Glycerin beads on cp soap??

[lauratryingsoap]

Hi everyone! I made a batch of soap last Tuesday and have been curing it. I am seeing things that looks like glyrcerin beads on my cp soap! I have never heard of this happening and I'm pretty sure it is glycerin. It feels like glycerin and is water soluble so I'm guessing it is. I have no idea what happened and now the surface of my cp soap is softening as it absorbs the liquid. Has anyone had this happening to them? And how do you deal with it?
As a side note, I am curing it by my window and since I live in New Zealand it is currently winter. I had no water discount and a SF of 5%. My additives were AC and orange and tea tree essential oils.

 

[BattleGnome]

Do you have pictures?

From your description it sounds like liquid beading on top of your soap? That can be normal, depending on your recipe and the weather. Your basic options are: do nothing and just let it reabsorb and cure; wipe off the liquid and resume curing; zap test the liquid and resume curing (negative zap); zap test and rebatch (an option if it zaps).

My suggestion is to not worry and it breathe. 90% of the time it reabsorbs and there is no issue that the end soap. On occasion you have other things wrong with the soap and need a rebatch but that doesn't sound like the case right now.

 

[jcandleattic]

Glycerin is a natural by product of CP, but usually doesn't bead up and seep out unless it overheated, and/or while it's curing, it's very humid. I don't know the climate you have in NZ other than you said it's winter. Is it humid as well?
Other than that, I'm at a loss.

As it absorbs back in, your soaps may be soft for a while but should harden up as they continue to cure.

 

[toxikon]

My soap sweats lye drops when I pour at emulsion/very light trace and my soap heats up a bit too much.

Mine definitely sweats lye water - I can tell because I've zap-tested it before, and it zapped the bejeezuz out of me. :mrgreen:

I just leave it alone and it reabsorbs fine on its own. After I unmold it after a couple days, sometimes there is still moisture on the sides that were touching the mold, so I will let it air out more until its dry, then I'll cut and cure as normal. It's zap-free within a week and fine to use.

 

[lauratryingsoap]

Do you have pictures?

From your description it sounds like liquid beading on top of your soap? That can be normal, depending on your recipe and the weather. Your basic options are: do nothing and just let it reabsorb and cure; wipe off the liquid and resume curing; zap test the liquid and resume curing (negative zap); zap test and rebatch (an option if it zaps).

My suggestion is to not worry and it breathe. 90% of the time it reabsorbs and there is no issue that the end soap. On occasion you have other things wrong with the soap and need a rebatch but that doesn't sound like the case right now.

Yup it has absorbded! I was too scared to try a zap test but when I tested it with a pH strip I was surprised as it was a lower pH then the rest of the bar!

 

[lauratryingsoap]

Glycerin is a natural by product of CP, but usually doesn't bead up and seep out unless it overheated, and/or while it's curing, it's very humid. I don't know the climate you have in NZ other than you said it's winter. Is it humid as well?
Other than that, I'm at a loss.

As it absorbs back in, your soaps may be soft for a while but should harden up as they continue to cure.

It is not humid at all!! I have no idea what it is but it has abdorbed although the surface is very soft rn

 

[lauratryingsoap]

My soap sweats lye drops when I pour at emulsion/very light trace and my soap heats up a bit too much.

Mine definitely sweats lye water - I can tell because I've zap-tested it before, and it zapped the bejeezuz out of me. :mrgreen:

I just leave it alone and it reabsorbs fine on its own. After I unmold it after a couple days, sometimes there is still moisture on the sides that were touching the mold, so I will let it air out more until its dry, then I'll cut and cure as normal. It's zap-free within a week and fine to use.

I'm almost certain it wasn't lye drops. I had it trace to thick trace and plus, it pH test at 8. I am still not sure what it is but I did notice that it smelled like rancid oil. Except the rest of the bar didn't...hmmm...

 

[BattleGnome]

The general consensus is the pH strips are inaccurate for soap. I don't know the science but I definitely understand being too scared to zap test.

Have you zap tested the bars now that the liquid has reabsorbed? It's all a learning process where the only known variables are something like fragrance but the soap gods just happen to pull your name from the lottery and mess with you

 

[Kittish]

Yup it has absorbded! I was too scared to try a zap test but when I tested it with a pH strip I was surprised as it was a lower pH then the rest of the bar!

Don't be scared to zap test. Follow the instructions in the sticky thread and even if it is zappy it's not going to hurt you. Ever put your tongue across the terminals of a 9 volt battery as a kid? That weird not quite tingle not quite taste sensation is very much what being zapped feels like. Only the zap is really quick, like a static shock fast and that's it.

I deliberately tested soap that I knew still had unreacted lye in it so I'd know how it felt, because I was kind of leery of it at first, too.