1st batch of goats milk CPHP was a disaster !!! darn it!!

[squeakyclean]

I tried my first batch of of GM CPHP today and it dis not go well :cry:

This is what I did. I made my lye solution and and held back 2 oz of water to mix with the powdered GM. Melted my oils and added the lye solution and then the GM solution. Brought it to trace and put the lid on th crock pot to cook. Ended up with a volcano( could it have been the beeswax i added to the oils?) ...at which time my husband said "what's for lunch" and I said "get your own @#$$@$%^lunch, honey"... so when I smashed down the volcano, I realized the oils had seperated, so I beat the crap out of it with my stick blender. Cooked it a little longer . By this time it had turned pumpkin color and stuck a bit. So I added some strong FO and I think it covered the smell... Oh, by this time hubby decides to go out and get himself some fast food. It must have been the swearing that drove him out of the house....

I just cut the bars and the color is like dark carmel.

What the hay did I do wrong?? Can this batch be saved? :roll: :roll:

 

[Lindy]

I wouldn't give up on it - most of my milk & honey comes out brown or caramel and people love it, including me! Let it cure....

 

[abigtroutt]

My GM soaps always turn that color. I dont care how slow I add the lye it turns that dark tan color. I say your soap is perfect and we want to see pictures!

 

[Barb]

trying adding the gm after the cook. i found this article for you,

Milk soaps can be tricky to make, even for an experienced soap maker. Caustic soda can do odd things to dairy products like cause them to curdle, separate, and give off a smell that isn’t unlike the monkey cage at the zoo. While the heavy ammonia scent does fade, curdling and separation are problems that usually result in a failed batch of soap.

To get around these issues, I like to make milk soaps using the hot process method, and I only use powdered milks. I have found there is no appreciable difference between fresh or powdered in the finished soaps, and for my purposes, powdered works much better. The secret is in the slurry.

To make a slurry, I use a couple of tablespoons of oil, either reserved from my batch or added as a superfat. This oil is mixed with the milk powder and stirred to a thin paste. Once this paste is completely smooth with no lumps, the slurry is ready. I add the slurry to the soap after it’s been completely cooked and cooled just slightly. It does take a good bit of stirring, but the end result is well worth the effort.

Making milk soaps this way helps avoid most of the major pitfalls. Because the soap is completely saponified, the milk and caustic soda never meet, so the curdling, separating, and horrible smell don’t occur. But this doesn’t mean this method is foolproof. I have burned the milk by adding it while the soap was still too hot, so allowing the soap to cool slightly is imperative.

Slurries aren’t just limited to milk powders. They can be made with honey, oats, herbs, extracts, or anything you don’t want compromised by caustic, raw soap. I have made oat milk slurries with whisky, coconut milk slurries with carrot, and buttermilk slurries with heather honey. And each time, the soap turned out beautifully. When it comes to hot process soap, slurries are the way forward.
Posted by gracefruit at 12:04 PM


because you are not heating the natural milk sugars, they shouldn't carmelize and give you a brown soap.

 

[squeakyclean]

Well after the "dark carmel" batch, I tried another batch with the process Barb recommended. I made it unscented with honey and oatmeal. I like the way it came out. Yippee!!! Thanks to all!!

I'm still trying to save the 1st batch

 

[MsBrenda]

I have posted a tutorial for crock pot HP soap on my web site. I use the WARM setting on the crock and get no volcano at all. I cook the soap on warm 2 hours. I add goatmilk when my soap is done cooking. Here is the url to my tutorial. If you have any questions, email or call me.
http://www.msbrenda.com/basictutorial.html

This tutorial uses very basic ingredients you can find at Walmart.
I have posted one of my favorite recipes just recently on another forum but I will have it on my web site very soon. You can use any combination of oils and butters but my trick for an easy to pour HP soap is to use plenty of water. I run the recipe through a lye calculator and what ever the lye amount is suggested at 10% discount, I times it by 4 and that total is the amount of water I use for my lye solution.
Example: recipe calls for 4.50 oz of lye, I will use 18 oz water with my lye. I also dissolve about 3 table spoons of sugar in the water before I add the lye. Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved. So not add sugar after the lye. It don't work! But this will make your soap easy to swirl and pour.