Teach Soap

Hi guys, I need your help urgently!
Yesterday I made a soap with the same recepie as many times before. I put a lid on the top of the mold and the soap gelled. It was obviously too hot and on the surface of the soap and on the onderside of the lid lot of water drops appeared. Then I left it uncovered during the night and this morning (21 hours after the soap was made) there were still (or maybe again) some water drops on the top. I made a tongue test and it zapped.
I soaped at 114 deg., 7% superfat, used coconut, cocoa, palm and OO and added less than 1% of sugar. I know sugar can cause an overheat but I only used a small amount, never had any cracks or any severe problem caused by the heat.
I have a lid that allows no air to enter to the soap mold - is that ok or would it be better to I leave a small opening on the edges?

Is it possible that this batch cures and somehow re-absorbs the lye or should I throw it away? What should I do next time to prevent liquid on the top of the soap?

Those of you who gel your soaps: how do you know when the gelling phase is over and the lid should be removed? Do you have any issue with condensation when gelling? I have a lot of problem with soda ash lathely, and I am thinking it might be caused by overheat??
Is ungeled soap more prone to dos or not?

I would rebatch. If it zaps, the lye will not absorb back in. I don't cover my soaps and I prefer not to gel. Adding sugar to any recipe makes it more likely that the soap can overheat.

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

Thank you for your answer, Irena.
Do you think those water drops came out of a soap due to the overheat or what would be the main reason? I took it out of the mold today and it looks ok. Didn't do the zap test today. How many days after gelling is still possible to zap?


Looks like you are the only experienced member always willing to help me with an answer, which is somehow sad to me as I had much higher hopes on this forum and I sincerely doubt the unexperience is the main reason for the silence of other members. I am very grateful to you Irena, though.

If the soap overheats, you can get glycerin drops or lye drops on top or the inside of your soap. Once the soap has gelled, cooled off and cut, it should not zap. I prefer not to gel, so my soaps can zap up to 3 days. After that they are fine.

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

Claire - I'm just getting back into soap making after a LONG spell. Mostly all I really have down is HP and CP is an adventure for me every time. I had seen your post when I posted mine earlier today, but did not respond because I'm fairly new here & have not the long years of experience under my belt.

Sorry, but I honestly didn't feel I could help & didn't want to muddy the waters. I knew Irena would be along soon to help you!

Good luck on your rebatch!

Thank you Irena and CabraVieja, so good to know you are not left alone when in trouble.

Just to let you know of final result of the menitoned soap: It obviously didn't gel although it looked like it did to me. After all that time some parts of the proces of soapmaking are still somehow mysteriouse to me. Anyway, two days later there were no more drops on the top of the soap, I cut it and zap tested every slice and they were all ok. So I didn't rebatch.

I have one more incredible story to share, I think it could happen to everyone who uses stick blender (and washes it)
One of these days I was making another batch of cp soap and just before I put the stick blender into a pot with the mixture of lye water and oils something said to me I should blind test the head of the stick blender by pressing the ON button while having it out of the mixture. I have no idea why I did that but I am so happy I did. There were lots of little brown drops coming out of the blender, from the tiny space between the plastic head and steel blade. When washing the stick blender the water came into the opening of the upper removable part of the stick and came out at the blader. But obviously it didn't come out everything and the rest didn't dry completely. Later when the stick blender was on most of the dirt came out of it. I assumed there were more inside so I stirred the mixture by hands. I never understood why some soapmakers prefere not to use stick blender but mix it by hands instead. Now I do understand perfectly. It took me some time to trace but it was somehow enlightening experience.

CabraVieja muchisimas gracias por tus palabras muy amables. Creo que todos somos estudiantes y el jabon es nuestro profesor

I'm glad you tested the stick blender before you used it. I would get yourself another one. You don't want to contaminate any current batches with what's inside the stick blender. You would not want to use it also because what is trapped inside could short circuit the electricity inside causing the stick blender to malfunction. Electrical fires are no fun.

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

Yes, I will buy myself another stick blender.
As for hand stiring I wonder if one could incoroporate liquid colours and titanium dioxide as smothly as with stick blender or is it more suitable for the soaps with no colorants? The soap I hand stired was without any colorant and was the first and the last time I did it.
For a moment (or two) I thought I would give a chance to a hand stir for all my future soaps but my doubts about stiring in colours evenly are quite strong. Is there any other thing I should be aware of when hand stiring?

Hand stirring takes longer to reach trace. I prefer a stick blender to make sure everything got thoroughly mixed and incorporated. If you don't mix thoroughly by hand, there is that chance that not all the oils have interacted with lye and you could end up with lye pockets.

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

Thank you , Irena.
I will stick to a stick blender

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