Soda Ash won't go away!

[Buddytheborador]

Hey guys,

I've been having some trouble as of late with soda ash, wondering if any of you lovely people could help me out.

My recipe is as follows:

Distilled water - 216g
Sodium Hydroxide - 146g

Olive oil - 450g
Coconut Oil - 350g
Castor Oil - 75g
Neem oil - 75g
Sunflower oil - 50g

My first batch the other day came out with soda ash all over the bars, the second batch today seems to be the same after only 9 hours after pouring into the moulds.

I'm currently water discounting with a lye concentration of 40%. My lye when I pour it into my oils is 140 Degrees Fahrenheit, the oils are 130. I normally get the mixture to around a medium trace as I'm using quite a lot of intricate moulds.

After pouring I wrap the soaps in plastic wrapping and also set them on a heatpad for around 60 minutes. I'm not wanting to add beeswax as I've seen suggested as I'm trying to make the bar organic.

I also store the soaps for curing in a small cupboard under my stairs which also houses a dehumidifier. The temperature in the room is around 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

I am sort of at a loss as to what to try next, feeling very demotivated but want to keep going with this, I've tried cleaning off the Ash with distilled water and a steamer but I doesn't get the same effect as a clean looking bar. Thanks for taking the time to read this, much appreciated.

 

[shunt2011]

The only way I can avoid ash on individual bars is by spraying with alcohol and covering them until unmolded. Then once out of the mold I spray them well with 91% alcohol and cover them again for a couple days. I don’t generally get gel in individual molds and I think once in contact with the air they get ash unless covered.

 

[Arimara]

This recipe is very cleansing and has quite a bit of coconut oil in it. Have you tried lowering that amount? I may be wrong here 'cause I csn't remember but that coconut oil may be contributing to the ash you're soap is getting.

 

[penelopejane]

Soaping at 160*F (60*C) is very hot. I’d forget the heat pads and lower your soaping temp to 110*F and follow shunts advice. If you don’t want to use (or don’t have) alcohol you can cover with plastic wrap to achieve the same thing.

 

[Arimara]

Soaping at 160*F (60*C) is very hot. I’d forget the heat pads and lower your soaping temp to 110*F and follow shunts advice. If you don’t want to use (or don’t have) alcohol you can cover with plastic wrap to achieve the same thing.

That's fine for hot processed soap. If that general temperature was maintained, that soap would be fine. If this was meant to be a cold processed soap, that excess heat probably what else is contributing to the ash.

 

[Lin19687]

I would Search for ASH in the beginners and Lye sections. There are many postings on it and no true answer to fully fix that.

 

[lucycat]

I agree with the 91% alcohol. It is the way I can control soda ash.