Whats the best temperature for soap curing?

[kniquy]

I have a couple options for places to store my bars when they are curing. I have the basement but it is cooler especially in the winter time (my guess is that it is in the low 60's in winter). My other option is the top shelf of a closet - which we usually keep around 65-68 in the winter and 75-79 in the summer.

Any thoughts? I feel the basement location would provide better ventilation as i could put them on an open rack. The closet I'm not sure would provide as good of air flow.

 

[Obsidian]

I generally go with room temp but in the summer when it really hot, keeping it cooler can help prevent DOS from excess heat. I would probably choose the basement in your situation just because of air flow.

 

[SaltedFig]

Air flow it more important than temperature.

The only exception is at the extreme ends of the scale - below freezing and the soap will sweat when in thaws, and high heat in combination with high humidity (looking at the temperatures you are describing, I think you can ignore "high heat with high humidity" - this is more of a living-in-the-tropics kind of problem ).

The soap cures best if there is a bit of air movement. Where you don't have access to natural air-movement, I have read that some people will use a fan - I haven't tried this myself to vouch for it, but logically it makes sense (especially in the early stages of curing, when the most rapid water loss is occurring) that a fan would assist (in the absence of natural air flow).

*Edited to add - as Obsidian says, I agree the basement would be better.

 

[dixiedragon]

I'd pick the closet, because I think drier is a more important consideration than temperature or air circulation. My basement is pretty damp.

 

[SaltedFig]

I'd pick the closet, because I think drier is a more important consideration than temperature or air circulation. My basement is pretty damp.

Basements aren't much of a thing in Australia, except for inner city, Alice Springs (although they're whole underground houses), and newer developments.

I do wish they were more popular in ordinary houses here - it's a clever use of the footprint space of a house.

@dixiedragon, would you say that most basements are too damp for curing soap?
(I've heard of people using de-humidifiers in basements, so I'm guessing that it is a problem for at least some basements, so I thought I'd better ask ).