Need your help- Pics

[selah925]

I have a few different questions that I hope someone can help with.

**First, have you ever mixed your lye water and it turn a light brownish tint? What is that and why? I thought maybe my stainless steel bowl wasn't clean enough so I dumped the first water, thoroughly cleaned it and made another lye water mixture (from the same lye supplier), but it still had the same appearance. I have never had this happen. Can lye go old?

**Next, do you know what this picture is a result of? The white part of the soap is the top of the mold that was just lightly covered with a towel. No other insulation, as it was in a pvc mold. It is an oatmeal and honey soap, so maybe it is the reaction of the honey that caused the cave-in near the top of each tube? Thoughts?

**Another question ... I generally soap at 33% lye concentration, but have noticed others using 32 oz of water to 12 oz. of lye. That is a lot weaker lye than I am used to. Any preferences or noticeable differences in soaping at different ratios?

**Last question .... I have had random issues of what I think is DOS. I have tried everything I can think of, but can't come to any conclusion as to why it happens. Stainless steel bowls and utensils, lowered my superfat, adjusted temperature mixing, and others. I just made a few batches last night and checking on them today, noticed the picture below. I had them all on the dark wood shelf, but as I picked them up, I saw that each one had a darker strip where it had been touching the shelf. I moved them all to the below white shelf and saw marks of where the soap had been. I don't see how this could explain some soaps getting DOS and some not or how it would be in the center of the soap, but what do you think this is? A reaction to the wood?

 

[Genny]

First ~ My 3 yr old son was very excited because he thought you made hot dog soaps

Second ~ I've never had a brown lye solution, so I can't help you with that. Lye can't really go old, but you can get bad batches of it.

Third ~ I've never done a honey soap in a tube, so I've never had that concave thing happen before.

I'm not much help, am I? LOL

Fourth ~ I do a lot of swirling and prefer more water than most soapers.

Fifth ~ That bottom pic doesn't look like dos to me. It looks like the wood stained your soap.

 

[IrishLass]

I have a few different questions that I hope someone can help with.

**First, have you ever mixed your lye water and it turn a light brownish tint? What is that and why? I thought maybe my stainless steel bowl wasn't clean enough so I dumped the first water, thoroughly cleaned it and made another lye water mixture (from the same lye supplier), but it still had the same appearance. I have never had this happen. Can lye go old?

That is really weird. I've never had that happen before. What kind of water are you using?

**Next, do you know what this picture is a result of? The white part of the soap is the top of the mold that was just lightly covered with a towel. No other insulation, as it was in a pvc mold. It is an oatmeal and honey soap, so maybe it is the reaction of the honey that caused the cave-in near the top of each tube? Thoughts?

It looks to me like it could be from an overheating issue. Hopefully more will chime in on that, but that's my impression.

**Another question ... I generally soap at 33% lye concentration, but have noticed others using 32 oz of water to 12 oz. of lye. That is a lot weaker lye than I am used to. Any preferences or noticeable differences in soaping at different ratios?

I like using a 33% lye solution, too. It's my normal go-to %, but I do use weaker and stronger solutions on occassion, depending on my formula and/or the FO I'm using. For example, I like to use a 40% lye solution for my 100% Castiles(lye x 1.5 times water). Using the lesser amount of water in that case really helps me to be able to unmold and cut my Castile's quicker. And for certain tricky FOs, I like using more water- either a full amount (28% lye solution), or a 31% lye solution. The greater amount of water in those cases helps to slow fast moving FOs down enough for me to where they are more manageable.

**Last question .... I have had random issues of what I think is DOS. I have tried everything I can think of, but can't come to any conclusion as to why it happens. Stainless steel bowls and utensils, lowered my superfat, adjusted temperature mixing, and others.

I just wanted to mention this: According to Dr. Kevin Dunn in his book Scientific Soapmaking, the superfat amount has no real bearing on whether a soap will come down with DOS. His experiments revealed that although higher superfats may make already present DOS more pronounced, the fact that DOS happens in 0% superfatted soaps of the same formula show that changing the superfat is not the place to look for a cure. His experiments have found that the things that help in minimizing the chance of DOS are using distilled water, minimizing soft oils that are more prone to oxidation (you can still use them, but many soapers have found that it helps tremendously if you keep the total linoleic content of your batch at 15% or below). He said if DOS problems still persist, that you should look into adding certain prophylactic preventatives such as adding ROE to your soft oils as soon as you purchase them, or adding tetrasodium EDTA, BhT, and or sodium citrate (not to be confused with citric acid, btw). Here is Dr. Dunn's discussion about DOS: http://cavemanchemistry.com/HsmgDos2006.pdf

** I just made a few batches last night and checking on them today, noticed the picture below. I had them all on the dark wood shelf, but as I picked them up, I saw that each one had a darker strip where it had been touching the shelf. I moved them all to the below white shelf and saw marks of where the soap had been. I don't see how this could explain some soaps getting DOS and some not or how it would be in the center of the soap, but what do you think this is? A reaction to the wood?

If you just made your soap last night as you said, you can rest assured that those spots are not DOS. DOS does not typically show up until a month or months have gone by from the date you made it. That looks like a chemical reaction with the stained wood that you set your soaps on. It's best to always line your curing shelves with parchment paper or some other non-reactive material if there is any possibility of a reaction happening between the soap and the shelf.

HTH!
IrishLass

 

[new12soap]

I am afraid I am not much help, but my first question is your stainless steel bowl. I have never had a discolored lye solution when using just distilled water and lye, but I don't use a metal bowl. Have you tried mixing your lye in a heat resistant plastic pitcher (such as HDPE)? If not I would start there and see if that helps. I use plastic or silicone for almost everything soapmaking.

I agree that your soap looks like it overheated and pushed up in the tube. Honey is a super heater, and a tube mold will hold in a great deal of heat.

I like using a higher water amount, but it really does depend on several things. I would recommend using the "full" water amount any time trying something new, such as honey or milk, until working out how a particular recipe or FO or process behaves, then you can adjust as needed.

Ditto what Genny and Aislinn said about your soap has picked up some of the finish from the wood. Make sure the soap is only in contact with something non-reactive.

 

[DragonQueenHHP]

mine turn brown once when first started because used a wooden spoom and the lye water started eating it lol

 

[selah925]

I only use distilled water. Now there have been times that I might use an opened distilled water that has a "best used by date" that had passed, but I figured that was no biggie. I contacted the supplier of this particular lye, and they said the same browning has happened with theirs, but that it hasn't effected their soap. ??? I have always used a stainless steel bowl and mixing spoon, so it wouldn't seem like that was an issue, as the only difference this time is where I got the lye.

Thank you for the link on DOS. Sigh ... I just still cannot figure out why mine seem to get it often. My oils are always olive oil, palm, coconut and castor oil.

Do you think the wood "ruined" the soap? Is it okay to still use?

Thanks everyone!

 

[DragonQueenHHP]

Do you think the wood "ruined" the soap? Is it okay to still use?

it was laundry soap so i used it with no problems

 

[new12soap]

If you contacted the supplier and they said they get brown I think I would get a new supplier and a different batch of lye. JM2C