Teach Soap

Hi everyone -

I'm new to this board and am looking forward to participating & getting to know everyone.

My first question is about using the Brambleberry birch molds. I love them (!) but have noticed that my soap remains very soft when made in these molds & I'm wondering whether anyone has found the need to reduce the amount of water in their recipe a bit in order to avoid soap that's too soft.

My most recent experience was making a 4 lb batch of soap w/ the following recipe:

Olive Oil 25 oz (39.06%)
Coconut Oil 18 oz (28.13%)
Palm Oil 18 oz (28.13%)
Castor Oil 3 oz (4.69%)
Distilled Water 22 oz
Lye 260 grams (5% superfatting)

I wrap the molded soap in towels to gel. After 2 days the soap was still soft so I left it in the plastic dividers (out of the wood mold) for 2 more days & it was still really soft. Dividers wouldn't slide off & I ended up having to use a spatula to "cut" the bars out of the dividers.

Has anyone else had a similar experience or have you found that any adjustment to your standard recipe is necessary? I'm wondering if the presence of the dividers is effecting the gel or saponification process at all. Any ideas on what I might be doing wrong would be greatly appreciated!

thanks - teresa

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Teresa

Try discounting your water or add sodium lactate for hardness.

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

That recipe checks out on the soap calc as nice and plenty hard, and the water is within norm range, although I like to go lower (especially now that I found I can go WAY lower, ) so the only other possibility, if you are sure you measured everything correctly, is that it is the FO, the gel/not gelling, or the mold. SO, do you make sure it gels? I find that my non gelled soap must stay in the mold longer, and that my silicone mold soap, even when gelled, must stay in the mold longer. So....if you are sure it gels, then that leaves the FO or the mold as the culprit. Since I havent seen a FO that affects the hardness when used in proper proportion, I would say it must be the mold, but as for the why of that, I am at a loss!
Maybe someone else has this mold and can say if they have experienced an issue with it or not.

And BTW, welcome to the forum!

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

Some fragrances can make the soap softer.

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

Just cuz I havent seen it, doesnt mean it doesnt happen! So there ya go, maybe it is the FO's.
How many different FO's have you tried with this mold? Maybe try a few different ones and see if that makes a difference. Good luck!

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

Are you sure you got gel? Ungelled soap can take longer to harden.

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

Thanks everyone for the thoughts. I am almost certain that the soap gelled - I put the lid on and wrapped it in 3 towels. I did not open the mold to see if it was gelling though, so maybe I should make a point to do that w/ this mold.

This was a combination of eucalyptus, rosemary & mint essential oils. I have used that mix in the past & have not had a problem.

I sure don't think I mis-measured, but anything's possible. I think I'll try another batch & really take careful notes along the way. In fact maybe I'll make 2 batches, one w/ the water discounted. A 4 lb batch isn't the best for experimenting, I know, but it's not the end of the world. I'll be sure to post here to let everyone know how it works out!

I think I'll also email Brambleberry directly to see if they've gotten any feedback on this issue.

-teresa

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Teresa

Depending what the weather is like in your area and what type of a surface you put it on, I'm leaning towards the soap not gelling. When you make another batch, try a heating pad underneath on low and move the pad as soon as the soap is in full gel. It's ok to peek.

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