It's when it's in the mold when the soap is going through the gel stage that honey will generate the most heat and cause the most problems. I've found the severity of the problems (or the absence of them altogether) depends much on whether you cover your mold, or if you insulate it too much, or how much honey you use, and even when you add the honey. All of those things can play a factor.
Speaking only for myself, I get the best results when I add my honey to my lye water. I've never had good results when adding it at trace. Basically what I do is this: I dissolve my honey in a small bit of my total water amount that I've set aside in a little cup, and then I mix the rest of my water with my lye in another container. When my lye water has cooled down, I stir the honey water into it. Be prepared for a little bit of a reaction when you do this, though. It's not anywhere near as bad of a reaction if you had added the honey to the water
before adding the lye, but the lye water will still heat up some and turn a reddish-brown color. It shouldn't volcano, though (at least mine doesn't). I can't say the same if you add it the other way around, though- i.e., to the water before adding the lye! :shock: Been there, done that, and I can say with 100% surety that things are
much tamer adding it to cooled lye water.
The benefits I've noticed doing it this way is that my soap doesn't overheat in the mold when going through the gel stage (I'm one of those who likes to gel all my soaps), and my honey stays blended, too- i.e., it doesn't weep or separate out of my soap. It's as if mixing it with the lye water and letting it react up front takes all the orneriness out of it so that it has none lefover to cause trouble later.
As for how much honey to add, I personally like to add no more than 1 tbsp. of honey per pound of oils.
Hopefully, more people will chime in with their experiences, especially those who aren't gellers like myself.
IrishLass
