soap not coming out of molds well... help!

[beckylinley]

hi all,

i just tried to unmold yesterday's batch of CP soap and it wasn't coming out of the molds well. the corners/edges were getting stuck inside the mold, leaving the soap looking pretty crappy.

i used my regular recipe. the only thing i did differently was instead of putting it inside a box overnight, i left it out and covered the molds with plastic wrap (as an attempt to avoid ash). the molds i used are PVC bicycle molds from brambleberry. i've used them just once before and they were okay. http://www.brambleberry.com/Bicycle-Mold-P5696.aspx

any thoughts on why this happened? anyone tried the plastic wrap method? did it affect your soap in other ways? do i need to just let the soap sit longer with the PVC molds?

thank you for any suggestions! i hate it when soap doesn't turn out well!

becky

 

[Susie]

You can pop those molds in the freezer for an hour or so before trying to unmold. That should firm them up enough to unmold. Another idea is to CPOP to force gel and make it harder faster.

 

[PinkCupcake]

If I don't gel my soaps it takes an extra day or two before I can unmold. I have had the corners & edges stick in a silicone mold.

 

[navigator9]

It can be very tricky to get soap out of those individual molds cleanly if the soap hasn't gelled, and in an individual mold like that, they usually don't. If that's the case, you need to give them several days, at least, before trying to unmold. And even then, put them in the freezer for a good while first. A little sodium lactate in your recipe can help with that type of mold.

 

[ngian]

Did you add salt? How much water and how much lye did your recipe had (weight)?

In order to unmold easier and without any issues from these kind of molds you can do the following:

- Use salt or sodium lactate as navigator9 mentioned
- Use less water in the recipe
- Use less than normal superfat (3-4%)
- Gel the soap as Susie & pinkcupcake mentioned

 

[Nevada]

2% citric acid works good. Add 5/8g Lye for every 1 oz CA

 

[paillo]

With silicone molds I force gel by CPOP, preheat oven to 170 (lowest mine will go), turn off, place soap directly on oven rack, let sit for several hours. Even then I wait 2-3 days before unmolding. And I always use salt or sodium lactate.