First of many Questions - Coconut Milk

[janzo]

I have seen several posts that do it this way, and works well. Don't freeze it after pouring just put it in room with a fan blowing on it, although I may try the freezing method just to compare! Still fairly new to soaping (nine months) so open to any suggestions!

 

[shunt2011]

I too do the split method. Add the milk to my oils and stick blend then add lye/water mixture. I RTCP and rarely have overheating and I insulate my molds. Once in awhile there will be a FO/EO that will cause some issues. I use CM, GM, BM (lol), Cream as well as coffee, beer, wine. My favorite is buttermilk and beer though.

 

[dixiedragon]

I also do the 50/50 split - I bump up the water on Soapcalc a bit - from 38 to 40% - then I use 1/2 of the water suggested to dissolve my lye, and add the other 1/2 as coconut milk. I add my lye water to my oils, give it a few blasts with the stick blender, then add the coconut milk.

BTW, make sure to read the label on your coconut milk. I almost picked up can of "filled" coconut milk at Big Lots, thinking I'd found a bargain, but it had added soybean oil and other stuff.

 

[Susie]

I too do the split method. Add the milk to my oils and stick blend then add lye/water mixture. I RTCP and rarely have overheating and I insulate my molds. Once in awhile there will be a FO/EO that will cause some issues. I use CM, GM, BM (lol), Cream as well as coffee, beer, wine. My favorite is buttermilk and beer though.

Is BM buttermilk or breast milk?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I have seen several posts that do it this way, and works well. Don't freeze it after pouring just put it in room with a fan blowing on it, although I may try the freezing method just to compare! Still fairly new to soaping (nine months) so open to any suggestions!

Do you mean freezing the milk & lye solution after the lye has been put in to the milk? I think the freezing we are talking about is freezing the milk before adding the lye in to it, but not freezing it again afterwards

 

[IrishLass]

A lot of people masterbatch their lye, so they can't do a 100% water replacement and still use the masterbatched lye. For others, it could just be that the benefits of 100% over split does not outwiegh the annoyance of having to freeze the milk etc.

This^^^. The above comments have 'me' written all over them (me, me , me- it's all about me! And I am unanimous in that.). LOL Just kidding about the part in the parenthesis, of course. Just feeling a little extra goofy today.

I master-batch my lye solution, which for me, rules out the frozen method. But in the days before I started master-batching, I tried the frozen method a few times and found it to be quite the persnickety annoyance for me in comparison to the split method, so the split method became my go-to method of choice. My split-method soap comes out nice and creamy, but with less of an ammonia smell at the beginning, I noticed. The color is a light cream color, too.

I admire those that have the patience to do the frozen method, though. More power to them. People should go with whichever method they are most comfortable.


IrishLass

 

[shunt2011]

Is BM buttermilk or breast milk?

Buttermilk. Sorry didn't think about Breast Milk.

 

[IrishLass]

AAlso, from reading the rest of the post here, is there a reason why you add it after the lye rather than before hand?

I realize your question was pointed at Janzo, but I just wanted to chime in for the sake of Janzo, who is fairly new (and anyone else), that although I mostly add my milk to my oils before adding my lye solution, I sometimes add it immediately after I add my lye solution. Both ways work fine for me without any issues.


IrishLass

 

[IrishLass]

Buttermilk. Sorry didn't think about Breast Milk.

I was thinking something else, but it's probably best that we don't go there. :wink:

IrishLass

 

[Susie]

Hence my burning need for clarification.

 

[toyah999]

I always add 100% frozen coconut milk to the lye and never had any probs, makes beautiful soap that is a gorgeous cream colour.

 

[Amandac06]

Well...here it is :-D.

I added the room temp coconut milk to my warm oils, stick blended added my lye solution a little at a time and stirred with spatula until all the lye solution was in with the oils and nothing crazy happened, so I stick blended that. Comparisons from my first batch with the same oils/butters minus the CM; this second batch was so much creamier and it just looked a lot nicer (not sure how to explain) but it behaved well concerning trace. Added fos, blended and poured in the mold.

As you can see it partially gelled but honestly I am so proud of this soap! I was so nervous something catastrophic would happen!!! I will take partial gel over lye volcano any day. Thanks so much again to everyone I am still learning so much and I appreciated everyone's input.

 

[new12soap]

:clap:

lovely soap!

and don't worry about partial gel, that little ring you can barely see now will fade a lot over the cure time.

 

[IrishLass]

I agree- lovely soap!


IrishLass

 

[jules92207]

Looks beautiful! Congrats!