newbie help please

[itunu]

Hi, This is my first post here. The white blobs in the soap - ricing I'm thinking caused by FOs?

photo -

(The pink/brown one is 30% lard, 20% coconut, 50% olive - water 38%.
The other 2 are Palm oil 35% of total oils, Coconut oil 20%, Olive oil 45%, water 38%. All the soaps are superfatted at 8% and I soaped at 105 degrees.)

 

[Padamae]

I think they all look very nice maybe it was over heating causing the rise. Did you wrap it to sit. I caught my soap starting to rise yesterday and put it in the fridge and it stores it. But I was making coconut milk soap and I have realized that coconut milk heats more than goats milk.

 

[itunu]

Thanks. After I made them I sprayed with isopropanol alcohol, covered with cling film and put it to bed with 2 small thin towels. The temperature in my house is around 70 and at night it goes down to 60.

I don't think they went through gel stage - I had some quick looks and it didn't seem like anything was happening.

 

[rileylite]

I've never seen first batches that look that good! You must have some serious natural talent.

 

[itunu]

That's a really lovely compliment. I did tons of research before making my first batch - read 2 books and loads of stuff on the internet and typed up 40 pages of notes so perhaps that's all paid off.

I'm thinking it might be one of 3 things causing the white spots -

1. FO overheating
2. the palm or coconut oil resolidifying
3. perhaps bits of lye (really hope not) - I put my tongue on it and it didn't appear to zap.

or is it something else??

Would be really grateful for some more opinions

Thanks so much

 

[rileylite]

You're welcome!

From what I've seen, it looks more likely to be discoloration from overheating, than to be lye pockets (primarily because there seem to be so many), but I can't say for sure because I don't have extensive experience with CP. When I get a recurring problem, I usually go over each of the steps in my head, think of which ones might have gone wrong, and do them differently next time. It usually works for me!

Oh also, where are you getting your FOs from? Whenever I work with lower quality FOs they seem to always give me problems, so switching your FOs to a different brand might fix it!

 

[IrishLass]

The white spots, especially on the right 2 bars, look like classic stearic spots to me from soaping too cool or just on the cusp of the melting point of your harder fats (especially palm). What happens is that if the raw batter drops too much below the melting point of palm and/or other hard fats, the stearic acid will oftentimes precipitate out or resolidify, resulting in white splotches throughout the finished soap. The antidote is to soap warmer with high stearic fats. I like to soap my high stearic batches at least 120F.


IrishLass

 

[itunu]

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks. I'm be careful about the palm oil as perhaps that's the major culprit in my recipe.

I'm trying to work out whether I can use the soap based on whether it zaps or not.

In 2 hours time it will be exactly 2 days since I made the two batches on the right. I put my tongue on the white bits (and also on other places in the soap) and I can't feel a tingle although to be honest I don't know what level of tingle I'm looking for. Should it be a v light tingle or a strong tingle? There's a possibility I felt a v light tingle or perhaps I'm imagining it?? My tongue feels a little sore but then I put it on my soap quite a few times.

 

[IrishLass]

Your soap is safe to use as long as it does not zap. If your soap feels neutral to your tongue, then you should be good to go, although it will still benefit from a good cure (most people cure their soap for at least 4 weeks before using).

Zap is pretty much an unmistakable 'Zing!' kind of sensation- you'll definitely know it if you feel it. A good way to get the feel for zap if you're not sure is to tongue-test a store bought commercial brand soap and then compare it to your own.

If you find that you are feeling zap in your soap, don't despair. Just let it cure some more. Newly unmolded soap can zap for up to a week at times depending on certain circumstances.


IrishLass

 

[Dragonkaz]

Your soap is looking great! Love the colours in your middle soap! Well done!