Over-cooked soap

allane · May 26, 2016

I do hp soaps exclusively. I have nothing against cold process but I am not as patient as some of our talented soapmakers here. Lately, I have been reading a lot about how we should avoid over-cooked soap. My question is that if the monster lye has done all the damage it can during the saponification process, what more damage can occur?

I am not talking about cooking with high heat to burn the soap nor using too much heat for your water to evaporate. I am referring to cooking to a translucent stage where the soap pours easily without any extra additives. Am I doing harm to my soap? Thanks for any imputs.

Grace

Susie · May 26, 2016

I hate to tell you this, but, HP requires just as long of a cure as CP. The people who get on the internet and say otherwise should be ashamed of themselves.

The Efficacious Gentleman · May 26, 2016

Aye, as above. Also, if it is clear, zapless, and pourable then it is fine at that point. The overcooking being less to do with more saponification, rather driving out more moisture and damaging the unsaponified oils. Also, it just wastes time!

IrishLass · May 26, 2016

allane said:
I
I am not talking about cooking with high heat to burn the soap nor using too much heat for your water to evaporate. I am referring to cooking to a translucent stage where the soap pours easily without any extra additives. Am I doing harm to my soap? Thanks for any imputs.

Grace

Hi Grace. I just want to make sure I understand correctly..... When you say 'translucent stage', do you mean the 'gel-stage'? I ask because I always cook mine to the gel stage and continue cooking a little more until it doesn't zap anymore. My cooked batter looks pretty translucent at this point as long as I didn't add any colorants to it, and it is also about as liquid at this point as it's ever going to get. Any cooking done past this point will only serve to evaporate more water off and make the soap more difficult to pour.

IrishLass

allane · May 27, 2016

IrishLass said:
Hi Grace. I just want to make sure I understand correctly..... When you say 'translucent stage', do you mean the 'gel-stage'? I ask because I always cook mine to the gel stage and continue cooking a little more until it doesn't zap anymore. My cooked batter looks pretty translucent at this point as long as I didn't add any colorants to it, and it is also about as liquid at this point as it's ever going to get. Any cooking done past this point will only serve to evaporate more water off and make the soap more difficult to pour.

IrishLass

Hello Irishlass, this is exactly what I meant but unable to express myself well ( English being a third language). At least I feel good knowing that I am not the only one who makes soap this way. Thanks everyone for your imput.

Grace

dixiedragon · May 27, 2016

Can you link to what you have been reading about overcooked soap? When I think of over-cooked hot process, I am referring to the hard, waxy bits that I scrape off the sides of the crockpot. They are firm and don't pour, but I just poke them under the liquid part so they aren't on top of the soap, and they are fine. I think it's just cosmetic?

Over-cooked soap

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Over-cooked soap

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