Freezing soap when DOS appears - should it stop it while frozen?

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RogueRose

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If the spots start appearing on the soap will freezing it help to stop the spread or creation of new spots while the soap is frozen?
 
I was going to ask the same question RoqueRose. I made some 95% organic grass fed tallow soap to have on hand for the dry winter months but at 2 months old one bar of the 5 has a touch of dos.

I'm going to try it and see what happens. I'm sure the dos would start up again after defrosting, but so what? I take out a bar or two and have a chance to use them before dos completely overtakes them.
 
Even if it did, when it was unfrozen wouldn't it just start up again?


That makes perfectly logical sense to me. Since DOS is rancidity, I think it would be much the same as placing rancid meat in the freezer and then defrosting it. The meat would still be bad once defrosted, and it would only continue to get worse at the higher temperature.

There's no harm in trying it, though. Let us know how it goes!


IrishLass :)
 
Fat oxidation/rancidity slows down with lower temps, but it won't stop, so freezing can't entirely prevent the development of rancidity (DOS), but it will slow DOS down.

If I made a recipe high in oils with a short shelf life (pumpkin seed oil, anyone?) and I wanted to keep the soap nice for as long as possible, I'd pop the soap in the freezer right after cure -- I wouldn't wait for any DOS to show up.

If you're talking about a few spots of DOS that sometimes appear in a normal soap... Honestly I don't see a lot of spread in the size or number of DOS freckles I sometimes see on my (pre EDTA) soaps. In fact, I've watched some DOS spots develop then fade as time goes on. I guess I don't get too concerned about this kind of DOS -- I just use the freckled bars first.

If you're talking about soap with overall DOS, as in most or all of the bar is turning a tell-tale orange-yellow... Hmmmm, not sure I'd bother with freezing. Of the one batch (early on in my soaping misadventures!) that did this, the soap had a funky odor as well as an unappealing look. It was not worth the trouble to freeze the bars -- they were already too far gone for me to want to use at all. I still have one in my "bone pile" for reference.

If the other soaps in my bone pile are any clue, they've proved to me that DOS does not spread from bar to bar like an infectious disease. :)
 
I'm so glad you mentioned that DeeAnna as I've found 2 bars of soap from batches intended for Christmas and I just assumed that the rest of the batch would follow the evil path to dos. I may not need to re-make those. I've been watching them like a hawk since they are high lard and Carolyn thinks they dos more. I'm pretty bad about making sure my hands aren't scrupulously clean when I turn or handle my soaps.
 
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