CP Soap is Sweating!! What does that mean??

[agriffin]

Hi All!! My CP, 100% olive oil soap is sweating. It was made about 26 hours ago and I just unmolded it about 4 hours ago. Thanks!




Amanda

Thanks!!

 

[Guest]

Is the sweat zappy ? Is it very humid where you live ? Do you have it on a rack so air can get around it ? Soap does sweat in high humidity areas due to the natural humectants in it.

Kitn

 

[agriffin]

Well, I turned the fan overhead on and it is not sweating anymore. I tested a corner of the soap and it was zappy. Can it still be zappy 24 hours after it's made or should it have done it's thing and not be?

Thanks!

 

[carebear]

did it gel?

castile seems to take for freaking-ever to be "done" unless you use a very high lye conc (I do 45%) and gel. even then, sometimes. with me, castile is a balance between letting it finish saponifying and getting it cut (since I soap with so little water I need to cut earlier) - so finally I settled on making my bars in a slab mold with a divider so no need to cut. I leave them in the mold for 3 days if I gelled, a week if I didn't (I bought an extra mold just for castiles since I don't have the luxury of waiting otherwise!!!)

if there is still moisture, blot it off (wear gloves or be careful). then leave it alone for as long as you can stand to. in a week, zap test again and if still zappy give a bar a quick rinse and let it dry before testing again - it may be that the sweating left a residue of lye on the outside of the bar...

soaps sweat because of high humidity environments and overheating. humidity is an issue because soap is hygroscopic.

anyway, blot if still wet, give it time, test in a week and if zappy rinse and see if that fixes it.

good luck!

 

[agriffin]

I'm not sure if it gelled. This is my first bar ever. I know what that means, but just can't tell. Should I cut into it and see what it looks like? It stopped sweating when I turned the fan on. I actually put some of the "sweat" on my tongue and it was not zappy. But I put a piece of the soap that had come off of a corner when I was flipping it to see what it looked like- and it was. Oh and it's weird, one loaf was sweating and the other right beside it didn't have one drop on it! Weird! So I'll let it sit and test in a week or so. It's seems to be firming up nicely, though.

BTW Carebear- can you recommend a good slab mold with dividers?

Thanks for both of your help Kitn and Carebear!!!
Amanda

 

[carebear]

When to cut is a bit of a puzzle. You don't want the soap to be rock hard, but not soft like cream cheese either. I'm thinking that refrigerated butter is the consistency you are looking for before cutting!

Divider molds - I have used Kelsei molds for years and love them but got them back before they did custom sizes or had the silicone mat. I think I would like them even better now! I always used mineral oil to lube my Kelseis. My current divider molds are Logan Bear molds. They also are very nice. Spray them with food grade silicone spray to ensure the soap comes out well.