Need help with CPOP goat milk soap

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narnia

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Hi all! Thank you so much for being here and being so helpful!

I have to deliver some goat milk soap by next week, so no time for CP. I have never tried CPOP, so I would love to hear from others, how you all do it, especially with goat milk. Thanks in advance for your help!
 
You might not have to do it. The purpose of CPOP is to make sure that the soap gels. You're not cooking the soap as such, rather making sure it is warm enough all around to fully gel. Most people heat the oven to around 75 Celsius and then turn it off when they put the moulds in - this is enough to get full gel in many cases.

If you use anything that can in itself help to up the temperature of a soap and you are using a water amount that is also likely to increase gelling, you might not actually need to CPOP. I would try it with just insulating first of all and see what happens. If it is not enough, next time you can try the oven.

Always when you are CPOPing a recipe that you aren't sure how it will react (or when you doing anything with a recipe where you aren't sure how it will react) keep a close eye on it to see how it is getting on. Starting to crack? Get it out of the heat and maybe think about cooling it down before you have a Etna on your hands.
 
Whether you're doing CP, CPOP or HP, it's still not going to be good soap by next week. As long as it doesn't zap, it'll be safe but not good. No matter the method, it still needs a 4 week cure minimum to become great soap. Not only to evaporate off the excess water and harden the bars a bit, but also to give the molecular activity time to do it's work. Nothing can speed this process up. You have to give it time.
 
Along with The Gent's good advice, I want to add that CPOP does NOT shorten the time needed to dry and cure. It only ensures the soap goes through gel vs. the soap only doing a partial gel or no gel. I gel most of my soap and it still takes a decent month or so for the weight loss to stabilize.
 
Remember not to promise soap less than 4 weeks out, you will end up with a very unhappy soap. Most new soaps will melt away quickly. If you got behind and did not get it made, or did not give enough lead time that is an issue you will have to deal with, and talk to the customer. If they are willing to take the soap with a label stating it is not ready to use until x date you could still deliver it and hope they will accept it. I would take a picture of the soap and the "new soap instructions". Either way you risk and unhappy customer that may not purchase again
 
What about problems with court, when someone gets a reaction to one week old soap you could get into really difficult situation. Are you having a good insurance?
 
What about problems with court, when someone gets a reaction to one week old soap you could get into really difficult situation. Are you having a good insurance?


No need to overreact. As long as it's not lye-heavy, the soap is still perfectly safe to use at 1 week old. I use my own bars at 1-3 weeks old frequently, and they are beautiful on my skin - the only downside is that they do melt away faster.
 
Just wanted to add that I too was thinking more about the issues of the soap being overly soft so it wouldn't last as long and also of the soap not lathering as well as it will after cure.
 
Wow...there is so much false info out there...re being able to use soap HP soap right away. Yes, I was planning on putting a tag on there advising not use until after Christmas.

Thanks for all the input. But, I would still like to know the steps in how to CPOP goat milk soap.
 
I CPOP goat's milk soap. I only replace 50% of my water with frozen goats milk. I watch it very carefully in a pre-warmed but off oven. It does darken in colour to a dark cream, almost yellow.

Edited to add: I only have to do this now because it is winter here and the house is cool (~20C). In summer, I just put my wooden mold into my oven with the light on and get full gel. I also water discount, so I find I have to force gel to varying degrees. I really like gelled soap.
 
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We got busy here with school, moving, understaffing at work, and life. Soap did not get made in time. Family gets what's on the racks already or bath bombs. But personally, I do not trust others to 'Do Not Open Until XXXXXX" because we can be like cats---curious and it can get us. (At least I don't trust MY others. I know how my siblings are. And...yeah.)

I missed you guys.
 
All my GM soap has been gelled. I heat the oven to about 170 (the lowest it will go). I turn it off when I mix my lye and oils. No reason other than if I don't do it then, I'll forget to turn it off, so I made it part of my process! I place the wooden mold full of soap in the oven and leave it. I can usually unmold and slice in 24-36 hours.
 

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