Are rebatching or tossing my only options?

[pog]

made this goats milk soap with Lavender EO a few days ago and when I cut it found tiny pinprick lye pockets. You can see the tiny bead of lye at the right edge of the bar

I’ve never had this happen before, and am so disappointed.

 

[Obsidian]

Are you sure its lye? It just looks like a air bubble to me.

 

[cmzaha]

Or a drop of fragrance. I would let it cure

 

[pog]

Are you sure its lye? It just looks like a air bubble to me.

Most definitely lye. There’s one or two on every bar, and some tiny soft spots as well that are not weeping. It’s not an air bubble, although it may look like one in the pic. That’s a tiny bead of liquid..

Or a drop of fragrance. I would let it cure

It is definitely lye. My concern with letting it cure is that the liquid will dry, leaving behind lye crystals that, that although tiny, will not be safe.

 

[Obsidian]

I really wouldn't worry about spots that small. By the time it cures, it will have absorbed back into the soap.

Any lye left on the surface will be so small, it would rinse right away when wet. More likely, it wouldn't be caustic anyways by then.

If you are really worried about it, you can gouge each little spot out or rebatch. Its pretty, I wouldn't rebatch. I'd dig the spots out if anything.

 

[jcandleattic]

So you did do a zap test and it zapped? Just because it's liquid doesn't necessarily mean it's lye.

As others said, let it cure then do a zap test at 4 weeks and see what your results are.

 

[pog]

So you did do a zap test and it zapped? Just because it's liquid doesn't necessarily mean it's lye.

As others said, let it cure then do a zap test at 4 weeks and see what your results are.

Oh, yes! It zapped!!

I’ve chosen to rebatch.

I’ll make another batch of Lavender Goats Milk soap tonight being extra careful of “all the things”. Hopefully it will turn out as it always does.

 

[DeeAnna]

Even if these tiny droplets of liquid are alkaline -- and, yes, they usually are -- this will dissipate with time, maybe even within a few days in the case of your soap. The droplets could be caused by slight overheating or something like that, but there's no need to rush into rebatching or throwing it away. It would be perfectly fine if you simply waited.

 

[pog]

Even if these tiny droplets of liquid are alkaline -- and, yes, they usually are -- this will dissipate with time, maybe even within a few days in the case of your soap. The droplets could be caused by slight overheating or something like that, but there's no need to rush into rebatching or throwing it away. It would be perfectly fine if you simply waited.

Thanks DeeAnna, and others who’ve taken the time to respond.

I won’t be so hasty to rebatch next time. Your experience is appreciated

 

[Obsidian]

Being impatient and rebatching every little flaw was something I did when I first started.
Too soft, rebatch, colors went muddy, rebatch, soap was weepy, rebatch.
Turns out I hate rebatch so much I never used the soap.

Now if I have a catastrophic mistake, I toss it. If its just a minor cosmetic flaw, I just roll with it.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I had some zappy, weepy spots once. I was advised to wait, and yes - after three days they didn't zap any more.
Lovely soap by the way : )

 

[shawn ford]

A buyer of mine only makes home made laundry soap with my bars. Grating the soap and adding borax, baking powder and I don't know what else. A great idea to try, also an idea for corner shavings or malformed bars.

 

[Kathymzr]

I thought my sea buckthorn/neem soap caused my skin allergy, so I threw out the rest of the sea buckthorn, as in “Never again!”. Went to allergist and it wasn’t that at all! The soap was great, but ugly and wrong FO. I let the soap sit and it’s better than ever. So now, after thinking about it this long, I will use some myself. The rest I will confetti and it will make a useful addition!

 

[DeeAnna]

The last batch of soap I made didn't go into gel, so I decided to do the "rescue oven processing" method. Basically you do CPOP but after the soap is fully saponified, not during saponification.

I put the loaf in the oven at 145F / 65C and ... um ... forgot about it for over 2 hours. (Normally I'd warm the soap for about 1 hour.) It was ... um ... definitely in gel by the time I remembered to take the soap out of the oven. It was soft but kept its shape as long as I didn't poke at it. All in all, it turned out fairly well. After it cooled, I cut it into bars and they look fine.

There was one odd thing -- there were small droplets of alkaline water dotted all over the top afterwards. These droplets reacted with CO2 in the air while the soap was cooling to form little white beads of soda ash. It was kinda pretty, but I thought it was best to wash them off.