weird looking spots

[waisbrod]

i have a batch just cured, recipe:
35% oilve oil
35% coconut oil
30% canola

didnt use any colorant and just a bit of fragrance oil that didnt even made a difference.

turns out that the soap have some weird yellowish spots on it.

what it is? why did it happen? and would a rebatch help?

thanks

 

[Seawolfe]

If the fragrance oil hasnt been tested for cold process soap, it may do strange things to the soap and/or the scent may not survive. Sometimes people are surprised by the amount of essential oils needed to scent a batch of soap.

Pictures of the spots and more information about the recipe might help - how much did you super fat? How much water did you use?

 

[waisbrod]

super fatted 5%
over did it with the water, it was almost 40% of the oils

 

[navigator9]

Phooey.....looks like DOS to me. Were your oils fresh? Did they overheat when you were melting them? You can read about the possible causes of DOS, but sometimes it's hard to pin down the exact culprit. Don't rebatch it, it will just spread to the new batch. You can use it yourself, it's harmless, just not for sale.

 

[IrishLass]

It looks to me that the most likely culprit at this early stage is the fragrance oil. I've had that happen before when I didn't mix the fragrance into my batter as well as I thought I had. I ended up rebatching, though, and happily, all came out well in the end.


IrishLass

 

[eucalypta]

Defenitively DOS (Dreaded Orange Spots).
They may happen when your oils are beyond their shelf lives, but .....
in this case it may be the canola.

There are certain oils, that are prone to rancidity and easily can cause DOS in soap.
Some of those are:
- canola
- arachide
- sunflower
- soy
- rice bran

If you choose to use one of them in your soap, be sure to keep the % very low.
These oils may be benificient to the skin in lotions, but unfortunately not very suitable for soap making.

Plase check these single oil CP soap test results; it will avoid major disappointment!
(and save you some money as well)

Rebatching is a waste of time.

 

[IrishLass]

Phooey.....looks like DOS to me. Were your oils fresh? Did they overheat when you were melting them? You can read about the possible causes of DOS, but sometimes it's hard to pin down the exact culprit. Don't rebatch it, it will just spread to the new batch. You can use it yourself, it's harmless, just not for sale.

I don't believe it's DOS at this early stage. DOS usually takes weeks or even months before it shows up.

One way to check if it is the fragrance oil (which I highly suspect it is) is to scrape out one of the yellow spots, and then scrape out a part of the soap that has no yellow spots, and then compare the smell of each. If it's FO, the yellow piece of soap should smell more strongly of fragrance than the non-colored piece of soap.


Edited to add- woops- I just re-read and saw where he said the soap was just cured. My bad. Still, though, I would check to rule out the possibility of the spots being FO. If it's DOS- definitely don't rebatch, as Eucalypta said. I had wrongly assumed that this was a batch he just made and unmolded. Off to flay myself with a wet noodle now.

IrishLass

 

[Seawolfe]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't DOS (dreaded orange spots) also ALWAYS smell off? Like rancid or funky?

 

[seven]

^^ not always. i have a few of mine with DOS and none of them smell funky.. only the nasty spots.

waisbrod, how old were your oils? olive and coconut are supposed to be quite sturdy oils and long lasting. maybe it's the canola that was a bit old?

next time you are using oils with low shelf life, you can add some anti oxidants like vit. E or ROE (to the oils right after you open the bottle) to help prolong oxidation. i soap with canola all the time, but i try to keep mine at a maximum of 20% just to be on the safe side, and I always use ROE or vit. E.

 

[Seawolfe]

^^^ Thanks!
So would it be correct to say that it is DOS if you cut out an orange spot and it smells off or rancid?
And it would be the FO if you cut out an orange spot and it smells of the FO stronger than a piece with no orange spot?

 

[seven]

high humidity can also trigger DOS. i have a batch (with high soybean i think, i kinda forgot) that i cured at different racks, some inside the bedroom where there is a bathroom inside it, and the rest outside in the living room, where the air circulation is def better and there is a dehumidifier next to the racks. the ones in the bedroom developed DOS after a few months, the rest are fine.

so yeah, def don't put your curing racks next to a bathroom or something..

 

[waisbrod]

well i have already rebatched it, i dont think i did a good job either.
i warmed it in the microwave until it got to some sort of mash potato looking, and added a new FO.
should have waited for your response.
my oils were fresh of the shelf, bought them the same day.
actually i did not mix the FO that well and used a quite cheap one (dont know if it matters)

anyway, obviously i wont sell it, but can i use it?
and, i dont think my first idea about rebatching was that good, how do we do it?

 

[cmzaha]

I would still agree wit IrishLass that it is spots from the fragrance. I have also had that happen. I have also kept soap made with 50% canola over a year with no dos. I was testing it and would use it periodically just so it would get wet and dry out. It also had no roe added

 

[grayceworks]

It could be DOS, even if freshly cured...

I recently was testing an unscented soap sample from someone I may be working with in the future, and it was only 4wks old, unscented, fresh oils, but has sunflower, which I do love in soap, it's very conditioning -- but in the time that they packed it naked into a soap box, wrapped things up, and shipped it, in this summer heat and humidity, by the time it arrived, it had formed a blueberry-sized spot of sticky-wet orange DOS on one edge of this nice white soap. Didn't smell bad yet though. We discussed it and agreed that it was likely a combination of the oil and the heat and humidity, as he's in a drier, cooler area. I cut out the entire spot, and will be observing the soap now that it's in a normal use environment, so we'll see...

So, yes, given the right setting, even 4wk soap can get DOS. Which is also why it's so important to test recipe's stability beyond the initial cure time and even in different environments, like seven noted above.

ETA: yes, you can still use it, doesn't hurt the cleaning ability. Usually to rebatch, you'll want to put it in a crockpot or double boiler with a couple ounces water or so, until it's gelled again, or at least is all gooey-gloopy and can be stirred up well. Be careful adding more scent though, especially if you used fragrance rather than natural scents, as the chemicals are still in there even if the scent has burned off, and you don't want to exceed your usage rates. Same with some natural scents, depending on the essential oil in question...

 

[vuladams]

I agree with everyone re: the DOS. One comment I'll add is that I've had them show up on Unscented, pure Castile soap too (100% Olive Oil, freshly bought/opened). I read about it quite a bit and learned it was caused by my water (I used a Brita filter with tap water). Since then, I've switched over to distilled water (from a bottle), and haven't had any problems since.