Total Mystery Botch - Help/Thoughts on the culprit?

[Maddie M]

So this weekend was way more eventful than I expected. I got some beeswax from a local farm and it smelled heavenly and found The Nerdy Farmwife’s recipe for a CP honey + beeswax soap.
Plugged it into soap calc with a few tweaks as attached! I did use frozen whey for my water and the lie was much cooler than I meant for it to be, so getting the batter to trace took a wee while (it’s was a cold day in the Catskills yesterday). I also added some brambleberry fragrance oil (two honey scents) to the mix after light trace. The batter was a pale cream color.
As it was cold, and I was hoping to turn them out of the individual silicone molds that night if possible, I thought an OP would be helpful in warming it up (given my soap was only at like 85 degrees).
I put the oven on to 170, warmed it up, turned if off and then put the soap in. But 45 min later the oven had cooled off a lot, so I put it back on to 170 and then spent 15 min in the garden. I came back to find the soap had turned brown, had bubbles all over the top…. What the heck happened??? (I am at 2k ft elevation if that makes a difference and my oven runs weak not hot)
The bottoms are still brown though less dark than they were initially. When I turned them out there was what looked like jelly molasses that pooled just under the tops of the soaps and the texture of the soap itself looks grainy?
Did I somehow burn it? Or is this the fragrance oil having a freak out? I can’t find descriptions of anything like it online…
THANK YOU for any/all ideas!
Maddie

 

[lsg]

The honey along with the whey could have caused the soap to overheat. Soaps containing honey or milk products tend to discolor. What did the reviews for the FO state? Some FOs do discolor. Hope this helps.

 

[Maddie M]

Huh. So maybe the saponificaiton + OP caused aggressive caremlization/burning? (Assuming this is kind of burnt right?)
I just double checked and the FO is supposed to be CP friendly and reviews say it behaves totally fine. It does technically say it can discolor to light brown - but would that have made the texture of the soap so pock-looking? Plus what do you think the dark brown gel is?

 

[AliOop]

The honey along with the whey could have caused the soap to overheat. Soaps containing honey or milk products tend to discolor. What did the reviews for the FO state? Some FOs do discolor. Hope this helps.

Agreed. And the second round of time in the 170F oven was probably a big contributor, too.

@Maddie M are you aware that soap will heat up on its own as saponification happens? You can encourage this by covering it to insulate it and hold in the heat, or by putting it on a heating pad. I would never recommend walking away from soap in an oven that is still turned on, especially soap in cavity molds. Hopefully your molds aren't ruined!

 

[Maddie M]

Makes sense. Wah. But makes sense.
Yes I knew it would warm up, it was just such a cold batter to begin with and a cold day… I got a little carried away I guess.
In doing some reading I also think the texture looks like it riced (that might be why it’s so curd-looking). Would I be able to hot process this next week? Or will it be usable as is? (Even if slightly burnt-ish, is it usable/salvageable?)

 

[AliOop]

I would not use it as-is due to the extreme separation, which could result in lye-heavy sections.

You can hot process it any time, but the sooner the better, because it is easier to melt while it is fresh. As it cures, the water evaporates, making it harder to melt.

 

[Ekuzo]

The whey and the honey in the oven definitely overheated. Did you try to encourage gel stage because you wanted to achieve a specific color, or do you always do that with single cavity molds? I usually don't bother with them and they never gel, let alone overheat