What am i doing wrong?

[fairyy]

Hello everybody,
As you all know I am new to this adventure, however I have managed to make some nice soap UNTIL
now.
I made oatmilk honey soap and it has a lot of soda ash...all whitee on the top( i will post pics)
Then I made another recipe with honey(1 tsp) and it was a 1 lb batch, again lots of soda ash.
The only thing common between these soap is honey.
why is it happening?
can anyone pitch in please

 

[IrishLass]

Hi Fairyy! Did you happen to attempt to prevent gel and/or overheating in your honey soaps by sticking them in the freezer or refrigerator, etc..? If so, that is the most likely culprit right there (instead of the honey), no doubt about it in my mind. I make honey soaps, too (I use 1 tablespoon ppo of honey in my honey soaps) and mine never get ash. I do encourage mine to completely gel, though, which they do quite nicely without any overheating issues because of how I add my honey: I slightly dilute my honey with a little warm water and then add it directly to my lye water before soaping.

RE: gelled vs un-gelled soap: I've found overall that my gelled soaps are much less prone to ash than un-gelled soaps, and in the rare times my gelled soaps ever do get ash, it is such a light dusting that it wipes right off with a damp cloth.


IrishLass

 

[fairyy]

Hi Fairyy! Did you happen to attempt to prevent gel and/or overheating in your honey soaps by sticking them in the freezer or refrigerator, etc..? If so, that is the most likely culprit right there (instead of the honey), no doubt about it in my mind. I make honey soaps, too (I use 1 tablespoon ppo of honey in my honey soaps) and mine never get ash. I do encourage mine to completely gel, though, which they do quite nicely without any overheating issues because of how I add my honey: I slightly dilute my honey with a little warm water and then add it directly to my lye water before soaping.

RE: gelled vs un-gelled soap: I've found overall that my gelled soaps are much less prone to ash than un-gelled soaps, and in the rare times my gelled soaps ever do get ash, it is such a light dusting that it wipes right off with a damp cloth.


IrishLass

I did left them covered with towel to gel , no chilling
I also mixed the honey in warm water before i added at trace

 

[Rsapienza]

Maybe the towel wasn't enough and the soap didn't actually gel. Just a thought.

 

[fairyy]

Maybe the towel wasn't enough and the soap didn't actually gel. Just a thought.

does the temperature of the lye or the oils have anything to do with the ash?