Curing in humid conditions

[Crafty Rose]

I am just starting out with soap making and on my internet travels I have read something I have never thought of. We are going into summer, where I live it is fairly humid as I am just shy (or in depending on who you talk to) the tropics. We get weeks and weeks of rain, it is so humid you are read for a second shower at 8 am and times of humidity around 90%.

How will this affect soap curing? I read on one site that an option was to put the soap in an enclosed plastic container but then read somewhere else that this isn't ideal as the moisture needs to get out, would perhaps putting something like a closet camel in the container help, or should I just not have soap curig when the humidity is at it's worst?

 

[Traceyann]

Crafty, R u up in Darwin?? I am on the gold coast and its humid here but not as much as up there ....I dont have any probs here tho....I do cure in a cool room though ( my Laundy ) and after 3 weeks I put the soap in my linen cupboard with a camel ....however the humidity isnt as bad here as it is up there.....

 

[Crafty Rose]

No, From CQ. Originally from Sydney it gets more humid here than I like. I have pulled flour from the pantry more than once to find it green thanks to moisture in the air.

I was playing with some melt and pour soap in Feb and it went sweaty sort of while it was sitiing on racks.

 

[Traceyann]

CQ??? is that coastal Queensland?? and yeah it takes abit to get used to our humidity , Sydney has a dry heat...very different...

As for the melt and pour I was under the impression that it needed to be wrapped in clingwrap as soon as set in the fridge/freezer otherwise it will sweat .....I never left mine out on a rack...just set and wrapped it...

Cant comment on the green flour tho....I cook a fair bit so mine is used reasonably quick, but you do need air tight containers ....LURVE my tupperware lol

 

[Pretty n Plain]

Hi Crafty Rose, WELCOME , we're situated near Caboolture on the Northside of Brisbane, although we've just moved a suburb away our previous place wreaked havoc with our soaps both m&p and cold pressed.
I tried everything from putting them in a cool dry (as dry as I could find) to running the fans but nothing worked until.... I found Damp Rid that ya buy from the woolies/coles etc, a cheaper version is to purchase it from a swimming pool shop, simply set it up in containers similar to the Damp Rid containers and place them in the curing room or cupboard area and it will take care of the moisture.

As for the m&p, eeeek what a nightmare, so much fun but the humidity gave me serious anoyance issues lol. I made the soap, let it cool down (put it into a cardboard box or a cupboard set up with a damp rid container) when it's cool enough to wrap then get it packaged up. The most important thing is to mage sure you get rid of ALL air bubbles, air pockets and creases that may hold air as this will cause the soap to sweat.

As for your flour, we always leave ours in the the fridge or freezer in it's packaging then placed in a sealed bag or we put it in a container and put it in the fridge or freezer.
I've lost count of the times we've left brand new bags in the cupboard and opend it up to find live weevils :shock:

 

[Crafty Rose]

Thank you,

So the absorbtion stuff seems like it might be the idea. very good. It hasn't been too bad here yet but just in the last few days there has been storms building and I know it will get more humid, no stopping it.

The flour, I have heard of people putting it in the freezer& fridge, but to do that I will have to tread on scared ground- The beer fridge. Don't think Hubby will appreciate it. It happened when we went away over Christmas with all the rain we had last year.

 

[Cuckoo Bananas]

Im in the Cairns area - it can get pretty humid here so I feel your pain! I cure mine outside in my garage, it seem OK unless it rains, then it's bad juju for the soaps. I normally leave them on the rack curing for 4 weeks and then bring them inside and store in a cardboard box and they sit fine in there. If it looks like rain I will bring all my soap babies inside and store them in cardboard and then take them back outside a couple days after the rain has gone and the air has dried out back to it's usually level of sticky.

If it is just an afternoon shower I don't bother but anything more than a few hours of rain I bring them in.

 

[Pretty n Plain]

Thank you,

So the absorbtion stuff seems like it might be the idea. very good. It hasn't been too bad here yet but just in the last few days there has been storms building and I know it will get more humid, no stopping it.

The flour, I have heard of people putting it in the freezer& fridge, but to do that I will have to tread on scared ground- The beer fridge. Don't think Hubby will appreciate it. It happened when we went away over Christmas with all the rain we had last year.

Crafty Rose, yeah I definately found the Damp Rid stuff helped, but just remember to keep it topped up especially when its really humid.

OH NO Not the BEER fridge :shock: :shock: :shock: rofl, what a crack up, I can see him now guarding his fridge with his life lol.

Cuckoo Bananas I love your little names like "juju' and "Soap Babies".