White marks and sodium citrate

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Soaplover1112

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Thanks to this amazing community I seem to have eliminated my problems with DOS. Since advice on this forum from Dee and others I’ve started adding sodium citrate and Rosemary extract oil to my batch, seems to work a treat!

I just wanted to know if I was adding sodium citrate correctly to my coconut oil soap recipe. I’ve been adding it to my melted oils, when I do this though it seems to make the mixture very lumpy, almost like I need to melt the sodium citrate into it? It feels very grainy when I mix the lye water in and when I’m pouring it’s like you can still see all the little bits of sodium citrate. Temperatures are usually 120 degrees Fahrenheit when I mix.

with this problem it seems to be difficult to see when trace occurs, I’ve been hand mixing for the most part and my recent batch has came out with all these white marks on. Any ideas as to what this is?
Recipe as follows:

Distilled water - 220g
Sodium Hydroxide - 145g
Rosemary extract oil - 3g
Sodium Citrate - 15g
Essential oil - 25g
Coconut oil - 1000g

thanks in advance!
ED92BFA4-99E2-4DCE-8B3B-088F7E050900.jpeg
 
I use sodium citrate. I use some of my batch water, warm it a little in my microwave and dissolve the sodium citrate in the warmed water. Before adding the lye solution to my oils, I mix the SC and water into my oils with my stick blender. I learned to do it this way from @DeeAnna who recommends using a water amount of at least twice the weight of the sodium citrate. I tend to do just a bit more, so for 15 g of SC, I would use around 35 g of batch water. Here is a link to DeeAnna's article: Citrate | Soapy Stuff
ETA: I'm not sure what the white is on the surface, but it could be a 'specialty ash' formation. I like it!
 
Hey guys! Just wanted to say thank you for the above information. Glad to hear the bars look fine, I agree I kinda like the white marks. Trying my first batch with your suggested method so thank you! I’ll let you know how I get on!
 

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