Teach Soap

Curiosity question. When do you unmold and cut soap? After 24 hrs? Longer? Does gelling or not gelling make a difference in unmolding and cutting?

It depends on the recipe. If the soap is hard enough, sometimes you can unmold and cut within 12 hours. Others have to wait sometimes a week. With my general recipe, I can unmold after 24 hours and cut.

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Haven

Ungelled soaps take longer to saponify, so they will be softer longer. Gelled soaps speeds up the saponification process, so they get harder faster. With that said, it also depends on your recipe.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Generally, my soaps that use lard and/or tallow are ready to cut in 8 hours, assuming they gelled. My all veg soaps, especially those with a lot of soy, take 12-24 hrs.