Soaping in the summer

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skayc1

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Apr 27, 2015
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I live in NC
lately I've been soaping in the morning time, when Temps are still kinda cool (70's) that means my soap will be gelling in the heat of the day, I do not have an air conditioner, should I leave the soap out unwrapped to prevent overheating? I've noticed my last few batches have overheated in one way or another, I've been placing the loaf in a cardboard box, & covering the top of the box with a towel. Oh and as the summer goes along morning temps will be higher. I could set up a fan in my soap area. Does anyone have ways of getting past the high temps of summer if you do not have air-conditioning? I store my curing soaps at my moms, she has air-conditioning & I do not.
 
Are you hoping to avoid gel? Or just keep it from over-heating? If not gelling is what you want, can you put it into the fridge or freezer? Otherwise, if your only concern is the over-heating, I think a fan blowing on them might be sufficient. Perhaps someone with more experience will weigh in on this.
 
It might be a case of trial and error to find the new sweet spot.

Dial back the insulation a little and keep an eye on it. You might get a couple of partial gels, but you'll soon work out how much is too much and how little is too little
 
What Shunt and EG said. I used to live in NC (Durham and Chapel Hill) and it gets very hot and humid in summer there sometimes. When it does you might want to just leave it uncovered and check - if you have a see-mold silicone mold like this it helps, you can kind of see if it is gelling or not more easily. It is a good size for hobbyists, too, you can make a smallish batch, 24 oz of oils produces a total batch weight of about 40 oz w/full water and fills it nicely.

I have too many molds - although in my defense, I use most of them - but this one and its sibs (I have three so I can do multiple batches) are my go-to's for this size b/c I like to CPOP and keep an eye on 'em.

http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/products/regular-loaf-silicone-mold.aspx
 
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I've been busy today, gonna have a forced slow down, need more lye, can't get anymore till july when I get paid. Oh and today's high will be 87..inside my soaping room might get into the 90's or 100's.

this is the molds I have, so far I think it's doing ok, I'm keeping the lid of the cardboard loose.

11406673_10155708917050646_6833522902113902245_o.jpg


this is my newest mold (1 lb from brambleberry)
11206773_10155708926230646_3552752022638987358_o.jpg


I have this on top of it, since it's a smaller mold.
10631110_10155708892055646_2146088393956091854_o.jpg


and I cover these 2 molds with a plastic bowl-
11402766_10155708898760646_5840482145998148281_o.jpg
 
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That sucks about the slow-down, skayc. But it gives you lots of time to do research and plan recipes. I use evernote to keep track of my soaps, and have about 3 "to do" recipes all planned out in there. You might want to check it out - it is free if you do not want to do uploads. You can theoretically save from soapcalc., I think, but I have never been able to figure out how to do that, I just cut and past the soapcalc "view/print page" and it is just as fast. It has really helped me keep good notes - I keep detailed notes in the "notes/additives" sections so that I can recreate them easily - which I was TERRIBLE at before.

Just a little possible project for you in your soaping hiatus :)

ETA: I like your top on the BB slab mold, it is pretty!
 
Thanks! I keep notes in a notebook, & am happy with my current recipe. I love using soapcalc calculator, I tend to also type a note on my computer with the barebones of the recipe. I need to get more ink for my printer, esp as I bought blank labels & use avery.com to make labels for my soaps. I'm getting friends & family to try out my soaps after I've tried them.
 
Great that you are happy with the current recipe, I tend to tweak a lot, same basic ingredients, just change things a little at a time but constantly. Mostly b/c I am impatient about waiting for the cure, so have to do something else in the interim. I am running out of space, though!
 
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