Why isnt my soap hardening?

[goat soap rulz!]

i made a new recipie. and it has been 18 hours, but it is still super soft! The recipie is
18% sweet almond oil
22% avocado oil
15% canola
25% coconut
20% lard

I stuck it in the freezer, hoping that might help, but any advise is appreciated!!

 

[Obsidian]

How soft is soft?
Freezing it will only slow down saponification, making it stay softer longer. Take it out and let it sit at room temp.

You could also try forcing gel in the oven. Warm your oven to 250F, turn oven off and put soap in. Check it in a couple hours, see if its gelled. If not, you can reheat the oven and try again.

Sometimes a batch just takes longer to set up. Maybe you used a little extra water or the recipe is heavy on the soft oils. There are many reasons but as long as its not separating, it will be ok in time.

 

[GemstonePony]

75% of your recipe is made of oils that disperse readily in water, and 75% of your oils tend to saponify slowly. I agree with gelling the soap. Immediately after making mine, I follow the method of preheating the oven to 170° and turning it off, then putting the soap in for 3-4 hours. However, as yours has been in the freezer, I would follow Obsidian's advice.
Beyond that, some recipes can take 3-4 days to harden enough to unmold, so you might just need to wait a day or two.

 

[goat soap rulz!]

Soft meaning a bit softer than playdough. I cant really think of something similar

I will just wait a few days! thank yalll!

 

[shunt2011]

You’ve got a lot of liquid oils so it’s going to take longer to saponify if it didn’t go through gel. I’d just give it more time.

 

[BattleGnome]

If I make a recipe with that many soft oils it can take a full week until it’s ready to unmold then I usually wait another day before I cut.

because I don’t have the space to wait that long, I CPOP. I preheat my oven to the “heat and hold” setting (about 170F) while I melt and mix everything and turn it off before before I put the soap in the oven (then go to bed). My oven usually won’t finish heating to 170F but my goal is to just warm the oven to help insulate my molds while the soap does its thing

 

[michael732]

If I make a recipe with that many soft oils it can take a full week until it’s ready to unmold then I usually wait another day before I cut.

because I don’t have the space to wait that long, I CPOP. I preheat my oven to the “heat and hold” setting (about 170F) while I melt and mix everything and turn it off before before I put the soap in the oven (then go to bed). My oven usually won’t finish heating to 170F but my goal is to just warm the oven to help insulate my molds while the soap does its thing

Do you wrap the soap in towels to insulate it?

 

[BattleGnome]

Do you wrap the soap in towels to insulate it?

the oven insulates my soap. preheating helps by giving my soap an environment that’s warmer than my house and the oven design slows the soap’s cooling to help encourage gel

 

[Todd Ziegler]

I use heating pads to force gell my soaps and I have been very happy with this method.