The Natural Soapmaking Handbook by Simi Khabra

Author:Simi Khabra [Khabra, Simi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Page Street Publishing
Published: 2024-05-09T00:00:00+00:00

HOW GEL PHASE AFFECTS COLOR

Gel phase is something soapmakers talk about a lot. Many soapmakers try to achieve gel phase and sometimes they try to prevent it. Essentially, once your soap is in the mold and just sitting there, it begins saponifying and warming up. It’s fun to use a thermometer to measure just how hot the soap is getting. Depending on the temperatures of the oils and lye-water, the batter can get quite hot in the mold, often up to 160°F (71°C). When the soap gets this hot, it starts to darken and become a little translucent. This is what we refer to as gel. In the image above, you can see the beginning stages of gel phase under the bubble wrap, where some of the bubbles appear darker than others.

Many things can affect gel phase: the temperature of the oils and lye-water when you make the soap, the temperature of the room the mold is sitting in, whether the mold is covered or not (covered soap gets hotter than uncovered soap) and the ingredients in your soap (natural sugars in milk, honey and purees typically result in hotter soap).

When making soap with natural colorants, gel phase can have a big impact on the way your soap turns out. If you want your colors to be darker and brighter, you’ll want your soap to go through gel phase. If you’re looking for something softer and a little more muted, you’ll want to prevent gel phase.

I typically just let the soap do its thing and don’t worry about it (see “Evolution & Design”), but you may be interested in more consistent results. For example, a soap may look completely different when it’s made in the summer in a hot room versus in the winter in a cool room, depending on whether it gelled or not.

Another thing to consider is that if your soap gets too hot, it may start to crack. So, covering up a soap that’s made with hot oils and contains natural sugars may not be necessary. You might be able to achieve gel without doing anything.

The amount of water you use in your soap can also affect gel. When using a high amount of water or liquid in your soap, it will gel at lower temperatures. A medium amount of water will require higher temperatures to reach gel. And soaps that are made with very low water amounts may not gel at all.

If you want soap to gel, increase the water and temperature. Try covering your soap mold with a cover and a towel to keep the heat in. If your soap top is too high to cover, you can use a second loaf mold and flip it upside down on top of your soap mold and then add a towel over that. You can also put your soap on a heating pad for 30 minutes or place your soap in the oven on the lowest temperature for an hour.

If you want to prevent soap from gelling, decrease the water and temperature.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.