DOS (maybe?) on Goat's Milk Soap

[sage&co]

Hello all!

Long-time lurker here - I love the community on this site! I have two batches of goat's milk soap curing right now (I think one is at 3 weeks and the other is at 4). I've noticed that about 9 out of the 20 bars have some brown spots (maybe DOS?), and I can't for the life of me figure out why. All of the oils I used are from Brambleberry, and are nowhere near expiring (like years away). I was thinking that it is because my cure room is our guest bathroom (no room anywhere else in our apartment), but most of my other soaps don't have these spots. I also keep a fan on in the bathroom at all times, as well as a small dehumidifier. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what it could be?

For reference, I'm using this recipe from Soap Queen. I've attached a picture as well (ignore the ugly white streaks - it was my first time using a planer!)

Also, the tiny white specs in my soap - could this be the titanium dioxide? I'm doubtful that it is lye, as we mix and mix and mix our lye/milk solution.

Thank you, everyone!

 

[amd]

I see some soda ash - is that what you're referring to as the white specs? Is it only on the surface and can it be wiped off?

As for the spots, do they smell "off", are they softer/squishy? Typically DOS will have a strange smell and be much softer than the rest of the soap. It's difficult to tell as the lighting in the pictures is very orange as well.

 

[sage&co]

I see some soda ash - is that what you're referring to as the white specs? Is it only on the surface and can it be wiped off?

As for the spots, do they smell "off", are they softer/squishy? Typically DOS will have a strange smell and be much softer than the rest of the soap. It's difficult to tell as the lighting in the pictures is very orange as well.

Hey, thanks for the reply! So I don’t personally think the white specs are soda ash, as they’re visible after we cut (so inside the bars). I’m thinking that we didn’t properly mix the TD in oil before adding it.

The spots are definitely brown - they smell like FO much stronger in those spots than the rest of the bar. They don‘t smell foul or anything like that. I’m thinking that it could be the FO that wasn‘t mixed properly. Thoughts on that? I’ve done searches for that but haven’t come up with much.