WHY is my CP wet!?

[Baileysgirl]

I had a bit of a traumatic soaping experience yesterday.. I was all ready for a batch of lilac but I didn't pre-measure my scent and I didn't have enough!!
long story shorter, I ended up turning it into two smaller batches, lilac and grapefruit. But I'm not fast or coordinated so neither turned out quite like I hoped I just unmoulded the them and the top and sides are wet! To the point that my freezer paper is soaked! I'm just afraid that somehow my fragrance came out, is that even possible? What else could it be!? Do you think with a little more cure time they'll be ok? Please help, any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

 

[joy]

Hi Baileysgirl, if you would post your recipe, how you put the recipe together and split it, and possibly a photo, we can help you troubleshoot what happened.

 

[toxikon]

It sounds like some separation happened on you. Don't worry! Happens to me too.

It usually looks like the soap is sweating - if it sweated A LOT, it may even look like pools or puddles instead of little sweat droplets.

As for what the liquid is? It could be seeping lye water or fragrance oil. Either way, it should be salvageable.

Some possible explanations on why it happened:
- Not enough blending. Did you use a stick-blender? Did you pour at liquid emulsion/light trace/heavy trace?
- Overheating. What temperature was your lye solution and melted oils when you combined them? Did you insulate your mold with blankets or towels? What type of mold did you use? What's the temperature of the area where they were left to cure? Did you use any milks or sugars in your recipe?
- Tempermental FOs. Sometimes they just cause all sorts of problems. Florals are pretty notorious for being a pain in the butt.

When my soap sweats, I just leave it alone and the sweat mostly reabsorbs. I'll leave it in the mold for a couple days, then unmold it and let it breath (upside down when possible) for a day before cutting. Then I give the loaf a wipe with a moist towel then slice it up. After a week or so, I'll zap-test the outside and inside. No zap, and you're good to go.

 

[Baileysgirl]

Thanks for the responses! I am sure it wasn't the recipe because I used my usual one that I've never had a problem with and it was mixed together before I separated. I doubt it was the fragrance either since the same thing happened to both. I did blend it with the stick blender but less than usual because I wanted more of a swirl and to give myself more time. I mixed quite a while and then just a little with the blender.. also, for the same reason, I worked with lower temp than usual, I don't remember exactly but it definitely did not overheat, didn't even gel.

 

[toxikon]

Thanks for the responses! I am sure it wasn't the recipe because I used my usual one that I've never had a problem with and it was mixed together before I separated. I doubt it was the fragrance either since the same thing happened to both. I did blend it with the stick blender but less than usual because I wanted more of a swirl and to give myself more time. I mixed quite a while and then just a little with the blender.. also, for the same reason, I worked with lower temp than usual, I don't remember exactly but it definitely did not overheat, didn't even gel.

This tends to happen to me when I pour at a liquidy emulsion instead of waiting for a light trace. As I said above, it usually sorts itself out in the end though.

 

[Baileysgirl]

Thanks! I feel much better! I'll just give it more time and see

 

[toxikon]

Worse case scenario would be your soap leaking enough lye water to significantly increase your superfat and lead to soft soap. Or when you go to cut it open, you find lye pockets inside.

If it's something serious like that, you'll probably want to rebatch. But hopefully that won't be the case! Sometimes when I have sweating, the bars have soft corners, but after a good 6 week cure, they're exactly as hard as the rest of my batches.

 

[dixiedragon]

I didn't mean to click "like" - please don't think I am smirking at your soaping troubles! Are both loaves sweating/wet?

 

[Baileysgirl]

yes, it's both, and the large mould is significantly worse. I cut the smaller one and it looks good inside so I'm confident it's not a lye problem. The big one is to soft (in spots) to cut, but I was able to unmould it to let it dry faster.