What if soap doesnt gel




















All soap makers experience gel at one time or another, but what is it? Is gel necessary? Or is it bad? Gelling, or the gel phase in making soap, especially cold or hot process soap, is when the center of the bar or loaf turns hot and translucent. If you insulate your bars and they gel, a volcano effect could happen. While it looks cool, it can ruin a good soap.

But-sometimes you want gelling to happen. The gel phase in soap making can be beneficial in a few ways. One is to add translucency to the bar. Not only does it help avoid a chalky look, but it also helps add to durability to the bar. Soaps that have gel tend to last longer. Another way gelling is good is that it makes the colors darker. When you cut loaf soaps, sometimes a ring or circle may appear in the center where the gel happened, making the colors look distorted.

After a while, it will all even out. One more benefit of gelling is that it adds to the pliability of your soap. Gelling will add the pliability you need. The gel phase in soap making can also be bad. The main reason is that when soap gels, it usually heats up-a lot! This can cause cracking and volcanos. Both can ruin the appearance of your soap, though if you leave it alone, it will still saponify normally. Gelling can also muddy the colors of some soaps, or totally destroy the colors of others.

And if you want an opaque soap, gelling will turn it more translucent. It can also hinder the scent throw, a term commonly used in candles. This is the aroma that you get from the soap just sitting there. If you decide that you do not want the gel phase to occur when making soap there are a few ways to prevent it. I have to do some extra steps to gel soap in individual cavity molds. Warm the mold in the oven, blend oils and lye at a higher temp and then either put in the oven or on a heating pad.

I haven't any any problem with preventing gel with smaller molds. You asked about using a 1 loaf mold. That's not very large but you shouldn't have a problem as long as it's well insulated. I don't know what the mold is made of but a tip I was told to help ensure gelling is to warm the mold in the oven before pouring. This is assuming the mold can warmed in the oven without melting.

You can then place the batch back into the warmed oven I turn it off and leave the soap in the oven to help force gelling. This is just what I do! Other people have different ways and it comes down to what you prefer. I 've found taking longer to reach trace means more heat is lost while blending. Several times so much heat was lost that the saturated oils started to solidify and I thought I had reached trace.

Not so - it was false, false, false! They also showed a difference in texture in on the bottom. When I checked this portion of the soap, it was easily pressed together with my fingers and felt slightly oily. I rebatched all of them and the soap was fine. Fran2 Well-Known Member. Joined Aug 11, Messages Reaction score 6. Hausfrau said:. Yeah, that's a huge negative. It takes a couple of weeks longer to cure, bummer. But, for me, the compromise is worth it, because of the yummy ice cream look my soaps retain.

Joined Dec 12, Messages Reaction score How do you guys prevent the gel process?? I've tried many many times - I've lost count. I've soaped at lower temps, and stuck it in the fridge. My basic soap recipe is olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, castor oil, palm oil. Not complicated at all I don't know what the more experienced do but I just don't insulate. I make a soap with English rose fragrance from BB and the first few times I did not insulate. This last time I gelled and hated it. It looks almost see through.

Joined Sep 23, Messages 12, Reaction score 4, Lea Ann - if you need some answers to your questions and nobody is around, the search engine at the top of the page left hand side can help you. Type in what you need to know and lots of posts will come up to read. I've never had trouble avoiding gel, no matter what temp I soap at. In the winter, I pop my molds in the garage, in the summer, I make some space in the fridge. That's usually all it takes.

Do you use additives like honey or any other sugars? Milk soaps are supposed to heat up easier, but I'm mostly making GM soap, and never had trouble with it heating. Your soaps know better than to gel, they are scared to gel.

Hausfrau, you just made me realize something. I have trouble preventing gel, so I have traditionally just gone with it, but I live in Massachusetts, and it's winter. I should just put the freaking things outside. I cannot believe I never thought of that. I have small 1lb silicon, but hate using them. Keep in mind your soap will start to set up a little faster. Hi, Thanks for this great post.

This is the first time I see you can pop it in the freezer to totally avoid the gel phase. But I thought you had to keep it warm to further the saponification process. Thanks so much for your insight! Hi there guys, can anyone help me pleeeease with this gelling, business?? The soap came out looking frozen but great! Left it on the table to thaw out, only to come home and find my soap heated up and mushy and crumbly.. I am now going to attempt to save this batch by hp process..

Would you mind telling me a bit more about your recipe? The reason I ask is certain oils and additives can cause the soap to heat up or crumble. Thanks so much. I was told that gelling will affect your fragrances and keeping the soap cooler and not allowing it to gel will keep your fragrance stronger smelling and longer lasting in your bar.

Reasoning being that since many fragrances have a lower flashpoint when your soap is heating up to gel it is actually burning off some of that fragrance. Has anyone else found that to be true? I only make milk soaps. I have heard this as well, but I have never actually noticed a huge difference in my soap that has been gelled, vs. I always use frozen milk and keep it in an ice bath when I add lye.

And the bars are harder and I like the appearance. Is this OK? Is it possible the milk is scorching after the soap is in the molds? I think if it were, it would smell funky.

The cured soap still feels incredibly moisturizing and milky. Thanks for any advice! We have found that in general, when you scorch milk soap…you know it! So, what happens when the milk is scorched? Is there a different look? I made my first milk soap the other day. I put it in the freezer for 24 hrs. Scorched milk can discolor the soap, and also has an unpleasant smell. Also, congratulations on your first milk soap! And use very cold milk almost frozen to mix with the lye while making it.

Good question. We actually like to freeze our goat milk first, and then add the lye to the frozen milk. You may find this video on how to make Goat Milk Soap helpful!

Thank you, Amanda. I do freeze my goat milk before adding the lye. So my question is, how cold, and is it possible to be too cold? Hi Susan, For the oils, you can go as low as 75 — 80 degrees. Hi, Thank you for this post. What is the best approach here? Good question! When you add sugar to the lye water, your soap will have the tendency to want to gel because of the extra sugars. If this is something you want to avoid, I would recommend soaping cold, and placing your soap in the fridge or freezer to avoid gelling.

Great article! I frequently use Lab Colors, so I usually encourage gel phase. Another thing that can happen when you encourage gel phase is the presence of glycerin rivers, which I got when I encouraged gel phase with the Avocado Moisturizing bars. Oh no! It usually only takes one soap volcano to avoid those exact methods again, haha :. Oh good point about the glycerin rivers!

I have a question about your rebatch soap available for purchase. How does that work with the goat milk? Just wondering. That soap has already gone through the saponification process. When you make it for rebatch, you are melting it down with additional liquids. So while it does get hot, and you need to avoid burning the soap, it will not go through gel phase again. How does gel vs non-gelled soap fare when doing rebatching? Does it makes any difference at all?

When making rebatch soap, your soap will not go through gel phase because it has already gone through the saponification process. With rebatching, you are just remelting the soap down. Very nice explanation of gel phase. Great explanation of this on this reference; Raut, Janhavi S.

I am a newbie when it comes to soaping but this knowledge will definitely be used for the next batch of soap that I make. Tutorials by difficulty level: Beginner Intermediate Advanced. Forcing gel phase There are a few reasons you may want to gel soap: You want vibrant colors. Gel phase helps the colors pop and it gives the bars a slightly shiny appearance. Learn more about how to color handmade soap here.

Without gel phase, they can have a dull appearance and a different hue. For instance, gelled soap colored with madder root powder has a deep red hue. The ungelled version is a muted mauve. See both versions in this post. The Layered Lavender Soap goes from gray to purple after gel phase. Because of the higher temperatures, gelled soap hardens and unmolds more quickly. The soap still needs to cure for weeks. Ungelled bars look creamy and have pastel colors that some makers love. It can scorch if it gets too hot, which causes discoloration and an unpleasant smell.

That can also happen with alternative liquids like coffee, wine, tea, etc. The same goes for soap made with additives like fruit or honey. We recommend keeping the temperatures low to prevent scorching. If it gets too hot it may not hold its shape. This post was updated in February Like it?

Share it! Become an email subscriber Enter your email address below and you will receive all our new posts directly in your email inbox. Enter your email address Previous Post: Heart Lotion Bars. Hi, I was wondering if it is safe to put the soap in a freezer that contains food as wel? Thanks in advance! No worries! Hi Marcy! Oh I forgot to mention.

Hi Devin! Hi Ashley! Hi Angela! Hi Elena! Hi Lizzie! Thanks for taking the time to reply! I really appreciate it! Hi Sarah! Hi Connie! Hi Donna! Hi Jackie! Hi Kristine! Hi Thanks for the recipe. Am a beginner and loving your recipe. Glad you enjoy it.

Hi Rachael! Hi Gabriela! Hi Carrie! So glad you like the article! Hi JoAnne! If you have any questions let me know. Hi Jes! Hi Tammy!



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