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[Buckscent]

I just made my first all natural goats milk soap with clay's and tea tree/lemongrass EO and calandula.

Don't know what happened, about 10 minutes after I poured I did the textured top and put right in the freezer

 

[DeeAnna]

So, what are you thinking is wrong? I'm not sure what the issue is. The only somewhat unusual thing I see is the soap went through partial gel. It's pretty.

If you want more help, please explain your concerns and give a full recipe -- ALL ingredients in weights. If you want to give percentages too, that's fine, but weights are more helpful when troubleshooting.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Please do - especially as you keep taking pains to highlight the total and complete naturalness of this particular batch and I am intrigued to see what is in it

 

[newbie]

If you don't like the partial gel look, put the bars back in order and back in the mold, then pop it in the oven at 170-190 degrees for 45-60 minutes. This will make it more uniform looking, assuming the soap is under about 36 hours old.

It certainly looks like the mold got much colder on one side than the other, so one side did not gel and the other did. Did you place it in the freezer so that it was packed against something on one side?

 

[Susie]

Oh, I thought that was on purpose! You know, camouflage soap. I was awed by your design.

 

[penelopejane]

I gel my goats milk soaps. I don't put them in the freezer.

 

[shunt2011]

I gel mine as well. It's much easier than trying not to as I don't have space in my fridge or freezer for my molds.

 

[shunt2011]

I too gel my milk soaps. I don't have room in my freezer/fridge. I agree with the others, you need to give more information than you gave as to what the problem may be with your soap other than partial gel.

 

[Buckscent]

Sorry, yes, the problem is the gelling, I guess I don't understand since I put in the freezer no more than 10 minutes after pour why would it gel like that, and no, I don't particularly like it that way.

And for those that do gel your milk soaps, do you not find the milk burns/gets dark, changes color? At least that's that I have heard. I would love to just let it gel and not have to go thru the freezer thing

 

[lsg]

I am one who puts my milk soaps right into the freezer. I leave them in the freezer for at least two days to prevent gel. I have had problems with partial gel when using the refrigerator.

 

[shunt2011]

Sorry, yes, the problem is the gelling, I guess I don't understand since I put in the freezer no more than 10 minutes after pour why would it gel like that, and no, I don't particularly like it that way.

And for those that do gel your milk soaps, do you not find the milk burns/gets dark, changes color? At least that's that I have heard. I would love to just let it gel and not have to go thru the freezer thing

No, I've never had an issue with burning or terrible darkening. They are a pale ivory/light beige. But that doesn't bother me and I generally color my soaps anyway.

 

[DeeAnna]

Soap goes into gel for a number of reasons. If you freeze or refrigerate the soap, that doesn't necessarily stop the soap from heating up enough to go into gel, especially in the center. The rate of cooling in a fridge or freezer is fairly slow because the air is not moving around much to carry heat away. It may be as or more effective to forget the fridge/freezer -- just set the mold on a cooling rack and put a fan on it.

Some things that reduce the chance of gel --

make thinner or smaller soap -- use individual bar molds or a slab mold
avoid ingredients that accelerate saponification -- pay attention to the % of coconut oil/babassu/PKO and the amount of sugars and other accelerants
lower the temperature of the soap batter
minimize the amount of stick blending to the absolute bare minimum

Probably the single most surefire way to prevent gel is to reduce the water content -- soap at 33% lye concentration or higher

Edit: Most soaps that do a partial gel have the darker "bullseye" of gelled soap in the center of the bar. I'm thinking you placed your soap in the freezer so that one side of the loaf was able to cool off faster than the other, and that's why your bullseye ring is off center.

 

[Buckscent]

Ok, I got home from work and I looked at the bars and they look normal now, like it never had those dark areas at all

 

[Steve85569]

Ok, I got home from work and I looked at the bars and they look normal now, like it never had those dark areas at all

Must have finished saponification then and not have been partial gel. Partial gel does not heal it's self.