Where does everyone cure their soap??

[Mobjack Bay]

I use a higher than average lye concentration to help speed up the drying (not curing) process, but soaps made in the summer still take longer to dry. Airflow helps with the initial drying, but once the soaps are almost dry I think it’s a losing battle if the temperature and relative humidity are high. In my experience, even “dry”, well-cured soap equilibrates with the ambient humidity. I realized this after sending soap to Arizona a couple of years ago. All the bands fell off. I have now sent or taken “dry” soap from Virginia to Arizona on multiple occasions. It shrinks every time!

 

[bookreader451]

I cure mine on basements racks, covered in cheesecloth. I run a dehumidifier (into a sink) to keep the humidity at 45%. When I need room on the racks I store the cured soap in shoe boxes inside a cupboard in the basement,

 

[earlene]

I cure mine on basements racks, covered in cheesecloth. I run a dehumidifier (into a sink) to keep the humidity at 45%. When I need room on the racks I store the cured soap in shoe boxes inside a cupboard in the basement,

I really like this idea of running the dehumidifier into a sink! Another thing to add to a curing room! That is unless one doe not have a floor drain.

 

[bookreader451]

I really like this idea of running the dehumidifier into a sink! Another thing to add to a curing room! That is unless one doe not have a floor drain.

The floor drain was right by the bottom of the stairs and would have been a major trip hazard so I set the dehumidifier high and let it drain into the utility sink.

 

[Quanta]

I really like this idea of running the dehumidifier into a sink! Another thing to add to a curing room! That is unless one doe not have a floor drain.

The floor drain was right by the bottom of the stairs and would have been a major trip hazard so I set the dehumidifier high and let it drain into the utility sink.

If you get one with a built-in pump, you can leave the dehumidifier on the floor and put the other end of the hose in a sink somewhere. Mine is supposed to be able to pump as high as a sink on the story above the one where the dehumidifier is set up, do you don't even need a drain in the basement at all.

 

[Cat&Oak]

I use the front living room of our home for storage. I have the wheeled trays from Essential Depot, being a lifetime member I can get them for a great price. I am in the desert which is nice for soapmaking because it is very dry.

 

[KimW]

Shoe rack tower, with fibreboard shelves lined with mesh plastic canvas. The shoe rack tower has a three-sided cover that does a good job of keeping off dust.

 

[bookreader451]

If you get one with a built-in pump, you can leave the dehumidifier on the floor and put the other end of the hose in a sink somewhere. Mine is supposed to be able to pump as high as a sink on the story above the one where the dehumidifier is set up, do you don't even need a drain in the basement at all.

Yes, my sister has hers attached to a pump. I just put mine on an old table.

 

[earlene]

If you get one with a built-in pump, you can leave the dehumidifier on the floor and put the other end of the hose in a sink somewhere. Mine is supposed to be able to pump as high as a sink on the story above the one where the dehumidifier is set up, do you don't even need a drain in the basement at all.

Our basement has floor drains in 2 of the bigger rooms. The smaller rooms don't have drains (my husband's office & a big closet off the office). Our Central Heat & AC unit & Dehumidifying Unit are n all-in-one type of thing; all attached to each other; maybe they came as a package; maybe they were combined as separate components; I don't know for sure, as we did not install them ourselves. The water drain off tube snakes along the floor to the drain. In the other room our water softener drain tube snakes toward the drain in the room. Neither drain is near the stairs; I can see how that would be quite annoying. But in both cases, we do tack down the tubing. In one room an anchor is bolted into the concrete to keep the drainage tubing in place. In the other room we put a thinnish rubber mat over the tubing to prevent it from moving around when we walk in that part, as foot traffic can kick the tubing around.

The portable dehumidifier we have in my husband's office is near the entry door, so that the tubing can be directed toward the drain in the adjacent room. But the tubing never stayed in place at the end inside the dehumidifier, so we stopped trying to get it to self-drain. It was a loosing battle. So the reservoir has to be emptied by hand daily when in use; otherwise it turns itself off when the reservoir is full.

The reason I like the idea of draining to a sink is that it seems like something that could be done in a room that doesn't have a drain like our basement does. But of course, it would also mean the units tube drain could be secured and not keep falling off like the one I described. A built-in pump sounds good, too.