two days, still soft

[MzMolly65]

Strange again .. I made a batch of soap and put most of it into a column mold but there was a bit extra so I plopped it into silicone ice cube trays for travel sized soaps.

Two days later the soap in the ice cube trays is still too soft to push out of the mold even though the large soap is out, cut and hardened enough to pick up .. any thoughts?

 

[SoapMakingTommy]

Tell us more about the superfat of the soap and how much water lye you used to how much oil, explain to us a bit the process.

 

[TVivian]

I have had the same thing happen many times with leftover soap. The soap in the column or loaf gells and the small molds didn't. Freeze the small molds solid just to get the soap out and then set it somewhere to dry. It'll be hard in a couple more days!

 

[MzMolly65]

For info sake, it's a recipe of my own that I've used a couple of times now so the only difference is the additives or the mold.

45% OO
20% CO
20% RBO
15% SB

Water 38%, done with 88g of water and 140g frozen CM
super fat 8%

No problems with trace and I divided it into two portions. 10g Lemon grass EO with 1/4 tsp of cornstarch mixed in added to one portion and 10g 10X orange EO, 1/2 tsp turmeric and 1/4 tsp cornstarch mixed in the other 1/2. I added cornstarch because someone said that helps EO scent stick and I'm trying it out to see if it works.

Poured the two colours into a column mold for a Yin Yang soap (link to that)

Yin Yang

and the balance I just pot swirled and poured into the ice cube tray molds. Stuck them all outside in the cold, none of them gelled. The Yin Yang unmolded and cut the next day, the ice cubes are still soft after day 2.

So, I followed TVivian's advice and stuck them in the freezer and was able to unmold them after a few hours. Hopefully they dry like suggested. Curious that they would still be soft even after the large soap was firm, I really thought it would be the other way around.

 

[JusDin]

If I had to guess, I would say that maybe the batter wasn't homogenized as well as it appeared, with possibly more oil that didn't get mixed into the lye mixture clung to the inside walls of your mixing container? That way when you poured your column you got the well homogenized mix, but when you scraped the sides afterward to do the small bars, you got more oil/less lye mixture?

 

[TVivian]

If I had to guess, I would say that maybe the batter wasn't homogenized as well as it appeared, with possibly more oil that didn't get mixed into the lye mixture clung to the inside walls of your mixing container? That way when you poured your column you got the well homogenized mix, but when you scraped the sides afterward to do the small bars, you got more oil/less lye mixture?

This would mean I don't "homogenize"every single time I make soap. I have a square silicone ice cube tray that I always pour my extra soap into. I always have a little extra. What happened to her happens to me every time. The soap in the loaf is ready to unmold the next day. The one in the ice cube tray is soft. I just think something different happens to the soap when there's a bigger quantity together. I also super fat at 8%

 

[TVivian]

I'm wondering if anyone who typically uses individual molds could chime in on how many days it takes to unmold?

 

[MirandaH]

I have had this happen every time I have used a silicone mold for my leftovers. I pour them into heart shaped singles or ice cube squares and it always happened. When I asked about it, I was told that the silicone doesn't breathe as well, to freeze it and pop them out and put them on the drying rack and that was what I did and all was well in a couple days with each batch. Made sense to me that it was the small molds not being able to breathe as well because the solution for that does make them harden up and works.

ETA, by saying the "small molds not being able to breathe" I mean because they were silicone, not because they were small. I hope that made sense.

 

[seven]

I have had the same thing happen many times with leftover soap. The soap in the column or loaf gells and the small molds didn't. Freeze the small molds solid just to get the soap out and then set it somewhere to dry. It'll be hard in a couple more days!

I have had this happen every time I have used a silicone mold for my leftovers. I pour them into heart shaped singles or ice cube squares and it always happened. When I asked about it, I was told that the silicone doesn't breathe as well, to freeze it and pop them out and put them on the drying rack and that was what I did and all was well in a couple days with each batch. Made sense to me that it was the small molds not being able to breathe as well because the solution for that does make them harden up and works.

ETA, by saying the "small molds not being able to breathe" I mean because they were silicone, not because they were small. I hope that made sense.

glad i aint the only one then! this also happened to me a lot, and i was baffled by it at 1st. i've had soaps which took 2 weeks in the individual mini molds before they can harden up properly. mini silicone ones are the worst, milky way/plastic ones not so much. i pop them in the freezer on and off in a few days to give them a lil push. if i'm not patient, i just take it out and roll it into soap balls

 

[pamielynn]

I would venture to say that the soap in the cube trays is not generating enough heat to gel. They should be fine eventually, but ungelled soap takes longer to harden up.

 

[shunt2011]

Because individual molds do not generall gel it can take quite a long time for them to come out withouth trouble. I generally put them in the freezer to get them out and then just let them cure. I also find that adding sodium lactate helps some but it's still soft. When I make cupcake soaps and if I forget my sodium lactate they stay softer for at least a week.

 

[Susie]

I made shampoo bars in two individual 1.5oz oval bars mold on 1-16-14. Was just unmolded 1-27-14 due to softness. I will freeze them next time.

And BTW, it gelled within 24 hours. I was worried about lack of heat to gel, so I placed them on top of a heating pad set to low and wrapped in a towel on the counter. Peeking at them showed gel phase starting at about hour 16, I swapped the top mold for the bottom at hour 18. When I checked at hour 24, I had complete gel.

 

[MzMolly65]

Thanks everyone .. such great information from all!