soap experiment - gel and ash and oxidation

[Deb]

Hi everyone...


this may be a nonsensical ramble but....

I made a batch of soap a few days ago. Nothing new there mind you, but it was a smallish batch, that I overbeat. I split it into two, added scent and colour, and both decided to seperate in their individual molds on me. Well, all of my black and purple did, and all but two of my brown did.

So I beat them in the mold, with a chopstick. And I beat the oil back in, and while there was a thin film of oil on them, it has absorbed back in well. I superfat at 8-9% btw.

Now the two that I didn't have to whip back into shape, they have ash on them. The ones that seperated have. Same soap, same conditions, but those two were poured last.

That leads me to think that they seperated based on temperature, and they went through a partial gel phase as they were gel-like underneath the oil. I suspect the unashy ones didn't go through a complete gel, as I didn't see it go to gel. The outside therefore, stayed at a lower temperature. The other factor is that the outside was subject to air for the three days it took for hte oils to completely to absorb in teh unashed counterparts.

So..can I tentatively conclude that gel prevents ash? or that oxidation causes ash? I don't know. I've had batches that didn't go through gel that had no ash that didn't seperate either. But this talked to me.

But i thought i'd give it to you as food for thought.

 

[Guest]

gel or no gel...

I am but a humble hobby soaper and couldn't care too much to stop my soap from gelling. Frankly I think of gelling as hot process in the mold. Faster saponification and faster curing. I might be wrong but prove it... all my soaps have been exceptionally mild and I have only once had a soap come out weird... experiment gone wild... And I am one of those people who will try the soap after two days curing... all my soaps were well insulated and gelled and did not burn me after two days... although it was better after a week... and the bubbles and foaming improved as well after a week... I would still not give it to anybody else at such an early stage... and i tongue test my soap before use.... I learned to like the taste of well made home made soap... wierdo I know... eating soap!!

Haha... just something silly I believe... if you have done everything right and with good intention the soap fairies or gods believe what you will will do the rest... the whole soap making process to me seems magical and mystical... I know... I am a scientist and i know the chemistry but if you've made soap... you get caught up in it... magical!