My CP soap has white speck throughout

by Mark
(St Pete, Florida)

Hi - Thanks for the site - I just ran across it and have spent hours reading all the informative questions and answers.

I have been making CP soap for a few months using coconut, palm, olive, castor and shea butter. The soap turns out great - except that I get small white specks throughout the soap after I cut it.

It is definitely not lye heavy and the specks are not from unmelted fats.

My temperatures are about 120-125 degrees for fats and 115 for lye when mixing. Trace goes great - I insulate with a down blanket for 24 hours. I have read that maybe it could be due to uneven heat through gel phase - although I know the whole mold is very well insulated and goes through a great gel phase from middle to all edges completely.

What am I doing wrong? The soap is perfect except except that it is not smooth throughout. When I unmold the soap - it looks wonderful - shiny, smooth - but after cutting the specks are all mottled throughout the soap.
Please help.......
Thanks,
Mark
(oh - forgot to mention - have have decreased my water down to about 27%)

Answer:

You've pretty much eliminated everything I would have suggested except one thing.

Sometimes hand made soap will have small bubbles in it and these can look like little white spots. The air seems to get incorporated into the traced soap when using a stick blender or vigorous stirring.

Perhaps that's the problem. If not, then I have no idea, sorry.

Cathy