Soft soap -sticky when unmolding

[Happy2018]

Hi,

The black one is charcoal, the other basic, no EO no FO

They have been sitting in the molds for 48 hours, 2 days, and tired to unmold them.
You can see sticky and softness.

Both Lye and oil was at 54 C and 55 C when I mixed.

Also I do realize there is air bubbles, I thought my stick blender was fine. No, I found the article here about stick blenders and ordered a new one.

Do anyone have any idea of why it is still sticky after 2 days?

Thanks, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Blufuz]

What superfat did you have and what oils in which proportions did you use? This is what most determines stickiness in my experience

 

[Happy2018]

Hi,


5 % superfat
30% water
tallow 53%
coconut oil 23.50 %
soy oil 23.50


Will it still harden up, but take longer?


Thanks!

 

[Zing]

I have no experience with animal oils.
What are your molds made out of? If they are clear plastic molds, they work better for melt and pour soap. I mutilate my cold process soap trying to get out of those molds. You can also line the mold first with vaseline.
I also use sodium lactate which can speed up unmolding. I am at the high end and use 3% of total oil weight. I unmold from silicon molds after 24 hours.
Good luck.

 

[Happy2018]

They are silicone molds,

I was watching a video, I think Bramleberry??? And it was talking about water percentage, and said that most soap calculators have a standard at 38 % and that is too high but is better for 30 % but one could go lower.

I did wonder if I have too much water, do you have any experience with a lower water percentage?

It never occurred to me it could have been the oils. Until Blufuz said mentioned it.


Thanks

 

[Blufuz]

I think a high amount of water also means it takes longer to unmold, but it also depends on which oils. My experience has been patchy; high olive oil soaps took forever to unmold, coconut oil was really quick, then I did an experiment with 100% sunflower and various additives, and somehow the beeswax actually took the longest to unmold. I noticed that some soaps that came to trace really quickly, especially ones that I ended up having as a thick trace, were quick to unmold. I’m still working it out, but the more details you provide, the more somone here might have an idea

 

[mx5inpenn]

30% water is fine. Individual silicone molds always take a long time to harden up. There's less soap so less heat with no insulation. It typically takes 4-7 days for mine, depending on the intricacy of the design, while the loaf will be ready in 24-36 hours.

 

[Happy2018]

Thanks for the reply on the water.

Wow, 4- 7 days,

I had no idea.

I greatly appreciated your replying.

 

[TheGecko]

Do anyone have any idea of why it is still sticky after 2 days?

How's your weather? You're also using individual molds and so there isn't a lot of heat being generated during the saponification process. I made a bunch of 2oz wedding soaps last May...I had a whole batch get ruined and I waited two days to unmold. We had a lot of unseasonable wet, cool whether which affected my soaps. I increased my Lye Concentration from 33% to 35% which meant using less water. I doubled the amount of Sodium Lactate and I brought them into the kitchen and let them sit for a week.

 

[Happy2018]

Oh,
I mean, I never even thought of weather, we have had an unusually run of rain for the last week , week and a half.

Thank you so much for replying.