Chalky substance on soap surface

[Ann Miller]

Hello,
I am new to the forum and glad to have found some experts to help me! I am a beekeeper and make soaps with my beeswax and honey, and the usual olive oil, coconut oil, lye. I have two troubles; one is I can't get the honey to stay suspended when I add it near trace and worst of all, is that as my soaps cure they develop a chalky substance on the surface. I use fancy molds with bees and comb depicted on them, the chalky surface is impossible/difficult to remove from the design.
Please advise,
Ann Miller
Lake Villa, IL

 

[DeeAnna]

A suggestion -- you might want to post your recipe and method. You'll get better responses when folks know exactly what you're doing to make your soap.

 

[savonierre]

You could add the honey to your lye water, very slowly stirring all the while. The white is likely soda ash which can be wiped off or steamed off. I agree with Deanna if we knew your recipe and method we could help out better.

 

[Saswede]

Do you dilute the honey before you add it at trace, Ann? I usually dilute mine with an equal weight of water (taken from the total water content before making the lye solution), and find that the honey mixes in really well and is more evenly distributed than if its added undiluted ....
Difficult to say what the white spots are, but they could well be ash as has already been suggested.



Sent from my iPad using Soap Making

 

[bearrows]

The "Chalky sub." you refer to is just that, rinse in of with water when you shower, IF it's the same as my bars get, that is a Thin film of white stuff. I don't even notice the film anymore....

 

[Ann Miller]

I lost a big soap order of 50 bars due to the "ash," I wonder what to control to reduce it? Is it temperature, more or less lye, does the honey create more of this? Thanks to all who responded!

 

[Candybee]

I found that I could reduce the occurance of ash on my soap by keeping it covered until the next day. Ash is caused by oxidation so keep it covered is good prevention. I also found that certain FOs in my soap can contribute to soda ash but again keeping the soap covered overnight worked for me.

 

[Ann Miller]

Covering soap

I pour my soaps into individual fancy molds and let them sit 24 hours. Then I freeze them to pop them out of the molds. Do you think leaving them in the molds longer will be like covering them or What do you use to cover them, a towel, plastic, paper? Thanks for your input!

 

[danahuff]

You can reduce ash also by spraying with isopropyl alcohol (more than 90%). I do it a few times as it is gelling. If you are covering the top with bubble wrap to achieve a honeycomb effect, then that should reduce ash, but it wouldn't hurt to spray it once before putting the bubble wrap on top. I have also easily removed ash by wiping the tops of the soap with a fairly damp paper towel. Others use steam.