Lye Spots?

[kslo78]

Does any have a link or a picture of what lye spots look like? I'm a pretty new soaper and have made 7 or 8 batches recently. At lot of sites mention lye spots but I have no idea what they would look like to know if I even have them.

 

[Chay]

Lye spots are usually small pockets of liquid or a spot that looks wet and mushy.

 

[jcandleattic]

Does any have a link or a picture of what lye spots look like? I'm a pretty new soaper and have made 7 or 8 batches recently. At lot of sites mention lye spots but I have no idea what they would look like to know if I even have them.

You would most likely know. They would either ooze clear liquid, or like Chay said, be a mushy spot in the soap. If you ever get something suspicious like that the easiest and fastest way to tell if it's lye is to do the zap test. If it's zaps, it's lye...

 

[kslo78]

No zapping or oozing. The edges got all crumbly but the middle looks like soap. Too hot in the wood mold?

When I read spots, I was thinking like polka dots. LOL.

 

[carebear]

In my vocabulary, lye SPOTS are like polka dots - undissolved crystals in your soap that look like what they are - little white particles. your tongue will tell ya! there are things that can look like lye crystals but aren't - in particular tiny bubbles...

lye POCKETS are little cavities filled with caustic liquid.

No zapping or oozing. The edges got all crumbly but the middle looks like soap. Too hot in the wood mold?

Probably the opposite. Sounds like an incomplete gel to me. An aesthetics thing mostly tho crumbly edges are not great. Try insulating your soap a bit more.