Is this ricing? (pic included)

[incognitocat2]

Hi All,

I found a new way for soap to behave badly! =/ I am hoping that one of you experts can help point me in the right direction of what might have gone wrong here.

A bit of background info:

I made a tester batch of soap yesterday for a new recipe that I am trying out (olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, and castor oil), and portioned it out into 8 four-ounce bars to test 8 different fragrance oil blends. All of the fragrances did well yesterday at the time of blending/pouring into molds -- no seizing or ricing was apparent then. However, this morning I unmolded them, and one of them (pictured below) seems to have developed some tapioca-like spots throughout. When I poke the spots and press down, I can see that they are slightly more oily than the rest of the soap. Is this some sort of delayed-onset ricing? Perhaps I didn't blend the fragrance oil well enough with the soap batter? I am a bit baffled and wondering if any of you have encountered anything like this. The issue almost has to be related to either the fragrance oil or the effectiveness of my stirring since the other 7 bars are fine.

Thanks for reading!

 

[cmzaha]

My guess would be un-mixed fragrance. Did you stir it in or whisk it in?

Ricing happens when you dump in a fragrance and you batter seperates and /or forms grains that look like rice. Ricing can occur with or without seperation. My experience with ricing fo's the batter also seperates. When it seperates and ricing you have to sb it back together. If it refused put a cover on and let it rest while it start saponification check sb repeat until it comes together. Pour very quickly as it will set up fast. You can also alternate sb with whisking to hopefully get it together. Do not pour into your mold while it is separated or you will have a mess. Some can easily be beaten into submission some are much harder. I have one I love but it takes a good hr to get it together by covering, whisking and sb'ing.

 

[incognitocat2]

Thanks for your input cmzaha! I am kindof leaning the same way, thinking that I probably just didn't get the FO stirred up enough. I measured out my FOs into containers before making the soap batter since I was doing 8 testers and time was of the essence. So, the FO was sitting at the bottom of the cup when the batter was poured in. I mixed a bit with a spatula and then finished with a whisk, but I think it is entirely possible that I didn't mix long enough since I was rushing to move on to the next FO.

FWIW, I cut the soap down the middle and the "tapioca spots" aren't very apparent at all there. In fact the very center just looks like normal soap. I would not be surprised to see the FO spots absorb back into the soap bar over the next few days if that is indeed what happened. Anyway, another round of testing with this FO is in order, and I'll make sure to mix better next time.