SomethingGoodAustin
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2012
- Messages
- 94
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- 23
Hello;
After about a year of making cold process soaps, I decided to start experimenting with hot process using a crock pot. I've made four batches so far, using different recipes. Whether I've made a shampoo bar with jojoba and high castor or a more typical coconut/palm/olive oil bar, I've noticed the same thing: my soaps have all turned out very soft initially (some have hardened up over the last week, but others, like the shampoo bars, are still rather squishy). Because they are so soft, I've been leaving them in the mold overnight. What I've noticed there is that even though they all pass the zap test, they stay hot well into the next day.
This seems odd to me. The heat would seem to indicate that a chemical process is still ongoing, but if so, what is it? I haven't noticed anything that would obviously be the result of incomplete saponification. Also, I thought the point of HP was to speed up production time. My reading gave me the impression that most bars would be firm and nearly completely ready to go. But my most recent soap, a hunter's soap (coco-palm-olive-neem) came out of the mold downright squishy.
So what could be happening? Should I cook my soap longer or at a higher temp?
After about a year of making cold process soaps, I decided to start experimenting with hot process using a crock pot. I've made four batches so far, using different recipes. Whether I've made a shampoo bar with jojoba and high castor or a more typical coconut/palm/olive oil bar, I've noticed the same thing: my soaps have all turned out very soft initially (some have hardened up over the last week, but others, like the shampoo bars, are still rather squishy). Because they are so soft, I've been leaving them in the mold overnight. What I've noticed there is that even though they all pass the zap test, they stay hot well into the next day.
This seems odd to me. The heat would seem to indicate that a chemical process is still ongoing, but if so, what is it? I haven't noticed anything that would obviously be the result of incomplete saponification. Also, I thought the point of HP was to speed up production time. My reading gave me the impression that most bars would be firm and nearly completely ready to go. But my most recent soap, a hunter's soap (coco-palm-olive-neem) came out of the mold downright squishy.
So what could be happening? Should I cook my soap longer or at a higher temp?