Big creepy white spots

[Arthur Dent]

One of the test batches I made Sunday was as follows:

Olive Oil 70%
Lard 25%
Castor oil 5%
SF @ 5%

(as posted a while back by MorpheusPA)

I poured this into a round shipping tube (perfect for a 2.5lb batch) lined with backless vinyl shelf paper, one of my favorite molds.
Upon unmolding last night, the loaf was very weepy and soft. The weeping liquid was lye water, and the soap itself was very zappy. I wrapped it back up and slipped it back into the mold and let set for another 24 hours. Tonight I took another look at it, and the lye has been re-absorbed for the most part, but now there are many large glossy white spots all over the surface of log. I was going to go ahead and cut it tonight, but decided to give it another 24 hours just to see what will happen.
So what are the big white spots? Ash? Something else caused by the weeping lye? Will they disappear? I didn't take any photos, since I figure y'all have seen this before, but I can if anybody wants to see it. Unless of course they are gone the next time I unwrap it.

 

[lizard1232]

First, I feel inclined to say I love Hitchhiker's Guide. Second, I would lay down money that someone is going to ask for your exact recipe and process before giving an in-depth answer.

 

[snappyllama]

Did you use a new FO in your batch? Did it seem like it heated up? Did you mold at emulsification or was it at trace?

 

[zolveria]

How much water and lye..

did you measure properly.

please list entire recipe.

and additives.

 

[galaxyMLP]

The white spots (to me) sound like they may be ash from where the lye water reacted with air (CO2) before it was reabsorbed. However, everyone is right, a full recipe with % and actual measurements (oz, grams, ect) would be quite helpful.

 

[Seawolfe]

And pictures - pictures would help too
How do you know it was lye water coming out of the soap?

 

[shunt2011]

I too suggest posting a picture. There are many different versions of white spots with different causes.

 

[hmlove1218]

I would also bet that it's ash. I had a soap get weepy from a naughty FO that developed ash spots on the top of the loaf.

 

[Arthur Dent]

Sure, here ya go:

 

[Arthur Dent]

Not the best of pictures, sorry, I took this while getting ready to head out of the house for the day this morning.
I figured the liquid was lye because it had that slippery feel to it and made me itch where I got some on my arm. No need to tongue zap test it.
I did not use any additives, as this was a test batch to see if I liked the recipe. I don't like the idea of extra stuff in a first batch.
When I poured it into the mold it was about the consistency of pancake batter the best I can remember.
I did check a couple of the normal looking areas of the log this morning, and they are still zappy.
It is quite possible that I mis-measured something. I am always very careful about that, but accidents do happen.
Buy the way, this is cold process, and I do insulate to encourage gelling.

Edit:

I put this in the Beginners forum because I thought this was a beginner type question. I see that it has been moved to the Recipe Feedback forum. I wasn't really commenting on the recipe, just asking about the problem I was having. Oh well.

 

[snappyllama]

It looks like ash to me. When you cut it, is the white area just on the surface? If so, my money is on ash.

 

[DeeAnna]

High olive soap with "full water" is the reason why the soap was soft and weepy at first. Olive saponifies fairly slowly especially with a high water recipe. Soap with a 30% to 33% lye solution concentration next time you use this recipe and I bet it will behave better for you.

I'm voting on ash for the white spots on the outside. When you rewrapped the soap, there was probably some air trapped around the soap cylinder. Carbon dioxide in the air + lye = ash.

 

[Arthur Dent]

When I cut it I'll note how deep it goes, but I'm sure you folks are right and it is ash.
As zappy and soft as it is, I'll probably let it sit another day or three before I try cutting it. Will report back then.
And thanks DeeAnna for the concentration suggestion, I'll work on that.

 

[Arthur Dent]

I was going to let this log stew for a couple more days before cutting it, but I just had to see what was going on in there.
It was still soft of course, but there is now hardly any zap at all. The white spots are all surface, so I am satisfied that it's ash. You can see the end piece in the upper left corner, it's covered in ash as well. No big deal, it doesn't bother me as long as I know what it is.
This is the first time I have had a weepy log like this, but it's also the highest % OO log I have made. I have made a couple of high OO batches before, but they were loaves, and I let them sit undisturbed for 3 days before unmolding, so I missed all the weepiness I guess. Patience, patience.
Thanks to everyone for all the comments.