Thank you! I’m also thinking the same, I’m probably just being impatient

My first thought is that the freezer slowed down the saponification process. Leave it at room temp and it should catch up. Is there a reason you put it in the freezer?

My second thought is possible a mismeasurement of an ingredient. Either too much oil or not enough lye. I'd follow above and see what happens.

I just put it with my other soaps to cure. I put all my soaps in the freezer for the first day to prevent gelling and they have all came out wonderfully. I don’t believe it was a mismeasurement as I always double check them but, I could have just made a simple mistake I was thinking that it might have been that I didn’t mix enough, cause when I poured it, it was pretty liquidy. Nothing really I can do now, except wait! Have any suggestions on what to do with the soap if it doesn’t work out for CP?

Obligatory troubleshooting questions:

What is the exact recipe you used?

Besides the coffee, did you use a fragrance oil that is different from past batches?

Any additional additives besides the coffee ground (sugars, silks, salts, etc)?

I’ve used my own recipe which uses these:

Olive oil 65%, Coconut oil 17%, Palm oil 15%, Beeswax 2%, and castor oil 1%. Though again, I have used this recipe for all my soaps and nothing has gone wrong. I also used some brown oxide, sodium lactate and the FO. The FO was different and the first time I used it but the reviews said it worked wonderfully in CP soap.

 

[ImpKit]

I’ve used my own recipe which uses these:

Olive oil 65%, Coconut oil 17%, Palm oil 15%, Beeswax 2%, and castor oil 1%. Though again, I have used this recipe for all my soaps and nothing has gone wrong. I also used some brown oxide, sodium lactate and the FO. The FO was different and the first time I used it but the reviews said it worked wonderfully in CP soap.

That's a very high olive oil content. I suspect the recipe and the fragrance oil might be your culprits here, even with beeswax and sodium lactate. That much liquid oils, you're probably looking at another day minimum to set up enough for cut.

I find that soaping notes only really address the issues of batter performance (racing, acceleration, etc) and coloration post saponifcation. Many can make your soap slower to set up and still be sticky/soft when your soap might otherwise be ready. If you share the specific fragrance oil (maker and product name) someone might be able to go digging for more info on that.

 

[JazzyC123]

That's a very high olive oil content. I suspect the recipe and the fragrance oil might be your culprits here, even with beeswax and sodium lactate. That much liquid oils, you're probably looking at another day minimum to set up enough for cut.

I find that soaping notes only really address the issues of batter performance (racing, acceleration, etc) and coloration post saponifcation. Many can make your soap slower to set up and still be sticky/soft when your soap might otherwise be ready. If you share the specific fragrance oil (maker and product name) someone might be able to go digging for more info on that.

I usually wait 3-4 days to unmold with my other soaps and they have cut well with that time frame. The FO I used was called “Coffee Beans” from Candora Soap (Canada based).

I’m just hoping it will harden in a few days, and hope I don’t have to scrap the batch!

 

[lsg]

You don't have to scrap it, even if it doesn't get really hard. As long as you can cut it into bars; just let it set where the air can circulate around each bar. High content olive oil soaps take longer to cure.

 

[JazzyC123]

You don't have to scrap it, even if it doesn't get really hard. As long as you can cut it into bars; just let it set where the air can circulate around each bar. High content olive oil soaps take longer to cure.

I recently just checked on it and it’s starting to harden, slowly but surely

 

[TheGecko]

I just put it with my other soaps to cure. I put all my soaps in the freezer for the first day to prevent gelling and they have all came out wonderfully. I don’t believe it was a mismeasurement as I always double check them but, I could have just made a simple mistake I was thinking that it might have been that I didn’t mix enough, cause when I poured it, it was pretty liquidy. Nothing really I can do now, except wait! Have any suggestions on what to do with the soap if it doesn’t work out for CP?

If I don’t a soap to gel, I just put it in the frig or turn a fan on it...no need to freeze. During the Fall/Winter, I just stick it in the garage.

As long as your batter has reached a stable emulsion you can pour it in a mold. Since I don’t color my Goat Milk Soap, I often pour at emulsion or a very light trace since I want to move on to the next batch.

Soaping is not an exact science because there are so many variables that can affect your soap...your mood, the weather, the temperature of your batter and lye, how long you stick blend, how long you had blend, how much wine you drank.....

Sometime my soap is ready to unmold in 12 to 18 hours, sometimes 18 to 24 hours, sometimes 48 hours. I have lots of molds, so it’s not a big deal if I have to wait, I just make another batch of soap.

 

[earlene]

Were the coffee grounds wet or dry? (Wet coffee grounds hold a lot of water, so would ad to the fluidity.) How much did you use?

 

[JazzyC123]

Were the coffee grounds wet or dry? (Wet coffee grounds hold a lot of water, so would ad to the fluidity.) How much did you use?

The coffee grinds were dry and I used 1 tbsp.