I've noticed every now and then I get batches of perfect soap that end up with crunchy white specs that are a bit scratchy. Now, these are NOT made to be exfoliate bars. They all have palm, coconut and olive oil and either shea or castor oil, but I've noticed an occasional lip balm also turns into a bit of rough & hard white specs, and they do not contain palm oil. I've been making beautiful soap since 2009......anyone have an idea of what is happening? TY:roll:
HELP...can't figure out the problem!
- Thread starter HopeSoap
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Saponista
Well-Known Member
It might help if you tell us exactly what was in your recipe, then we can come up with suggestions about what might be happening. 
Saponista
Well-Known Member
Is there any chance it is sugar crystals from the honey not dissolving properly?
You know, I have thought of that so I've been heating the honey along with the beeswax in the double boiler. Since it doesn't happen all the time, I will have to see what happens to the current batches. Do you use honey? I only use 1 oz. per 5 lb batch of soap.
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Saponista
Well-Known Member
I use honey from my in laws and different batches of honey seem to have different qualities, sometimes it will be really set and other times it's really runny with crystal like lumps in it, but I gently heat it like you do and that seems to dissolve everything so it's probably not that. Let's hope someone else has some better ideas!
I'm voting on the beeswax not being completely blended into utter submission. We were just having a discussion about this issue in another thread. http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=42560
Lin
Well-Known Member
Its most likely a different problem in your lip balm, there its most likely grainy shea. You can try tempering your shea to remove the grains, but its always possible your shea was worked with too much prior to getting to you and there's nothing you can do about it but not use it in lip balm where the grains are most noticeable.
Different ingredients melt at different temps as I am sure you know, so heating honey for the time it takes the beeswax melt could sometimes be too long. Heating a butter for longer and/or hotter than it needs can cause issues.
As things are never 100% the same from one batch to another, maybe this is why it's not always the same.
And while yes, you may have "been using the same recipe for years"- when there is a problem with it, more details can be helpful!
As things are never 100% the same from one batch to another, maybe this is why it's not always the same.
And while yes, you may have "been using the same recipe for years"- when there is a problem with it, more details can be helpful!
I agree witht he beeswax. As for lip balm if you use shea or cocoa if they are not tempered or cooled quickly they can get grainy.
judymoody
Well-Known Member
I vote for beeswax although honey is a possibility. Third possibility could be stearic spots if your shea and palm are not fully melted, stearic can precipitate out. Also if your palm isn't thoroughly melted and mixed each time, you might be working with stearic-heavy palm when you get to the end of the container.
What temps do you soap at? Gel or no gel?
What temps do you soap at? Gel or no gel?
I fully agree with Judy on this. I have to be careful with my palm right now since my 5 gallons completely melted in the summer I now have stearic that is not completely mixed in. I handle it a little differently without remelting all but to have all your palm melted and mixed well before measuring is the best scenerio. 100% palm shortening can act the same way
judymoody
Well-Known Member
Forgot to mention, I melt my palm oil once when I first open it and then divide it into small wide 1 lb containers. That way I don't have to remelt the whole thing over and over again. I can scoop out a portion from top to bottom, ensuring a representative cross section.
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