Advice Please!

FOhoarder · Feb 5, 2014

Im hoping someone could shed some light on to whats happening with the spots all over my soap. I made this batch using a trusted recipe so I know its not that. What I did do differently and I know it has to be the reason but I'm stumped as to why. I added kaolin clay, colloidal oatmeal, buttermilk powder and yogurt powder. Not much of each..about a tsp. I added them to my SL so I can incorporate it better and added it all to my melted oils. I stick blended and it all seemed to incorporate fine. I always add colloidal oatmeal and kaolin clay so I can rule them out. The buttermilk powder and yogurt powder does not have an expiration date and they have been around for awhile but have been tightly stored and they don't smell off or anything. I wouldn't consume them but I thought it wouldn't really matter going into soap and going up against lye. Now I thought maybe I didn't hydrate enough so I made another batch and hydrated them with water before adding and the same thing happened. Has anyone used these powders? Is there some secret way to add these without getting these ugly spots? Should I dump the ones I have and chalk it up to them being too old? Any help is very appreciated because I really like the feel of my soap.

Heres a pic...

Hermanam · Feb 5, 2014

How long ago did you cut this soap? It's hard to tell from the photo, but they look like DOS (dreaded orange spots) to me. From what I understand, they can be caused by rancid oils OR they can just appear inexplicably. (Well, I am sure there is an explanation, but sometimes it isn't so easy to figure out). I had a few batches get DOS and I am still not sure why.

FOhoarder · Feb 5, 2014

I just cut them the other day and the spots were instantly there. I only have 5 oils in this recipe and they are all fresh. Would dos appear immediately?

The Efficacious Gentleman · Feb 5, 2014

It might well be a tried and tested recipe, but when you add new stuff it is then a NEW recipe!

As certain ingredients react with other ingredients in different ways, it might well help people if you did post the recipe if only so that people don't suggest things that are not at all possible, for example "Oh, if you had too much extra glycerin in there it can react like this............." when you didn't actually add any glycerin.

jenneelk · Feb 5, 2014

I use buttermilk powder fairly often and don't get spots like that.
I've had a few bars with them out of the 80 or so I've made.. But about 25 have buttermilk and no spots.
Never have found out why a few have dots like that.

Mine didn't have them when cut though.

shunt2011 · Feb 5, 2014

It can't be DOS this soon. It takes a while for it to appear so I wouldn't be concerned about that at this point. Maybe they are just little bits of powder that didn't dissolve or break up completely. I've noticed that unless I stickblend my powders into something first I sometimes get little lumps. Sometimes I just add my powdered milks to my oils and stick blend them in well too. So, it could be a multitude of things...sorry!

judymoody · Feb 5, 2014

I think it's little bits of milk powder that might not have incorporated fully and then caramelized which would lead to the yellowish-brown discoloration.

Saponista · Feb 5, 2014

I agree with joody, I have struggled to get milk powder dissolved properly. Some people say they have added it to the oil part of the recipe but when I tried it just wouldn't mix in very well at all. I always dissolve the milk in a small amount of lye water, then add it at trace.