what does "gel" mean?

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Rah

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Hi,
I've seen the term used a lot when referring to soaps and I've been wondering what it meant? Sorry if that's a stupid question (also I wasn't sure what forum to put this in)
Thanks!
Rebecca
 
This is such a cliche, but so very true: THERE ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS. This forum is for us to learn from one another and help one another. What you think might be stupid is answering someone else that did not have the courage to ask the question.

Here is a pic I Googled:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/moonlightbaker/4087775138/

If you look closely enough, the outside is a tad lighter than the inside. The inside almost looks like ... jelly. Hence, gel stage.

Also, here are different stages of gel on the molds to the side:

http://www.natural-soapmaking.net/leesp.html
 
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Gel is basically the soap heating up so much that its appearance permanently changes from opaque to translucent and glossy. It's a purely aesthetic issue. Some preferred the look of gelled soaps, some don't. I think it depends on what color your soap is. White soaps tend to look better ungelled, but colors will pop more if you gel your soap. You can force your soap to gel by soaping with warm oils & lye and insulating the mold with towels, or you can prevent it altogether by soaping with room temp oils & lye and putting your filled mold in the fridge or freezer until you're ready to cut it.
 
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When oils and lye go through the chemical reaction that causes saponification, it produces heat and makes the soap turn into a gel like form. It will get semi transparent and quite soft. As the chemical reaction completes, the soap will cool back down and get hard.

As mentioned, gelled soap has a slightly different look and feel then non gelled. Non gelled soap can take up to two day to complete the saponification process as the lower temps slows down the chemical reaction.
 
thanks for the replies!

I think I understand it now - so you can promote your soap to gel by insulating it to keep it warm while it's curing? And it's purely an aesthetic preference...
 
You can prompt it to gel by keeping it warm but you do it while the soap is in the mold. It gels in the first few hours after its poured.
 
Yes, or you can do cpop and force a gel that way. Just pour your soap in an oven-proof mold and put the mold into an oven preheated at 170*F. Leave the oven on for about one hour and then turn it off and let the soap set in the oven undisturbed for about 10-12 hours.
 
Early on, I discovered that I liked gelled as opposed to non gelled soap. I love the "waxy" feeling that gel produces. Gel occurs when the heat of the saponification process raises the temp of the soap batter. If you pour your soap, then put it in the fridge or freezer, you can in most cases avoid gel, or if the mold you're using is so small that the mass of the ingredients is not enough to generate heat, or as in a slab mold, when the soap is spread out, and the heat can dissipate. Gel starts from the center, and spreads outward toward the edges of the mold. If there is not enough heat produced, it may stop before it gets to the edges, resulting in a partial gel, which is only an esthetic issue. The gelled portion will be a different color than the ungelled part. I have a pic from an early batch of mine, where you can see the gelled center part of the batch, it hasn't quite reached the edges yet.

gel phase1.jpg

gel phase1.jpg
 
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Wow, Navigator9, those are two very different colors! Did it look like the lighter tan when you poured it or is the drastic difference actually part if your design and not because of the gelling? I know it can look different but I didn't expect an outright color change.
 
twinkiesmommy2009 said:
Wow, Navigator9, those are two very different colors! Did it look like the lighter tan when you poured it or is the drastic difference actually part if your design and not because of the gelling? I know it can look different but I didn't expect an outright color change.
Click to expand...

It was the lighter color when I poured it, and cooled back to the lighter color, probably a bit darker, because of the gel. The color change isn't always that drastic, but it's definitely noticeable. The two colors you see are entirely due to gelling, not part of any design. I wish I could remember more about this particular batch, but it was a long time ago!
 
Rebecca, Gel, or Gel phase, as I call it refers to a time after soap is poured, it becomes translucent, I used to peek at my soap to see how it was doing because I always use cream, milk, half and half, goats milk, or evap milk in my soap, and I didn't want it to overheat, and I would see the gel phase.
 
1st I'd like to thank everyone for the clear, concise info on gel phase. I've been trying to decide if I should start putting my freshly poured soap into the fridge or oven to either force or slow gelling. I usually insulate with towels the 1st 24 hours. My log molds almost always crack a bit while my slab molds don't. The only batches that don't crack are the ones that contain only soft oils (olive and rice bran). I also use only EOs in those batches while I use FOs, EOs and a combination in the others. It may be my imagination but it seems like the cracking is more dramatic when trace is quickly accelerated by a scent additive. I usually soap at about 100 degrees F and the ambient air temp is 78-80 F. Does anyone know if I force or slow gel phase will it help with my cracking problem?
 
The cracking is likely from overheating. Slab molds lose heat faster (thanks to a greater surface area), which is why they don't crack on you. FOs and EOs that speed trace can also cause overheating. To stop the cracking, you'd need to take measures to cool your soap down (soaping cooler, raising the molds off the counter and blowing a fan over them, putting them in the fridge/freezer).
 
Thanks for that FlyByStardancer! I'm planning to make a 5 lb batch shortly so will try the fridge method to slow things down. Should I still cover the top with cardboard or plastic wrap? I have a small fridge I use only for canned and bottled drinks so I don't have to worry about food odors.
 

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