Coconut Milk Soap Issue

[cpizz]

Hello,

This is my first post here but I'm sure with so many soapers someone could help me figure it out. I make a Coconut Milk and Turmeric soap with 100% water replacement with frozen coconut milk. I've made two batches no issues, the last two have been wonky. I used canned coconut milk, I'm thinking it's a fat issue perhaps. I mix the frozen milk and lye in an ice bath to keep the temps down just like I do with my 100% replacement goat's milk soap. Some parts don't fully emulsify, I'm thinking it's the fat that maybe freezes? Perhaps I'm keeping it too cold. It's a straight forward recipe, olive oil, coconut milk, shea. 33%, 5% superfat, no scent. Once finished I pop it in the freezer. The last two batches there are white chunks of some form of coconut milk in the soap that ooze seep out of the bars. It's bizarre. The last batch the same thing happened, plus partial gel.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Welcome to SMF, @cpizz!

depending on the brand of coconut milk, it might contain a thickener/stabiliser or not. If not, the fat tends to settle to the top, just like cream settles on raw milk.
If the lye+coconut milk doesn't reach the temperature that these clumps of fat won't melt up, then they will impede proper mixing. Fat clumps are meh, but more troublesome is that the rest of the soap will have too much lye and might stay caustic (I guess you increase the amount of lye to account for the extra fat from the coconut milk?).

tl;dr: After dissolving the NaOH in the melting coconut milk ice cubes, the lye should be at least at 25°C/80°F (better at 40°C/100°F), if not, heat it up a bit. You'll need that temperature anyway to be sure that the shea butter is completely molten as well.

 

[kagey]

agree with Owl -- I know the brand we get here has some type of gum in it.
And I've heard it can effect how the lye-water behaves.
I also know that even from the can - the fat separates and settles from the liquid
I'd only use fresh if I was using it instead of water -- otherwise, I'd add it to my oils prior to adding lye/water.

I've seen videos where the fat in the milk starts to saponify in the lye/water -- and can cause those white clumps (because it became soap much earlier than the rest and now floats in the emulified liquid)

But this is just based on watching videos and reading about CP online.

Please post pictures. I want to put turmeric in one of my soaps to make them orange!

 

[cpizz]

This was really helpful! It's the kind that fat settles on top. I'm going to give it a shot at a higher temperature. Appreciate your responses. I'll post a pic tomorrow kagey.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Even though I know some people do, I would never mix my lye with any milks due to the fat content in them. The lye will start to saponify the fats in the milk. I always add my milks to the oils using the split method ( ie, splitting the fat/water content of the milk across my calculations for both the lye solution and the oils). I mix the lye with the minimum amount of water I can - that being the same amount of water to lye, melt my fats/oils and add the milk to that, then proceed as normal from there.