Uh oh...what happened?

[Rosey]

Ok so this is the story:

I started making soap last night and when I mixed the lye and weighed out the oils. I waited for them to cool down to room temp. Well I had to take my hubby to work (not expected) so the lye sat around for a few hours. When I got back, I saw chucks in it.

So did I not mix it well enough before? Although I had checked on it and everything was nice and clear.

Did I wait too long?

Onward...I made the soap. I made a double batch of GM (which was in the freezer too long and was rock hard...). I mixed the lye and the oils. I'm trying to see the difference in mixing the lye + GM or Lye + Oils and then GM.

I got to a light trace and added the GM which was still frozen. I thought about thawing it but I was too lazy to go and nuke it a bit or wait . It was already late, I wanted it done.

So after adding the GM, it thickened really fast.

I added some Sweet Rain FO too.

I split the batches. One to gel and one not to gel.

The one that didn't gel looks ok but the one that did has weird spots in it.

This is the one that didn't gel

And the one that gelled

Is that lye specks? Are they in the ungelled but I can't see them?

eeepppp!

 

[zajanatural]

If you see chunks in your lye after hours of it sitting there, I would just mix a new solution. Lye chunks in soap would seriously burn. Were the chunks on the bottom of the container, or floating at the top. Did you add anything to the lye, like silk?

I am going to say that is a lost batch, I would not want to risk using it.

 

[Rosey]

blah! I think you're right. I was so flustered last night I picked the wrong option.

We'll try again!

 

[oldragbagger]

Well, thats a darn shame because, other that those nasty specks, it looks beautiful.

 

[Rosey]

That's ok, I'm going to redo it..maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow and do this again! I'm going to toss it right now.

 

[NatureandNurture]

I didn't realize the NaOH could 'settle out' of the water solution. Is that what happened? Will agitation not return it to a solution state?

 

[Rosey]

It didn't! I don't know what I did. I had it all nice and mixed and then that. I had some of the water with the GM but I would assume that if it was a "not enough water" thing, it wouldn't have mixed all the way to begin with.

 

[carebear]

I didn't realize the NaOH could 'settle out' of the water solution. Is that what happened? Will agitation not return it to a solution state?

it doesn't settle out, exactly - but if you don't get it all dissolved and then walk away it can simply sink to the bottom and glom together and not dissolve very quickly (as in 12 hours later you have a wet rock of lye sitting in the bottom of the container.

 

[ChrissyB]

The first picture of soap looks lovely, really creamy and nice. Are you sure it's unusable?

 

[Rosey]

I don't want to chance it. It's so light, I don't think you'd see the lye specks. I already threw it out too. It looked so pretty!



I'm going to remake it sometime this week.

 

[SimplyE]

I am thinking it might have been some GM that "carmelized", rather than lye. I have found that sometimes when I freeze my GM, I can have pieces of GM fats or such that separate out, which would mean that the heat from the gel burned the GM, creating the spots.

 

[IrishLass]

If you are sure you mixed it well and it was good and clear when you left it, I doubt very much it was re-solidified lye. I've never heard of lye coming out of solutiuon if it was properly measured and mixed thoroughly. I make a large 50% prebatched lye solution all the time (50% lye/50% water) which sits around tightly covered throughout the week until I briefly open it to pour some out to use for my batches. It's always crystal clear with no bits.

When I used to make my lye fresh each time I soaped, I would many times get white flakes on the top of my lye water as I let it sit throughout the day before soaping at night. It wasn't lye, though- it was from a thin film of residual, dry soap leftover in my lye mixing container which happened to not get rinsed out as well as I thought after having had washed it with dish soap, and the lye was working to saponify it. But whenever I happened to clean my lye mixing container really well with vinegar and rinse it out really well with water, the flakes would stay away.

Oh sweetie, I really, really wish that you hadn't thrown your soap away (please excuse me as I mourn the passing of your soap :cry: ), because I'm as sure as dirt is brown that it would have been fine if let to cure.

I agree with SimplyE about the orange spots being caramalized GM. I've had that happen before. The soap ended up fine, though.

Here is a good saying that should be carved in stone:

Never throw a seemingly botched soap away until you've let it cure a bit.

It's amazing what a good cure will cure out if given the chance.


IrishLass

 

[Rosey]

I'll remember that for next time. I didn't want anyone's flesh to be eaten away

I'm going to redo it though so stay tuned!

I want to say it was clear when I left but I am not 100%. I had so many unexpected things come up, I was getting kinda pissy and I was scrambling.