crumbly texture [pic included]

[thesoapfairy]

one of my latest soaps has a very rough, crumbly texture at the bottom as you can see in this picture..
when i was cutting it, the knife went through the top just fine, but when it got to the crumbly part it sort of split apart.
i used titanium dioxide, and i didn't gel.. any ideas what's causing this?

also, what happens if you wait too long to cut a soap? does it become impossible to cut, or is longer better?

 

[krissy]

how long did you wait to cut it? you sould cut it withing a few days... unless it is not gelled or you did a huge water discount.

i am not sure why your soap only was crumbly at the bottom but i wanted tosay your swirls are gorgeous.

 

[thesoapfairy]

hmm.. i pop it in the freezer overnight, take it out early the next day, wait a few hours till it comes to room temp & cut it.. i think i should just wait another day before i do so. and thank you for the compliment

 

[serfmunke]

I had the same issue last week, a little oilier on top and crumbly on the bottom. I rebatched, that did not come out great either but at least the crappiness is throughout :wink:

 

[Sue Bear]

Not sure exactly what is going on but I can tell you from my experience that you never want to leave your soap in the freezer over night. Freezing your batch is a bad idea and does not make for good soap. I usually only leave my soap in the freezer for 30 - 60 minutes (depending on the fragrance oil) and then pop it in the refrigerator overnight. You want to keep the soap cool (as to not gel) but you do not want to freeze it.

 

[Hestey]

A lot of us freeze our soap overnight with no ill effects. Crumbling could be from too much TD, or from overheating (which can still happen in the freezer!). How much TD did you use PPO?

 

[Lilahblossom]

Pretty blue feathers in that soap!

 

[Sue Bear]

A lot of us freeze our soap overnight with no ill effects. Crumbling could be from too much TD, or from overheating (which can still happen in the freezer!). How much TD did you use PPO?

It may just be my recipe but I find that when left in the freezer overnight the lye water added to the batch freezes then thaws and does not cure the same as non-frozen batches. Y'all have not experienced this?

 

[Hestey]

I've not experienced that, my soap comes out of the freezer just fine. Just have to let it defrost before I can cut it.