curing soap

[peace-love-and-suds]

what would be the optimum humidity and temperature level for curing soap? I am trying to make a custom built dry box but I don't know what humidity level to set the dehumidifier to. I'm figuring the temperature would be optimum around 80 degrees? Ideally this should cure the soap much faster I'm thinking, right?

Thanks

 

[Fragola]

I would guess as low humidity as possible. Also, I believe lower temperature protects from DOS.

 

[peace-love-and-suds]

The soap requires higher temperatures for the insulating period. How long can one stretch the insulating period to further saponification? I figured one could just leave the temp high and cut a week or two off the cure time. I was also needing a humidity range for perfect curing environment. Like maybe 20-30 %

 

[carebear]

You've lost me.

I don't know the perfect humidity level. My dehumidifier in the room where I cure my soaps is set at 45%. What the actual level is, or if there is some "ideal" level I do not know.

Hot is generally not good. Heat promotes oxidation - which means it promotes rancidity in your soaps.

How long you decide to cure your soaps is up to you.

 

[peace-love-and-suds]

But doesn't heat help the saponify the soap further? I know that keeping a bar in a box set at 80 year round would be bad, but would the first few weeks of curing set at said temp help any? Or at least for the first few days anyway.

 

[IrishLass]

But doesn't heat help the saponify the soap further?

I hope I can help clear this up. I think you may be confusing saponification with cure. Technically, they are 2 different things. Saponification is considered complete when the soap tests out tongue neutral. Adding heat will help you get to tongue neutrality quicker (as in HP or forcing/encouraging gel), but to continue to add heat beyond the point of tongue neutrality is pretty much overkill or beating a dead horse. Even the soap knows when to stop heating on it's own by cooling itself down. :wink: And it doesn't take very long to reach full saponification or tongue neutrality in a gelled soap. We're talking a few, mere hours at most (provided it was properly formulated).

Once the soap is fully saponified (or tongue neutral), all it then needs is good air ventilation/ciculation and time to cure. According to Dr. Kevin Dunn's book 'Scientific Soapmaking', three things happen during cure: 1. It decreases in weight as excess moisture evaporates; 2. It hardens; and 3. The atmospheric carbon dioxide naturally present in the air reacts with any excess alkilinity in the soap, helping to reduce/neutralize it. Don't misunderstand, though- your soap will still be on the alkaline side, but the pH will get lower until it bottoms out around 9 - 10.5 (which makes for a milder soap).


IrishLass

 

[peace-love-and-suds]

Thank you for your post. That did help. So a curing cabinet should only be concerned with proper ventilation and humidity. Does anyone have any technical knowledge on what percentage of humidity I can drop the cabinet to? I didn't want to pull the water out faster than it should... if I say, dropped the humidity to 10% would that cause the bar to become brittle?

 

[IrishLass]

if I say, dropped the humidity to 10% would that cause the bar to become brittle

Nah, I highly doubt it. The way in which you formulated your recipe will dictate that. The humidty where I live is very low and my bars never get brittle. Today the humidity here is only 15%.

IrishLass

 

[peace-love-and-suds]

Thank you Irish Lass. I will post a pic when I get the cabinet put together.

 

[carebear]

I don't know - if the humidity is super low it might cause the soaps to warp when drying.

Another thing you would ideally protect against is light, by the way.

 

[nurse_75]

The humidity here today was about 70%... lol, i have the opposite problem of soaping in the tropics. I am not sure how my soaps will fair long term as at the moment they are on a small wooden rack in my office. Plenty of air to circulate but it gets really warm and humid here in summer.

 

[srenee]

Living at the coast I have to keep a dehumidifier going. About 30% here.

 

[shunt2011]

Living at the coast I have to keep a dehumidifier going. About 30% here.

This post is from 2012. The majority of posters haven't been here in a long time.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/smf-culture-and-tone.56833/