Hoping against hope

[JennH]

So, the other day I made some soap . I ran it through soap calc and everything looked good. I used half fresh aloe vera for the liquid, the rest water.

After cutting, the cut sides were...sweating. Since I had just taken it out of the refrigerator I thought it was condensation. But now it looks like this:

It has these crystals, but only on the cut sides. They zap. It's lye isn't it? I've tongue tested the soap and the rest of it doesn't tingle, only this part.

 

[Genny]

If it zaps, it's lye. What day did you make it? Refrigerating it slows saponification. I've had soaps that I've refrigerated take almost a week to not zap. So, I'd wait a couple days.

 

[JennH]

If it zaps, it's lye. What day did you make it? Refrigerating it slows saponification. I've had soaps that I've refrigerated take almost a week to not zap. So, I'd wait a couple days.

I made it on the 13th, so I'll be patient a little longer. Would it be normal for the soap itself not to zap but still have lye crystals on the outsde?

 

[judymoody]

It might be soda ash. I have had ash form on cut sides of soap that I did not gel. I'd wait a week and see. If it's fine then, the white surface residue can be steamed off or buffed off with an old panty hose.

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

Crystals aren't a good sign...roblem:
I have had a few lye crystals migrate to the top surface of a loaf and was able to rinse them off...and the rest of the loaf was perfectly fine. If the crystals are forming on cut surfaces, that's a different problem. That means they are inside the soap, not some brought to the surface as water evaporated during saponification. If you didn't gel this batch, I guess it wouldn't hurt to wait a few days as Genny suggested and test it again, but I think there's a rebatch in your future...
Maybe the lye wasn't fully dissolved when you soaped? Or maybe your scale was off?

 

[JennH]

Crystals aren't a good sign...roblem:
I have had a few lye crystals migrate to the top surface of a loaf and was able to rinse them off...and the rest of the loaf was perfectly fine. If the crystals are forming on cut surfaces, that's a different problem. That means they are inside the soap, not some brought to the surface as water evaporated during saponification. If you didn't gel this batch, I guess it wouldn't hurt to wait a few days as Genny suggested and test it again, but I think there's a rebatch in your future...
Maybe the lye wasn't fully dissolved when you soaped? Or maybe your scale was off?

Thanks! If anything, I'll give rebatching a try. I think that may be the way to go. Hubby is nervous about this batch and I don't think he'll use it otherwise. He says I can have the slowcooker and we'll get a new one for cooking.

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

Thanks! If anything, I'll give rebatching a try. I think that may be the way to go. Hubby is nervous about this batch and I don't think he'll use it otherwise. He says I can have the slowcooker and we'll get a new one for cooking.

You know you can get those crock pot liners (in the grocery store with the Saran Wrap) and it'll save you a lot of clean up AND your crockpot :wink: