Lye crystals formed HELP

[creativemumsie]

:Kitten Love:Hi
Yep just when I thought I was getting the hang of this. One of my batches that has been curing for some 3 weeks now has developed little white crystals on the outside. Today I did the zap test with my tongue.:Kitten Love::-xYep LYE. This was my first goats milk soap. I was sure that all the lye was dissolved. Obviously not. When I cut the soaps down the middle to see what was inside it was wet. Zap tested this and :Kitten Love: burnt my tongue. The lye had become fluid inside as it couldn't dry out there. It looked like little holes all over inside that was really filled with lye fluid and when I cut the soap open it spread the fluid over the cake. The soap itself was hard.
Hope that makes sense. I was just about to give these away too and they were moulded in forms for the kiddies. So thank goodness I kept them.
My question is can I do something with this soap....I was thinking grate it up and add some water(blitz it in the food processor) and hot process it with a little extra oil too.
I really am grasping at straws here and am seeking help . Was such a pretty soap too..mint green and cream. Steep learning curve for me.
Appreciate your input and guidance.
Hugs Liz

 

[la-rene]

You can melt it down and rebatch it. It won't be as pretty, but it will be fine to use.

 

[judymoody]

You probably got some separation from overheating or your lye didn't dissolve fully (if you use semi-frozen goat's milk, the temperature can make it more difficult to dissolve the lye, especially if you used a water discount). Sooner or later it happens to everybody. Good for you for recognizing the problem before you distributed the soap.

You can rebatch. Double check your original recipe by running it through a lye calculator to make sure it wasn't lye heavy to begin with.

Don't be discouraged! I once had a run of two or three bad batches after years of trouble-free soapmaking. It was very frustrating but I figured out what went wrong and it was smooth sailing after that.

 

[creativemumsie]

Thanks soooo much for the feedback and advice. I did discount the milk and maybe that was an issue too. I popped the loaf in the fridge and kept it cool so I don't think it overheated as it didn't gel.
I should have been able to recheck my lye BUT well another newbie lesson learnt here too.....keep lists and document recipes with each soap made. Yep can't check recipe as forgot which one I used now.
Tonight I shall be going through my batches and popping the recipe near each lot. (This getting older is not for the faint hearted.) Can't remember what I did this morning let alone 3-4 weeks ago
Shall have a go at rebatching this one first. Again thanks for the needed advice.Hugs Liz