another milk soap question

[Nite Hawk]

I made a milk soap our of OO, COCO,PKO, lard, lavendar oil, and of course frozen cows milk. everything went well and I put it in the mold and it started setting up hard real fast.
It was whited colored for several hours.
I didn't put any towels over it,but did put it is a styrofoam cooler with wax paper on top. It looked good for several hours then started heating up and turning dark.:cry:
I set it out on an oven rack to cool, and it lightened in color a bit and cooled down.
For quite some time I could smell the lard even though the lard i used was good and not rancid. Now the lard smell has faded almost completely, but the soap has stayed dark colored.
Can you gel a milk soap and not have it turn dark?
Would it have stayed white if I had put a small fan on the the soap, amd maybe put the mold is a pan of cool water?
Any thoughts?
thanks for your thoughts...

 

[jenneelk]

If it goes through gel as far as I know it will darken some. My goats milk and cream I always put straight to fridge.. I don't leave out at all. I just did another yesterday and it didn't gel at all and staid the same colors.

 

[Ruthie]

Gelling comes from heat and heat carmelizes the sugars in milk. So I doubt you can gel a milk soap and have it remain light in color. I always put mine in the refrigerator and skip the gel.

 

[Rosnasharn Farm]

This is really interesting...I always gel my goats milk soap and it is always white....I think what turns your GM soap dark is the lard burning.

 

[shunt2011]

My gelled milk soaps are generally beige. Lard will not burn. . It's the sugars in the milk carmelizing during the gel phase. I don't insulate my milk soaps at all.

 

[Rosnasharn Farm]

My gelled milk soaps are generally beige. Lard will not burn. . It's the sugars in the milk carmelizing during the gel phase. I don't insulate my milk soaps at all.

I think powdered Goats milk is different to Fresh/Frozen goats milk.
I wrap my GM soaps and I get white...no lard.

 

[Nite Hawk]

Ronasham., you have beautiful soap, you say you gel it, what is your secret?
I have thought about using a recipe without lard, but not sure that is the answer. Maybe there is another oil that might be causing a heat reaction? It was white for several hours after making before it started heating up and turning brown.
When not gelling soap, does that leave a risk of lye "hot" soap?
Anyone use fans to cool and slow the soap reaction?
Also, I didn't use goats milk, I used fresh frozen cows milk, would pasturizing it make a difference?
Would appreciate any feedback....
thanks


http://www.soapmakingforum.com/member.php?u=11001

 

[Rosnasharn Farm]

Ronasham., you have beautiful soap, you say you gel it, what is your secret?
I have thought about using a recipe without lard, but not sure that is the answer. Maybe there is another oil that might be causing a heat reaction? It was white for several hours after making before it started heating up and turning brown.
When not gelling soap, does that leave a risk of lye "hot" soap?
Anyone use fans to cool and slow the soap reaction?
Also, I didn't use goats milk, I used fresh frozen cows milk, would pasturizing it make a difference?
Would appreciate any feedback....
thanks


http://www.soapmakingforum.com/member.php?u=11001

Thankyou...there is no secret frozen goats milk and clear oils aka CO, PKO, PO and Light OO....if I add Sweet Almond oil it is more a beige.
If your cows milk had lots of cream in it, then that might be why it burnt. Try seperating the milk, if you have or can get hold of a seperater, and do your soap again and see if there is a difference.

 

[Obsidian]

Not gelling won't make a soap lye heavy, it will still saponify properly. I never gel my soaps, I don't care for the look of it.

 

[new12soap]

Lard will not burn unless you are heating it to around 400F, so no I would say that is not the cause.

Gelling your soap (and/or soaping too warm) will make the milk sugars caramelize, as a PP said.

No, ungelled soap poses no risk of lye heavy or "hot" soap, use a lye calculator and measure accurately. Gel is what happens as a byproduct of the heat of saponification, you can slow down the process by soaping cooler and putting your soap in the freezer or refrigerator. It WILL take longer to fully saponify, a few days up to a week possibly, but it will still cure out just the same. The difference is really just appearance.

Soaping cooler and not gelling your milk soaps will help keep the sugars from caramelizing and turning dark. Soap will also lighten somewhat as it cures.

 

[Nite Hawk]

I tried another milk soap, this one with almost double the lard in it, and it has so far stayed much lighter in color. With this one I didn't put it in the styrofoam box, but put it to cool in its mold on oven racks and turned a very small fan on low on it, for several days. It is a very very light creamy-yellow, but as the cow is on grass she is has a creamy-yellow milk due to the high beta-carotene content of the milk.
Am wondering if a very high lard content milk soap might have a tendency to stay lighter in color, if handled carefully, because of lards white color..??