First time with coconut milk...advice for next time?

[Hermanam]

I finally found the time to try making the coconut milk soap I have been wanting to try for a while. For fear of scorching the milk, I decided to do half water, half milk at emulsion for my first attempt. It went so-so, things moved much faster than I had anticipated. Here's the breakdown...are we sure I did this right?

40% olive oil
30% palm oil
25% coconut oil
5% castor oil

5% super fat, I added HALF the recipe's water to my lye and let the solution cool to room temp. The oils were around 90 degrees when I added the lye solution. I briefly stick blended until emulsion, then added the coconut milk (the amount was the weight, in oz, of the other half of the water that I omitted from the lye solution). So, I am new to coconut milk, but wow that is thick stuff! I used Wal Mart's Golden Star brand. It contains only coconut milk and water. It was he consistency of hmmm, runny pudding or thick cream soup? Anyway, I didn't even stick blend, just stirred with a whisk, and it was already getting pretty thick on me. I barely had time to add FO or colorant before smashing it into the mold.

I would love some feedback on a few things. First, any issues with my base recipe? What about my process with the coconut milk...did I do this correctly (are we sure the milk makes up for the water I didn't add to the lye?). Lastly, any advice for next time so things don't move quite so quickly?

Thanks for the help...I would love to master this with some more practice. It looks like I will be snowed in this weekend (St. Louis), so I have lots of time to practice

Ann

 

[Obsidian]

I made a recipe today with 100% coconut milk and it didn't speed up trace. I suspect that maybe your base recipe is quick moving due to the higher % of palm. Did you use full water? If not, that might help some and you can soap even cooler to slow things down a bit. This might be a recipe you can't do a lot of fancy swirls with.

Your technique was good, you didn't do anything wrong. You can either add the milk at trace, directly to the lye mix or into the oils before the lye. I really don't think it matters when it goes in, as long as it gets there.
Coconut milk does have high fat so your SF will be higher then 5%. I think your bars will turn out very nice.

 

[Hermanam]

Thanks, I will try lowering the palm because you are right...this recipe tends to get a bit thick anyway. When I added the coconut milk, it really thickened. It doesn't always cooperate for swirling, etc.

So, lower the palm, soap a bit cooler...any other tips?

 

[pamielynn]

I like to blend the milk into the oils when I do this process. I whip the hell out of the oil/milk mix, THEN add the lye. Seems to work better than adding it after the lye and oils are combined.

 

[Hermanam]

Thanks Pamielynn, I'll try that too.

Dumb question...can I do this same process with canned goat's milk, or will it behave differently?

 

[new12soap]

Thanks Pamielynn, I'll try that too.

Dumb question...can I do this same process with canned goat's milk, or will it behave differently?

Yes, you can. Most canned goat milk (at least that I have seen and used) is evaporated, so using half water and half canned GM will amount to using full GM.

edited to add: not a dumb question at all, and I have found that coconut milk does move faster than goat milk for me.

 

[Hermanam]

Great, I'll give goat's milk a try, too, and see how it compares to coconut milk.

Not living in a rural area, is there anywhere to find non-canned or non-powdered goat milk?

 

[boyago]

Great, I'll give goat's milk a try, too, and see how it compares to coconut milk.

Not living in a rural area, is there anywhere to find non-canned or non-powdered goat milk?

Most health food grocers carry it in the dairy section. Allot of the co-op style stores around here have the straight from the... what ever you call a place that milks goats. Farm? Goatery? Pagan solstice center? Not sure where you hail from but Trader Joe's now carries it at the end of their other dairy products.

 

[Obsidian]

Most large grocery stores will carry goat milk in a carton in the organic section of the store.

 

[MzMolly65]

I like to blend the milk into the oils when I do this process. I whip the hell out of the oil/milk mix, THEN add the lye. Seems to work better than adding it after the lye and oils are combined.

Can you clarify this for a newbie please .. you add the oil and coconut milk and mix .. then add the powdered lye to that liquid mix?

 

[Hermanam]

If my local grocery store doesn't carry it, we also have a Trader Joe's nearby. There is a small farm not too far from here...hmmm, I wonder if they would sell me some? Again, showing my lack of farm-savvy...can you use it "straight from the goat" lol, or does it need to be pasteurized or something? Geez, I am amazed at how little I know about milk that doesn't come in a plastic jug ;-)

 

[new12soap]

Can you clarify this for a newbie please .. you add the oil and coconut milk and mix .. then add the powdered lye to that liquid mix?

NO! You must always always ALWAYS completely dissolve lye in liquid, at least as much liquid as lye by weight. NEVER add powder or crystal or beads of lye to your oils.

You can use the split method and use half your water amount to dissolve your lye, then use milk for the other half of the liquid. That milk can either be blended in to your oils before you add the lye water, or after once your soap has traced. Or, you can use the full water amount to dissolve your lye and add powdered MILK to your oils and blend that in very well before adding your lye water.

Really glad you asked this question!

 

[MzMolly65]

Really glad you asked this question!

REALLY glad you clarified .. yikes and thanks!

ETA: dare I ask what happens if the lye goes directly into the oil?

 

[alaskazimm]

REALLY glad you clarified .. yikes and thanks!

ETA: dare I ask what happens if the lye goes directly into the oil?

The lye won't dissolve in the oil and you will likely wind up with pockets of lye in the finished soap.

 

[Obsidian]

It won't dissolve all the way and you'll get speck of lye in the soap which can cause some really nasty chemical burns. I tried adding powdered milk directly into the oils, 10 minutes of stick blending and I still couldn't get that dissolved, I can't imagine what lye would be like.

 

[fuzz-juzz]

I love soaping with coconut milk and use it in almost every recipe.
I do it pretty much the same way you did it. Lye is dissolved in roughly 2/3 of liquid required (distilled water), lye mixture is mixed with melted oils and butters and then coconut milk is added. FO and colour go in at the end.
My mixture also goes somewhat thick, but I think is me usually mixing it to the quite thick trace as I have a fear of false trace, and also my recipe might be fast moving as well.

 

[seven]

i soap with high % of palm all the time. my highest was 50, and that one did trace fast, altho not lightning fast. 30% should be okay (i normally do 30-35), and your recipe is very similar to mine. what i'm curious is the coconut milk. you said it has a thick consistency like runny pudding? are you sure it wasn't coconut cream? the coconut milk i am using has a similar consistency to what you were describing. first time i used it straight out of the box i got instant trace too, coz it was too damn thick. the next time, i diluted it with some water (60:40, CM:water) to make it thinner and it helped a lot. no more unwanted, instant trace.

 

[Hermanam]

Fuzz-juzz...when you dissolve the lye in 2/3 of the water, do you only add the equivalent 1/3 of coconut milk to the soap batter? I guess what I am asking is must your water and coconut milk always equal 1? I am still struggling with the idea that this thick coconut milk makes up for the missing water. Does anyone ever add more coconut milk than that?

Seven...I double checked and I a definitely using coconut milk. Some old threads recommend this brand because it has no additives. It just seems pretty thick, but if am new to coconut milk. When you thin your coconut milk with water, do you have to subtract that from the lye solution?

 

[seven]

Seven...I double checked and I a definitely using coconut milk. Some old threads recommend this brand because it has no additives. It just seems pretty thick, but if am new to coconut milk. When you thin your coconut milk with water, do you have to subtract that from the lye solution?

i normally don't replace all the water with coconut milk, just half of it. so, for example, if my recipe tells me 20 gr of lye and 40 gr water, i just mix the lye with 20 gr of water, and use the rest of the water to thin out the coconut milk.

so, the answer is: yes

 

[corrine025]

I made my own coconut milk using unsweetened coconut and water and a food processor. strained the coconut out and voila. froze the milk and it behaved beautifully in my CP soap batch of coconut lime soap