What do the bars feel like after 24 hours when coming out of the molds? And does the oily texture of bars go away as time goes on for curing for 4-6 weeks?Good job, they look nice! What probably happened is that your molds may have been listed by oil weight, not total batch weight. Also, most of us lose at least some batter to the bowl, the spatula, the stick-blender, etc. You don't notice it much for bigger batches, but for small ones, it can make a difference. Anyway, you can bump up the batch size next time and see how it goes.
For future, you don't need to worry about matching the lye temp exactly to the oil temp. If your lye is a lot cooler than your oils, it can sometimes cause false trace; that where it looks like the batter has emulsified or traced, but it is really just the fats clumping up because they got cold. But other than that, no need to be too concerned about matching temps.
I also have a hard time with plastic wrap making wrinkles on the top of my soap. Plus, I hate things that cost me money over and over again. I've started using the thin cutting mats from the Dollar Store to cover my soap molds. They don't make wrinkles; I can turn the molds over on the mats to take the soaps out; and then I can wash the mats and put them away for next time.
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If they feel a bit oily to the touch, you can let them sit in the molds a bit longer, or take them out carefully and put them on some freezer paper, out of sunlight, and not touching any metal. Some bars can feel oily for a week or two. It all depends on your recipe, soaping temperatures, room temperature, humidity, etc. My first CP recipe was high in OO and water, and it felt oily for two weeks!
I use baking paper instead of cling film on top of mine.
Mold says it makes 6-6.5 oz bars so 6 x 6.5 = 39.0 oz. Four bars would be 4 x 6.5 = 26 oz FYI - This would be your total batch weight.
They feel perfect after 24 hours, not too oily or soft.
Like ali said i may of lost some from mixer. I’ll fix it next time i mix my next batch.
This is them after 24 hours, they hardened and feel perfect. I’m happy it turned out well. Thank you soaper's for all your help and i will update you all on next soap idea. I’m currently in making of harvesting herbs for organic homemade essential oils and I’m picking needles from pine trees tomorrow for another essential oil.
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I decided to make another batch, i accidentally put it to medium trace before pouring which explains the weird looking bars but now there is a brown circle forming on the very top of the bars. Started very slow with little circle then hours later it’s pretty much the whole top surface of the bars. I did the whole 39 OZ this time with a new scent from voyageur website, last time i used whisk which took forever to get any trace until i used stick blender and added essential oil earlier which worked well for me but this time i just used stick blender and it traced extremely fast so i ended up adding essential oil at medium trace and pouring into mold wasn’t the best. But i hope this isn’t gonna be a problem and I’ll see what happens tomorrow when I remove from the mold.
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artemis
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Which fragrance did you use? Some fragrances discolor. But, to me, it looks like a partial gel.
I’m using spiced hot cocoa. And i was just reading the gel phase and yes it looks exactly like it. I’m guessing with higher amounts of oils and water it stays hotter in the molds longer and i put cutting board on it instead of clear wrap keeping heat in causing that gel phase. I had my lye and oil at same as last time 120 F. Well at least i got to experience the gel phase
artemis
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Some people prefer to encourage gel as it can make the colors more vibrant and help unmold sooner.
By the way, you can use a larger mold, just keep it to a smaller batch. I regularly test new scents and such and just pour the small batch into the bottom of my 32 oz oil/48oz total batch weight mold. You simply cut the bars across rather than slice down like you normally would. I don't own anything smaller except singles. And I much prefer to gel soap, so I use those only for leftover batter.
I took it out the mold today and I don’t think it looks as weird as I thought it would be, just a little more waxy and damp compared to my other batch.
My first batch turned 2 weeks old in cure yesterday and they feel almost completely dry and hard, doesn’t leave wax on hands when i pick it up and I check the weight every week and it lost weight first week but lost barely anything 2nd week. So I think the moisture is gone out of it already. Is that normal or is it curing too fast? And my baby bar lost all moisture the first week and is completely dry.
You are trying to determine cure by loss of moisture weight. Don't. It is not a determination for cure. Cure is time related, not moisture related. Much more is going on during cure than loss of moisture.
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That is a classic signature of a mild gel phase in the soap. Notice how the darkened area is like a circle or oval emanating from the center of the mold.
Personally, and this is just my personal opinion, I believe I get a better saponification quicker when the gel phase occurs. You can help it along by putting the silicone mold into a preheated 200° F oven and then turn off the heat and let the mold sit until the oven is cooled.
Regarding curing times... what is happening are soap salt crystals are forming and linking together in the soap matrix. Give the soap a good 4 weeks minimum before using. Try a test lather and see how it does; then after 6 weeks try another test lather and see if it doesn't lather quicker and denser than the 4 week test. I let most of my soap age at least 8 weeks, that's because I have enough on hand to be able to do that.
There's a tale from a few years back and I can't remember if it was here in this site or somewhere else. A lady made PURE LARD soap and tried it after 4 weeks, it was slippery, kinda soft and gooey and didn't lather well. So she put it aside and literally forgot about it. Found it about a year later and tried it out... it was hard, dense and lathered amazing well.
Thank you for the reply. It scared me for a while thinking the oil and lye didn’t mix properly but gel phase saved me lol. The colour was yellow but turned out with little brown in it, honestly doesn’t look terrible so everything turned out alright.
and for the curing time I’m gonna test this batch out at 4 weeks just to try it like you suggested and then up to 8 weeks. My second batch it alot more oily and definitely gonna be longer cure time so I’ll try them at 8-12 weeks.
and what do you recommend for colouring cold pressed soap? There is different pigment and colour options not sure which to go with. And lastly what are options for a light exfoliating? I want to go with something not too sharp just nice and light.
LynetteO
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@SoapNoobs For soft & gentle exfoliating, I like poppy seeds.
