Glycerin tunels, crackling and such trouble...

[mrWho19]

I am loosing my mind over crackling. Making beautiful soap with perfect fragrance combination, just to see it all crackled up makes me frown.. :? :?:

I use wooden molds. I use TD and micas, coconut, palm, olive and sesame oil and add stearic acid for hardness and leather. I usually soap at about 100, 110F.

As much as i know TD exposed to to much heat during saponification may cause this to happen. :?:

I need help on this one. lots of it! So any bright ideas would be more than appreciated...

 

[lsg]

Sounds like the soap may be overheating during the gel phase. Have you tried popping it in the freezer or refrigerator right after pouring in the mold? Sometimes when my soap overheats during gelling it will form a ridge on top with a crack running down the middle. Don't know if this is your problem, but hope this helps.

 

[mrWho19]

Yeah, as much as i have managed to figure out was that the mould was to well isolated and that caused overheating and the crackling. One of the advice i got was, waiting till the soap gelled than uncovering it and let it cool. But i dont know if i should wait til the soap is gelled or should i pop it in the fridge for a couple of minutes right after i poured it. Will the saponification process still go its way properly if i cool it that fast?

 

[lsg]

Some people put their milk soap in the freezer or refrigerator immediately and leave it there for several hours to prevent gel. Your soap doesn't have to go through the gel phase to be good soap.

 

[sudbubblez]

Putting it in the fridge for a couple minutes won't cool it very much... or at all because the soap is making its own heat. It takes the refrigerator 45 minutes to cool a room temperature beer down... so its not going to cool the soap in just a few minutes. Pointing a fan at the loaf, and setting the loaf on something like a wire cooling rack (like for cooling cookies and cakes in baking) so air can move under it too, will cool it as well as leaving it in the refrigerator.