I've heard of the alcohol trick, too. I also like mixing hotter, then going for immediate gel with the oven. Using the oven to force gel has nearly eliminated ash for me.
I have heard that quick cool down can make ash worse - the calcium carbonate tends to form more rapidly when you've poured and the soap is exposed to *much* colder air. So if you're soaping hot and gelling right away, no problem, because cold air never hits. And if you're soaping on the cool side, there's less of a temperature differential between your just-poured soap and the ambient temp.
So I'd try two things - one, lightly spritz the top of your poured soap with rubbing alcohol. Two, make sure your poured soap isn't being exposed to an abrupt temp change.
Three - I just thought of three - some FOs seem to cause more ashing, and it's darn near impossible to prevent. In those cases, I like to embrace the look and claim that I did it on purpose.
Let us know how those work.
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