First time dealing with DOS

[sethkaylyn]

I live in south Louisiana so there is plenty of humidity. I’ve read a few post about humidity being a problem but would love to know if there is a way to store them without using a dehumidifier. I’ve checked all of my expiration dates on all of my oils. They are all good. I moved from a brick home to a mobile home so I’m wondering if this has something to do with the humidity levels. I’ve never had trouble before. 3 batches in the garbage. Not good :-(
Any suggestions on a special container to store them in?

 

[SoapSap]

After curing I like to store in sport card boxes. Definitely store in something that is not considered air tight. If humidity is a big problem store where you have an air conditioner running it a circulating fan at least. Also if you are not using EDTA, give it a try in your formulas.

 

[cmzaha]

Just curious if your recipe is a mid to high lard recipe, and what your superfat is? In my beginning years of soapmaking, I had a lot of problems with dos, mostly in lard soaps. You could try lowering your superfat and adding in 0.1% BHT with 0.5% EDTA. After soap making for a couple of years of making soap I lowered my superfat to an average of 2%, with an average 33% lye concentration.

After I get around to shrink wrapping my soaps I store them in flat storage crates. In the last few years, we have been having Moonsoon weather here in So Cal and my soaps do not sweat or become dossy.

 

[Dawni]

Search about sweating.... There are several recent topics, and some posts in the today's soapy thing thread.

Might not pertain specifically to DOS, but they'll at least address your sweating issues. I'm having trouble with the same thing myself.

FYI, in my case, it's my mid high lard soaps that aren't sweating as much as the others. Any soap of mine that's only soft oils, my soleseifes and my single salt bar batch, are sweating in varying degrees of pigness lols

 

[sethkaylyn]

Just curious if your recipe is a mid to high lard recipe, and what your superfat is? In my beginning years of soapmaking, I had a lot of problems with dos, mostly in lard soaps. You could try lowering your superfat and adding in 0.1% BHT with 0.5% EDTA. After soap making for a couple of years of making soap I lowered my superfat to an average of 2%, with an average 33% lye concentration.

After I get around to shrink wrapping my soaps I store them in flat storage crates. In the last few years, we have been having Moonsoon weather here in So Cal and my soaps do not sweat or become dossy.

Hi Cmzaha
I do have a high lard recipe that I’ve used for years. Maybe I need to lower the amount.
I attached my recipe. Maybe I should super fat more ?
I appreciate your help

After curing I like to store in sport card boxes. Definitely store in something that is not considered air tight. If humidity is a big problem store where you have an air conditioner running it a circulating fan at least. Also if you are not using EDTA, give it a try in your formulas.

Thanks soapsap
Do you know where I can purchase the EDTA?

 

[cmzaha]

I cannot read the recipe it is to small for my eyes, but I would lower superfat versus raising it and having more free oil to go rancid. It looks like you are using 20% CO so I would not lower the superfat.

What are you using for curing your soaps? Any type of uncovered metal racks can promote spotty dos issues. As for sweating my recipes are high tallow or high palm and they do not sweat. My most favorite and go-to recipe is 45% tallow, 25% lard.

You can purchase Tetrasodium at Savon on Citric or even Ebay. Amazon probably has it but will most likely cost more. I purchase mine on Ebay.

 

[sethkaylyn]

I cannot read the recipe it is to small for my eyes, but I would lower superfat versus raising it and having more free oil to go rancid. It looks like you are using 20% CO so I would not lower the superfat.

What are you using for curing your soaps? Any type of uncovered metal racks can promote spotty dos issues. As for sweating my recipes are high tallow or high palm and they do not sweat. My most favorite and go-to recipe is 45% tallow, 25% lard.

You can purchase Tetrasodium at Savon on Citric or even Ebay. Amazon probably has it but will most likely cost more. I purchase mine on Ebay.

Thanks for getting back so quick
My recipe:
6% castor
20% coconut oil
55.2% lard
18.8% Olive oil

Only 5% super fat

I did have a batch on a plastic coated rack. Maybe it had something to do with it.
I did remove it from my shelf where I place the soap to cure.

 

[linne1gi]

I live in south Louisiana so there is plenty of humidity. I’ve read a few post about humidity being a problem but would love to know if there is a way to store them without using a dehumidifier. I’ve checked all of my expiration dates on all of my oils. They are all good. I moved from a brick home to a mobile home so I’m wondering if this has something to do with the humidity levels. I’ve never had trouble before. 3 batches in the garbage. Not good :-(
Any suggestions on a special container to store them in?

I live in South Florida where there is high humidity year round - right now we're at 100%. I have never had my soaps in my house sweat. I also have not taken them outside, so I do not know if they would sweat outside. I add EDTA to my oils in my soap. I use .5 gm. EDTA is a chelating agent which means it binds to metals removing them, it is also good to prevent soap scum. I might add that EDTA is used in medicine, (as a chelator to remove heavy metals, usually given intravenously) in eye drops, and in certain foods as well.

 

[sethkaylyn]

Thanks linne1gi for your suggestions. Our humidity levels have been through the roof lately. Lol
I haven’t had issues with my bars sweating, just DOS. I’ll definitely get some of the EDTA for my next batch. Hopefully it’ll help. I did move my curing area to another room in my home.

 

[glendam]

This is interesting, I have noticed the soaps that I made with lard are the ones that are getting yellowish. I have not noticed it in my tallow soaps. (Superfat and lye proportion being the same)