# Oat milk in soap making



## AndyRoo (May 25, 2020)

Hello all,

I'm thinking of making a soap with some oat milk incorporated, and I have 2 questions:

1) Can I use store bought oat milk, or would I need to make my own?

2) Given it is really just oat infused water, does this count towards my water content - or do I create the recipe as if this were an oil?

Many thanks,
Andy


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## Obsidian (May 25, 2020)

You can use store bought but I feel like homemade would be better.

You use it as your water content.


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## Adobehead (May 25, 2020)

costs almost nothing to make, is easy and has no additives.


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## AndyRoo (May 25, 2020)

When you say use it as water content, would this be as a partial substitute to water or completely as a replacement? Or either?


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## Obsidian (May 25, 2020)

Either partial or full. Oat milk does go a little thick once the lye is dissolved so don't worry if that happens. Its fine as long as the lye is fully dissolved.


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## KiwiMoose (May 25, 2020)

I've used it as both full water and partial water.  I make my own oat milk and it does go VERY gluggy after adding the lye, so I found it easier to reduce the amount of oat milk to counter this. Otherwise I have to force it through a strainer when adding it to the oils, which I don't want to waste time doing.  The most recent batch I made I decided I was not going to force it though a strainer and that I would just glop it all in and stick blend ( and I mean GLOP - it's like already prepared porridge).  It turned out fine but looks little 'rustic' in appearance.  There are no lye pockets which was my main concern:


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## Louise Taylor (May 26, 2020)

I have found that adding it at trace makes like easier for me. I use a 50:50 lye solution and the rest of the water as oat milk added at trace, which happens very quickly.


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## AndyRoo (Jun 1, 2020)

Ok, so today I tried making it - and I'm guessing I did something wrong because as soon as I added the lye to the oat milk, I ended up with an unusable gloopy mess which I had to bin. Should I be adding the lye to the oils, and then waiting for it to cool before adding the oat milk?


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## Adobehead (Jun 1, 2020)

There are lots of people who know more than I do, and they may say otherwise, but I would say definitely do not add the lye to the oils. It is the water in the oat milk that is going to dissolve the lye. 

How much oats and how much water did you use? Did you strain it through cheesecloth? Was it liquid when you added the lye?  When I made it, I put about 2 cups of water in the blender about 6 tablespoons of regular oats, waited not long, blended, strained and used it.  a little lumpy but nothing I would put through a strainer.  The finished soap looks different than with water kind.


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## KiwiMoose (Jun 1, 2020)

AndyRoo said:


> Ok, so today I tried making it - and I'm guessing I did something wrong because as soon as I added the lye to the oat milk, I ended up with an unusable gloopy mess which I had to bin. Should I be adding the lye to the oils, and then waiting for it to cool before adding the oat milk?


See my post above - this is what happens to me too. I just go with it. Or you could try the split method. You use half oat milk and half water. The lye is mixed with the water and the oat milk is added to the oils.


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## AndyRoo (Jun 1, 2020)

Adobehead said:


> There are lots of people who know more than I do, and they may say otherwise, but I would say definitely do not add the lye to the oils. It is the water in the oat milk that is going to dissolve the lye.
> 
> How much oats and how much water did you use? Did you strain it through cheesecloth? Was it liquid when you added the lye?  When I made it, I put about 2 cups of water in the blender about 6 tablespoons of regular oats, waited not long, blended, strained and used it.  a little lumpy but nothing I would put through a strainer.  The finished soap looks different than with water kind.



I used 1 cup of oats to roughly 3 cups of water. I didn't have any cheese cloth, but I did use a very fine mesh bag which I squeezed it through which removed about 99% of all the smaller bits.



KiwiMoose said:


> See my post above - this is what happens to me too. I just go with it. Or you could try the split method. You use half oat milk and half water. The lye is mixed with the water and the oat milk is added to the oils.



So you just add the gloopy mess to the oils and blend it together? Mine was so thick that not even all the lye dissolved - it just solidified.

I tried to with half and half... but ended up with this kind of butter like consistency with the use of only half the lye. I think if I'd added anymore, it would have solidified again.


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## penelopejane (Jun 1, 2020)

AndyRoo said:


> I used 1 cup of oats to roughly 3 cups of water. I didn't any cheese cloth, but I did use a very fine mesh bag which I squeezed it through which removed about 99% of all the smaller bits.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The split method that people above are describing above is to mix the NaOH required by the recipe with an equal weight of water.  Then subtract that amount of water from the recipe water and add that as the oat milk.  Mix the oat milk with your oils then when fully incorporated mix your lye into your oils.  So say the recipe calls for 120g of water and 50g NaOH.  Add 50g of NaOH to 50g of water.  Mix and wait for it to dissolve and cool to at least 110*F.  Measure out 70g oat milk and mix it into your oils.

This is a very simple way to add any other "liquid" including milk and vegetables like pumpkin, avocado etc to your recipe.

I always make my own oatmilk because I want just filtered water and oats.  A well known 100% oat milk in Australia has: Filtered Water, Whole Oats (min. 15%), Oat Flour, Sunflower Oil, Gum Arabic, Mineral (Calcium Phosphate), Sea Salt. 

I use 2 cups of water to 1 cup of oats,  I rinse them first (to get rid of some of the starch) then I soak the oats for 20 mins then I blitz them in the food processor.  Then I pour off the milk and strain it through very fine cheesecloth.


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## KiwiMoose (Jun 1, 2020)

Here's how I make my oat milk - it gets rid of *some* of the glugginess, but not all: How to Make Oat Milk


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## KiwiMoose (Jun 1, 2020)

@AndyRoo 
Please tell me how much water is in your recipe and how much lye (don't discount anything the oat milk just yet).  Then I can troubleshoot for you.


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## AndyRoo (Jun 2, 2020)

penelopejane said:


> The split method that people above are describing above is to mix the NaOH required by the recipe with an equal weight of water.  Then subtract that amount of water from the recipe water and add that as the oat milk.  Mix the oat milk with your oils then when fully incorporated mix your lye into your oils.  So say the recipe calls for 120g of water and 50g NaOH.  Add 50g of NaOH to 50g of water.  Mix and wait for it to dissolve and cool to at least 110*F.  Measure out 70g oat milk and mix it into your oils.
> 
> This is a very simple way to add any other "liquid" including milk and vegetables like pumpkin, avocado etc to your recipe.
> 
> ...



I get you! Thanks! I'll give that a go next time.


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## AndyRoo (Jun 2, 2020)

KiwiMoose said:


> @AndyRoo
> Please tell me how much water is in your recipe and how much lye (don't discount anything the oat milk just yet).  Then I can troubleshoot for you.



The recipe I was using calls for 14.82 ounces of water and 5.1 grams of lye.


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## KiwiMoose (Jun 2, 2020)

AndyRoo said:


> The recipe I was using calls for 14.82 ounces of water and 5.1 grams of lye.


Ounces and grams??? That's got me flummoxed!  Can you give me both in grams?  And - I use 136 grams of lye so I can already tell something's not right. If you were making small 500g batches you would need at least 60 grams.


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## artemis (Jun 2, 2020)

AndyRoo said:


> The recipe I was using calls for 14.82 ounces of water and 5.1 grams of lye.



Is this a recipe you found somewhere (online, book, friend), or is it one that you worked out with a lye calculator?


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## AndyRoo (Jun 2, 2020)

KiwiMoose said:


> Ounces and grams??? That's got me flummoxed!  Can you give me both in grams?  And - I use 136 grams of lye so I can already tell something's not right. If you were making small 500g batches you would need at least 60 grams.



Sorry - that was me! They're both in ounces; I was just discussing something in grams with my partner and my brain misfired! lol


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## AndyRoo (Jun 2, 2020)

artemis said:


> Is this a recipe you found somewhere (online, book, friend), or is it one that you worked out with a lye calculator?



I use SoapCalc.


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## Mobjack Bay (Jun 2, 2020)

You can filter your oat milk using a kitchen towel, a piece of an old t-shirt, a clean scrap of fabric, or possibly a coffee filter (would be very slow, I think).  If you use a kitchen towel, for example, use it to line a sieve or colander, pour the oat milk in, then draw in the edges of the towel and squeeze the milk out.


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## SPowers (Jun 2, 2020)

I though milks had to be frozen before using and mixing with the lye??  Am I missing something here?  I'm very much a newbie.


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## artemis (Jun 2, 2020)

SPowers said:


> I though milks had to be frozen before using and mixing with the lye??  Am I missing something here?  I'm very much a newbie.



Some people use the "split method," which involves dissolving the lye with some water and then putting the milk in the oils. See this post for a thorough explanation: Evaporated Goats Milk


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## SPowers (Jun 2, 2020)

appreciate the clarification.


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## KiwiMoose (Jun 2, 2020)

414g water and 144g lye.
So how about you try using 7ounces water and 7 ounces oat milk, and add your lye to that?  It will still go gluggy, but just force it through a sieve into your oils. Or try what @penelopejane suggested and use 5 ounces lye with 5 ounces water ( water will not take any more lye than its own weight).  Add the remaining 'water' ( which in your case will be oat milk) to the oils - this will be 9 ounces in your case. Then add the lye solution and mix as usual.
In fact - I might do this myself next time too - thanks PJ


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## KiwiMoose (Jun 2, 2020)

Mobjack Bay said:


> You can filter your oat milk using a kitchen towel, a piece of an old t-shirt, a clean scrap of fabric, or possibly a coffee filter (would be very slow, I think).  If you use a kitchen towel, for example, use it to line a sieve or colander, pour the oat milk in, then draw in the edges of the towel and squeeze the milk out.


and then - save all the little grainy bits of oatmeal from inside the cloth and make porridge!  It's so much yummier than normal porridge - reminds me of when I was a kid.


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