HP, honey, & flaking

[true blue]

I have this strange thing going on when I HP with honey ... when I go to pour it into the mold after the cook, I notice a 'flaky-ness' or almost crumbly-ness to the texture. It's still there when I unmold and slice. If I leave it alone, it seems to be fine ... it gets hard as it ages and doesn't seem to fall apart, but it's just weird.
I'm using 1 T. honey ppo, adding at trace, and using a 5% water discount (instead of soapcalc's 38%, I drop it to 33%). (Recipe is CO, lard, OO, & Shea)
1) Think if I add it after the cook it'll be different?
2) What causes it in the first place? I thought its sugar content was supposed to make the soap more liquid-y for molding ... I don't really notice a difference in that aspect.

The only other times I have a similar problem is when adding salt to the lye water. Then it's seriously flaky, doesn't want to hold together at all. Even once cured, the bars just crumble.
First time, I tried with both sugar & salt: 1/2 T. ppo of each, same water discount as above, added to lye water. (Recipe 70/30 OO/CO) Terribly crumbly & flaky. Continued to crumble after curing.
I attributed the problem to the sugar, due to the similar problem with the honey soap ... so dropped the sugar out the second time - just used the salt. Same problem. Not quite as bad as the first time, but still worse than the honey soap.

I know when adding major amounts of salt for salt bars, the soap likes to harden super fast ... but I wouldn't describe the finished soap as flaky at all - just crumbly if it didn't get in the mold quick enough. Not the same thing.

Any ideas as to what's going on?

 

[Obsidian]

Sodium lactate is what keeps your HP batter more fluid, I also increase my water to 40% for HP. I wouldn't add honey after the cook, there is a very good chance you'll end up with honey pockets in your soap.
I don't know what is causing the flakiness, the only time I've had something similar happen is when the batter cooled down too fast or was overcooked. Maybe try cooking your honey HP less and using a bit more water will help.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I would add honey in to the oils if at all - I would think it adds to bubbles rather than hardness, like normal sugar would.

 

[true blue]

Think I could still end up with honey pockets if I thin it with a bit of water first? And stir, stir, stir, of course! The other reason I was thinking of adding it after the cook is to keep the overall color lighter.

Overcooked. Hmm. I doubt it, but if that could cause flakyness, I'll be sure to watch out for that more carefully.

 

[xraygrl]

I have always added my honey after the cook, and I have never had honey pockets. I use a whisk to stir it in. I have never had honey give my soap a flakiness.