How bad is this?

[soapfullyokay]

So I tried making this (my second batch of soap ever) with a 30% lye solution. The first batch of soap I made was a 50% solution and turned out lye heavy, so I tried another one and added more water so the lye solution was less intense. The ingredients were 113g / 4 oz coconut oil, 159g / 5.6 oz palm oil, and 181g / 6.4 oz olive oil pomace. I cut it today, and there are some oily looking spots inside it (I assume it's oil). I've attached a picture. Any thoughts? Is this ruined? Or will it be useable?

Oh, and I use a bronze mica, and a cap full of chocolate brownie fragrance which is very little, I think.

 

[Marsi]

I can't see oily spots in the photo, and it would be useful to know the lye and water weights as well, but your soap looks (on the surface) fine to me.
It also looks like it will change colour as the surfaces oxidizes (see the "rim", or edges of the soap ... even colour change in the rim results in the whole bar going the outside colour in my experience)


Brownie fragrance might have accelerated the soap - oily spots can be a sign of overheating.
If this is what happened, wait a little and the soap should cure out ok (big pockets of oil are a different thing) ...
see A picture of ricing, volcanos, separating, overheating

 

[soapfullyokay]

Thank you for your response, @Marsi. The water was 150g, and the lye was 64 g. I did notice it seemed warmer than the first batch, but that means very little as I'm so new and tend to stand back and poke it with a stick. It doesn't look like any of the images you linked to, though it did have a small crack in it, but really tiny. (You can actually see the crack in the photo.) That happened within an hour of the soap going into the mold. I guess I'll wait and see what happens when it is cured.

 

[dibbles]

I agree with everything that Marsi said. I just want to note that the water amount doesn't change the lye amount needed for a recipe. The lye amount is based on the oils. NaOH needs at least an equal amount (by weight) of water to dissolve properly. A 50% lye solution might have been a tricky choice for your first batch. If you are sure you weighed everything for this batch correctly, your soap should be fine. The water and NaOH weights are correct for the oils you used. Even a small crack indicates some overheating. I also blame the FO, which should also be weighed rather than just adding 'a capful'.

I would zap test it in a few days How To Properly/Safely Conduct The Zap/Tongue Test

 

[Marsi]

Thank you for your response, @Marsi. The water was 150g, and the lye was 64 g. I did notice it seemed warmer than the first batch, but that means very little as I'm so new and tend to stand back and poke it with a stick. It doesn't look like any of the images you linked to, though it did have a small crack in it, but really tiny. (You can actually see the crack in the photo.) That happened within an hour of the soap going into the mold. I guess I'll wait and see what happens when it is cured.

Ah thanks ... I missed seeing the crack in your first photo's. Overheating for sure.
(As dibbles mentioned, cracking is another indication of overheating.)
A small crack can be pushed back together while the soap is still soft (gloves on), but is largely cosmetic (it doesn't matter functionally).

It could be the fragrance, or the olive pomace, or both that triggered the overheating
(I don't use olive pomace. Many people here report that it can accelerate a batch)

If you see a crack appear, cool your soap down. The soap has already gelled when a crack appears.
(nice start recipe - it should be fairly predictable - 30% is a good lye solution strength to learn with)

One method for cooling soap:
As soon as you see it finish gelling (it will get darker, usually in a circular pattern expanding out from the middle) , take off any insulation (including lids, although this increases the risk of ash) and get it onto a cooling rack with some airflow around it.

PS. Nice looking soap for a second batch!

 

[cmzaha]

Give your soap a cure time of at least 4-6 weeks then zap test it by wetting your finger, rubbing it along your soap, and touching your finger to your tongue. If it is zappy, feels like you touch your tongue to the top of a battery 9-volt and let it cure longer. Soap is amazing at correcting itself with long cure times. Word of advice never tough your tongue directly to the soap when zap testing.

 

[soapfullyokay]

Give your soap a cure time of at least 4-6 weeks then zap test it by wetting your finger, rubbing it along your soap, and touching your finger to your tongue. If it is zappy, feels like you touch your tongue to the top of a battery 9-volt and let it cure longer. Soap is amazing at correcting itself with long cure times. Word of advice never tough your tongue directly to the soap when zap testing.

Thank you! Especially for the last part. I have read about the zap test, but yes, knowing not to actually lick the soap seems pretty key! I would have done that for sure.

Thank you @dibbles I did run the recipe through soap calc first to ensure I had the right lye amount, I just wanted a less potent solution. A lot of the beginner recipes for some reason have a 50:50 solution as the starting point, and given that's the absolute limit for lye absorption, that felt dangerous to me because how easy would it be to accidentally have too little water and have undissolved lye? My first batch was very pretty pink and purple, but I had to toss it because it crumbled when I cut it, and it was high on a ph test even a week out. So I didn’t mess with that twice.

Ah thanks ... I missed seeing the crack in your first photo's. Overheating for sure.
(As dibbles mentioned, cracking is another indication of overheating.)
A small crack can be pushed back together while the soap is still soft (gloves on), but is largely cosmetic (it doesn't matter functionally).

It could be the fragrance, or the olive pomace, or both that triggered the overheating
(I don't use olive pomace. Many people here report that it can accelerate a batch)

If you see a crack appear, cool your soap down. The soap has already gelled when a crack appears.
(nice start recipe - it should be fairly predictable - 30% is a good lye solution strength to learn with)

One method for cooling soap:
As soon as you see it finish gelling (it will get darker, usually in a circular pattern expanding out from the middle) , take off any insulation (including lids, although this increases the risk of ash) and get it onto a cooling rack with some airflow around it.

PS. Nice looking soap for a second batch!

Thank you for the encouragement! I think I might be soaping too hot, I do get impatient because omg the lye takes forever to cool, and having immensely dangerous chemicals sitting around uncovered in the kitchen for an hour feels uncool to me, so the whole batch was probably around 50-60 degrees celcius when I mixed it. I found it got to trace quite quickly and was starting to get very viscous as it went into the mold. The tiny crack didn't bother me for a second go, but I will know for next time how to fix it. Those are some great tips around cooling, I will try that next time for sure.

 

[user 56151]

think I might be soaping too hot, I do get impatient because omg the lye takes forever to cool, and having immensely dangerous chemicals sitting around uncovered in the kitchen for an hour feels uncool to me,

I freeze whatever liquid I’m using to mix with my lye. i Always keep a supply of ice cubes in the freezer, whether it’s a milk or water. No long wait for the lye to cool and no fumes.

 

[soapfullyokay]

I freeze whatever liquid I’m using to mix with my lye. i Always keep a supply of ice cubes in the freezer, whether it’s a milk or water. No long wait for the lye to cool and no fumes.

That's a great idea, I will try it next time!

 

[melinda48]

So I tried making this (my second batch of soap ever) with a 30% lye solution. The first batch of soap I made was a 50% solution and turned out lye heavy, so I tried another one and added more water so the lye solution was less intense. The ingredients were 113g / 4 oz coconut oil, 159g / 5.6 oz palm oil, and 181g / 6.4 oz olive oil pomace. I cut it today, and there are some oily looking spots inside it (I assume it's oil). I've attached a picture. Any thoughts? Is this ruined? Or will it be useable?

Oh, and I use a bronze mica, and a cap full of chocolate brownie fragrance which is very little, I think.

Are you putting your recipe through SoapCalc or Soapmaking Friend? This step is critical to success. It keeps you from having to play around and guess and, perhaps, come up with recipes that just don’t work. I spend a lot of time here, reading what experienced soapers have to say so that I do not have to waste my time “guessing.” I still have the ocassional “oops” but, thanks to this and some other sites, no real disasters.

 

[melinda48]

Ah thanks ... I missed seeing the crack in your first photo's. Overheating for sure.
(As dibbles mentioned, cracking is another indication of overheating.)
A small crack can be pushed back together while the soap is still soft (gloves on), but is largely cosmetic (it doesn't matter functionally).

It could be the fragrance, or the olive pomace, or both that triggered the overheating
(I don't use olive pomace. Many people here report that it can accelerate a batch)

If you see a crack appear, cool your soap down. The soap has already gelled when a crack appears.
(nice start recipe - it should be fairly predictable - 30% is a good lye solution strength to learn with)

One method for cooling soap:
As soon as you see it finish gelling (it will get darker, usually in a circular pattern expanding out from the middle) , take off any insulation (including lids, although this increases the risk of ash) and get it onto a cooling rack with some airflow around it.

PS. Nice looking soap for a second batch!

I have found that ice packs (the firm blue ones that you store in the freezer) work great for cooling things down. When I have a batch (usually two loaves) that start to heat up and threaten to crack, I put the ice packs between them. It stops the cracking and works nicely. I also, of course, remove my insulating wrap when using them.