High Butter Soap + Ash

[sarahmarah]

Are soaps made with a higher butter percentage more prone to ash or is that just incidental?

I have a recipe I've been working on that has 27% Shea and 15% cocoa butter and I soap at 33% Lye concentration between 100-110ish degrees.
I CPOPed last time hoping it would curb the ash and it did not. When I beveled and planed it was good for about a week then the faint powder fine ash was pretty much all over it. I saw a few posts here about rubbing alcohol not being very effective. I tried 70% alcohol (can't get the higher grade) and I can attest that it did not help much. My soaps usually don't gel and seem very cool in my tester mold. Besides covering it is there anything I can do that may reduce this a bit?

 

[cmzaha]

I make a 59% shea butter soap which I gel and get no ash. I really find gelling help deter ash but not completely stops it. When I pour at emulsion and gel my soap will still tend to get ashy. It is something I simply do not worry about and neither do my customers.

 

[shunt2011]

Ungelled soap will take longer to saponify and more likely to get ash if not left covered until saponification is completed and can still get ash once cut. I gel all my soaps an rarely get ash, I do spritz with alcohol when I put it to bed to gel. I leave it covered for 18-24 hours (peeking a couple times to make sure it's not overheating).

 

[Anstarx]

Have you tried covering your mold with a plastic wrapper? I like fluid designs so many of my soaps are poured at emulsion or light trace. I don't use alcohol as it does nothing for me. Nor do I gel as most of my recipe doesn't really get hot. I haven't got ANY ash for my last 10 batch or so soap I covered.
The only one ashed lately was a wooden mold that I couldn't cover because I had to clamp down my freezer paper liner.

 

[sarahmarah]

I made a small batch 3 days ago. It’s still a bit soft when I unmolded it. But the ash is still there even after covering...Is it common to get ash so soon? That seems weird. I’m stumped. I’m going to gel my next batch and see if it makes a difference.