Bubbles in your soaps

[Catscankim]

Bubbles drive me flippin nuts. I hate when i get bubbles in my soaps and really go to great lengths to not get them, but every once in a while there they are. Sometimes I know it happened, sometimes unexplainable.

This has me puzzled. I normally have enough batter left over to fill a few small cavity molds. My loaf mold gels, my cavity molds do not.

loaf molds are more apt to have bubbles, whereas the cavity molds never do.

See picture...does this have to do with gel phase? I cpop 170 degrees, usually turn off the oven a few minutes before i put the loaf in there, then just keep the light on till morning and let it “rest” for the rest of the day/night until i get home from work. This is from the same batch.

i just inspected all of my soaps. Most are ok. Some just have crazy bubbles going on without explanation

Edit: I think i just answered my own question. All of my bubble ladden soaps are single color pours...i probably poured too fast compared to taking my time with a design.

 

[Loran]

I get the same problems too kitty meow. More so when the batter is thicker, but still always a bubble or two in one or two of the cuts. I even drilled holes in my Emerson blender so air can escape when it enters the oil. I think it just happens and there’s nothing that can be done about it.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

Bubbles are almost always caused by not getting the bubbles out of the bell on your mixer.

However some ingredients can be prone to being difficult to remove the bubbles. When I use Walmart tallow/lard shortening I have a problem with getting the bubbles out.

 

[Dawni]

Loaf molds will gel more than single cavity molds because of the heat while saponifying - bigger amount, more heat. Learned that here hehehe

As for the bubbles.... Sometimes I suspect if I cut open a bar of the single cavity mold ill find bubbles inside. I think it's the cutter "aggravating" minuscule holes n making them bigger. Haven't tested this out though...

I wonder if that heat affects bubbles too.....

I will say that back when I was using a blade I had less bubbles than now with my string cutter. Wish they made multi cutters with blades lol but that'll be dangerous haha

 

[earlene]

Are you talking about air bubbles that get trapped inside the soap batter and create air pockets once the raw soap becomes solid?

If that is the case, what are you doing to prevent them (you said you go to great lengths to prevent them)?

Do you tap or bang your molds on a hard surface to help make the air bubbles rise to the surface? That helps when the batter is not extremely thick. I don't think it helps much when the batter is at the stage of spoon & plop, though.

Do you pour the batter slowly over a spatula in order to prevent introducing air bubbles into the mold? You did mention perhaps you are pouring too fast into the mold, so maybe some vigorous mold-tapping (but still careful enough to prevent the batter from plopping up and over the edges) might help.

Pouring into an individual mold too fast would cause it to spill over too easily, so you are undoubtedly pouring slowly into the cavity molds, which is probably the reason they don't have air bubbles. But pouring fast into a mold is more likely to increase the likelihood of air bubbles present in the soap.

Trapped air bubbles in soap batter, creates air pockets once the soap becomes solid. I am only seeing that on the side surface of the soap on the left in your picture, which I assume is the outer edge that comes into contact with the mold (is it a silicone mold liner? - that could be silicone rash related). The photo is so dark, it is hard for me to see the front surfaces of either soap, but I do see some specks that remind me of stearic spots on the front cut surface of the soap on the left. I can't be sure what I am seeing though, because it's just too dark. It could be my monitor or it could be that your photo needs more contrast for the dark soap.

As Dawni says, it could also be related to a wire cutter. Which would be another reason you wouldn't see it the individually molded soap.

If it is related to a wire cutter, do you tighten the wires before cutting the soap and then loosen them when you are done? It is recommended to release the tension on the wires during storage of the cutter and to tighten them prior to use. Also it is recommended to clean the wires & re-lubricate them periodically. This can help preserve the wires on a wire cutter as well as to help prevent some wire cutter damage to your cut soaps. The other thing that can help prevent marks on the soap left by wire cutters is to adjust the timing of your cut (sooner or later after making the soap).

(reference link) (another reference link)

But I'm not really sure if what I see on the front of the bar on the left is related to wire cutting or not, so this information may be superfluous.

I wonder if that heat affects bubbles too.....

Yes, the bubbles would rise if they don't have too much resistance (weight of the soap above them). Look at boiling water.

ETA missing words

 

[Dawni]

Thanks @earlene I learned a few more things from that

 

[Catscankim]

Are you talking about air bubbles that get trapped inside the soap batter and create air pockets once the raw soap becomes solid?

If that is the case, what are you doing to prevent them (you said you go to great lengths to prevent them)?

Do you tap or bang your molds on a hard surface to help make the air bubbles rise to the surface? That helps when the batter is not extremely thick. I don't think it helps much when the batter is at the stage of spoon & plop, though.

Do you pour the batter slowly over a spatula in order to prevent introducing air bubbles into the mold? You did mention perhaps you are pouring too fast into the mold, so maybe some vigorous mold-tapping (but still careful enough to prevent the batter from plopping up and over the edges) might help.

Pouring into an individual mold too fast would cause it to spill over too easily, so you are undoubtedly pouring slowly into the cavity molds, which is probably the reason they don't have air bubbles. But pouring fast into a mold is more likely to increase the likelihood of air bubbles present in the soap.

Trapped air bubbles in soap batter, creates air pockets once the soap becomes solid. I am only seeing that on the side surface of the soap on the left in your picture, which I assume is the outer edge that comes into contact with the mold (is it a silicone mold liner? - that could be silicone rash related). The photo is so dark, it is hard for me to see the front surfaces of either soap, but I do see some specks that remind me of stearic spots on the front cut surface of the soap on the left. I can't be sure what I am seeing though, because it's just too dark. It could be my monitor or it could be that your photo needs more contrast for the dark soap.

As Dawni says, it could also be related to a wire cutter. Which would be another reason you wouldn't see it the individually molded soap.

If it is related to a wire cutter, do you tighten the wires before cutting the soap and then loosen them when you are done? It is recommended to release the tension on the wires during storage of the cutter and to tighten them prior to use. Also it is recommended to clean the wires & re-lubricate them periodically. This can help preserve the wires on a wire cutter as well as to help prevent some wire cutter damage to your cut soaps. The other thing that can help prevent marks on the soap left by wire cutters is to adjust the timing of your cut (sooner or later after making the soap).

(reference link) (another reference link)

But I'm not really sure if what I see on the front of the bar on the left is related to wire cutting or not, so this information may be superfluous.




Yes, the bubbles would rise if they don't have too much resistance (weight of the soap above them). Look at boiling water.

ETA missing words

Thank you for all that info @earlene

I think it's my pouring of the batter into the mold. Most of my trapped air bubbles are on single pour/single color soaps. I am probably pouring too fast vs something that I have to take my time with, like a swirl or design. Going to have to take such care with my plain bars. They are way more obvious with black lol. I made a batch the other night that was just one color and I poured super slowly and carefully...no bubbles when I cut it. So I am pretty sure that's what it is: pouring too fast.