What would cause this?

[math ace]

@SoaperForLife ,

Unmolding too soon is an easy enough test!
I'll have her split her next batch into two molds...
The first mold, she can sit on a heating pad like I usually do and unmold it like she normally does.
The second mold we can put in the cooler and wait an extra 24 hours before unmolding.

 

[Nanette]

Perhaps ask DeeAnna who is the wizard of all things soap..the zap test will instantly tell you if the soap is hot or very alkaline. Lye pockets are rare and present if the soap recipe really got screwed up, or you didnt dissolve lye in water enough...a real problem in other words. Soda ash isnt really a sign of too high ph or too strong a lye concentration. For me high water soap will have soda ash more often than less..when I use 30 to 33% lye concentration the ash is much less....water as percent of oil weight default on soap calc of 38% soap is more prone to ash. I am not sure what you mean by ph test giving a false negative....ph is ph ...lye is alkaline and will always be on the higher than neutral -7 - ph...just that a high ph test out of the mold does not mean the soap has a problem as it will change over time...whether it is really high...the zap is easy and fast. From what I understand soap ph is normally 8.5 to 9.5. You can use a ph test if you want to. Or use the zap method. Do both! But soda ash does not indicate a problem with the lye content of the soap.

 

[SoaperForLife]

I'll have her split her next batch into two molds..

While we're on the subject of molds, I've been wanting to ask you... do both of you use the same mold?

 

[penelopejane]

@penelopejane ,

So, this is what I hear you saying, The Ph test could give a False NEGATIVE. If the test says the soap is high in pH, then it is high in LYE. Now, that could be a short term high or a forever high depending on where the soap is in the cure stage. If the test says the pH is OK, then the soap MIGHT be OK, but there could be lye pockets inside the soap.

My thoughts are since we are dealing with ASH on the surface of a soap, a pH test would be a reliable way of determining if that ash was from a pH issue.

Since you don't recommend pH test, what how do you recommend determining if a soap is lye heavy?

No I am saying that a pH test gives you the pH of your soap. This is not a necessary test at all. pH does not have anything to do with ash on soap.
To test for excess lye do the zap test.

 

[math ace]

While we're on the subject of molds, I've been wanting to ask you... do both of you use the same mold?

Believe it or not - YES we use the same molds! What's mine is hers and what is hers is mine LOL.
In this case she made individual bars and a small loaf of soap. The small loaf she made was in one of my molds.