Could this be lye pockets?

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sasha_88

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Oct 31, 2014
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Location
Glasgow, UK
Hi everyone! I'm new at soap making and experience some problems. Yesterday I made a batch with goat's milk powder, honey and different oils and butters. I used a good lye calculator, mixed everything thoroughly, including the lye. I dissolved it in water, while I used a small amount of water to reconstitute the goat's milk and added it to the oils. I added the honey at trace. Goat's milk powder was 1 1/2 tbsp and honey 1 tbsp (700 g oils). No fragrance added, 5% superfat, cold process. It reached trace very quickly, just within minutes of stick blending and I poured it in the mold at light trace. I thought everything was going well but today I noticed my soap looks like this. It's been around 20 hours since I made it. Does anyone have an idea what might be worng? The third picture is of a cut bar and there are small holes in it. Yesterday it was perfectly smooth.

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To ME, it looks like maybe the honey didn't incorporate and settled to the bottom. Your last pic just looks like air bubbles.
 
I agree with pamielyn, last picture looks like air bubbles. Zap test it. If you're still concerned in a day or two, cut a bar into a few smaller pieces and zap test the different layers.
 
pics 1 & 3 look good. pic 2, i might be a tiny bit concerned about the small white spots on the bottom left. to be sure, zap test it.
 
Thanks for your opinions. The white spots on the bottom of the second picture are little bits of soap as I cut it when it was still soft and it crumbled, they are not inside the soap. I'll zap test it later today - I've never done it before but I guess I'll have to overcome my fear :)
 
You don't have to stick your tongue right on it (though that is what I do). You can wet your finger, rub it around on the soap, then touch your finger to your tongue. If it's zappy - you'll know it, but it's not the same as if you stuck your tongue right into a bowl of lye water :)
 
Thank you all! Today the soap looks much better and it's smooth! Maybe the saponification wasn't over yesterday? I cut it into bars and everything looked fine on the inside, although it was still quite soft. I didn't feel anything when I did a zap test, except for unpleasant taste. And I'm ready for new soap adventures! :smile:
 
what is the best preservative?? because im thinking what preservative i wil add...to make the quality longer
 

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