How To Deal With Caustic Bubbles
In Soap Making

Caustic bubbles is an issue that soap makers have to deal with from time to time. Once you know what to do, dealing with caustic bubbles is pretty simple.

Sometimes you will see bubbles when you cut your soap into bars. If these bubbles exude a clear liquid, put your gloves on right away, the liquid is probably caustic lye! And what you're seeing is commonly called caustic bubbles.

What causes this phenomenon is the use of too much lye in the recipe. If there were too much lye, the lye mixture will not find enough fat to blend with, and will simply remain in its liquid state.

However, having lye bubbles in your soap does not necessarily mean the soap is ruined.

If the bubbles are about one-eighth of an inch in diameter, you can simply cut your soap over a sink. Then, rinse each bar to rinse off the lye.

Allow the bars to cure for several weeks afterward to ensure that the lye has all evaporated. If your bubbles are somewhat large, however, it is probably better to throw all the soap away.

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