Teach Soap

Hi guys, wanted to see if anyone recognized these symptoms and can explain to me what went wrong. I recently went to cut a soap that I poured into a loaf mold the day before. I managed to cut off a few bars, but the soap was sticking so I decided to try the freezer release method that some of you told me about. After an hour in the freezer, the soap cut smoothly. Over the next few hours, the bars that were in the freezer began to sweat, but I didn't really worry about it. Later that night, the bars I cut before sticking in the freezer were looking nice and normal, but the ones that were in the freezer were all sitting in pools of oil! These were all from the same loaf, but only the freezer bars were emitting oil. It's been a few days now, and the freezer bars are still oily.
Not sure what happened. The loaf was cool when I began to cut it (24 hrs after pouring), so I don't think that putting it in the freezer stopped it from saponifying all the way (especially since some of you stick it in the freezer from the beginning). I used a 6% SF recipe, and like I said, the few bars I cut off from the rest before sticking the half loaf into the freezer appear normal.
Any guesses what happened ???

I use the freezer all the time. The soap sweats lightly as it comes to room temp so I can cut it. Is it humid where you are? I would give it a couple of days to see if the oil will sink back in.

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

Yes, I live in humid South Louisiana, and I counted on there being some condensation accumulating on the soap once it came out of the freezer - but this isnt water. The bars were sitting in pools of oil. Would high humidity coupled with the coldness of the soap cause the oils to draw to the surface and drip?

I moved the bars out of their oil slick, and it seems like some of it has reabsorbed over the past two days. Now those bars are super soft where they were sitting in the oil, whereas the non-freezer ones are looking fine. I really just want to know what went wrong so that it doesn't happen again... for now, i'm a little "once bitten, twice shy" of using the freezer.

thanks!

I am not sure you will ever know what happened. It happened to me last December with a batch with vanilla in it and we never did figure it out. I never sold those bars because I could never figure it out. Soapbuddy said it was the soap Gremlins They eventually dried and I use them and they are fine.

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Four Seasons Fine Handcrafted Soaps
& Specialties, Inc.
Laugh, Love, Live!

The soap gremlins need to be bribed. I just made a goat's milk soap. Soaped cool with no fragrance, yet they are gelling in the freezer.

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