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

[boyago]

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 ;-)

Soaping goat milkers (never thought I'd use those words together) do sometimes use it straight from the goat. There way a episode of "Dirty Jobs" where he goes to a goat farm/soap works and makes soap with fresh goats milk.

 

[cmzaha]

Canned gm is double strength which is why I use it or dried gm where I can add in equal to full strength. I soap with a 50/50 lye solution and make up the water difference with my additional liquids or purees.

 

[fuzz-juzz]

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?

Yes, that's about how I do it. I usually soap with 1 kg of oils, and most of the time use total liquid of around 350 mls, so on the upper scale of the liquid required. I gel soaps, so they are pretty much fine to cut the next day, and extra liquid doesn't make them way to soft. Coconut milk I use is about half water, so I guess, when milk and water I use are combined, that still makes around 300mls of clear liquid. This is how I do it in details: I can use one can of coconut milk twice, so when it's halved, around 100 mls replaces water in soap, and rest of the liquid is made up of water, so around 220-250. I dissolve lye in that, mix lye water with oils and than add coconut milk. As long as the water lye ratio is more than 1:1, i.e. more water than lye, lye should dissolve just fine. It will get hotter than when dissolved in more water, but you can keep an eye on it. I usually dissolve in the sink of cold water.
I keep SF to 4-5% to compensate for extra fat in coconut milk and never had a soft or extra greasy bar.
I hope I helped and made sense. ;-)

 

[Hermanam]

Thanks to everyone for all the help...second attempt went beautifully! I followed a CM recipe I found online...haven't tried this one before, hope it turns out okay...

10% sweet almond oil
10% castor oil
20% CO
30% OO
30% PO

I mixed the lye with half the water, then stick blended other "half" as coconut milk into my oils. Then added the lye solution. I soaped about 10 degrees cooler this time. This all seemed to work much better than yesterday...everything stayed a nice consistency. I was even able to add FO and mix a couple colors with a hanger swirl!

One question...I was sooo excited to see the nice white creamy color when I added the CM to the oils. Unfortunately, things darkened/yellowed a bit when I added the lye solution. Is there any way to prevent this from happening?

 

[shunt2011]

I use milk in all my recipes (goats, coconut, buttermilk, cream, 1/2 & 1/2 ETC).. I always use 1/2 water (distilled) and mix my lye in that then add my milk to my oils with my FO/EO and stickblend. I then add my lye mixture to my oils and blend to emulsion then separate and color as needed. I RTCP and don't have much problem with discoloration however you can add some TD and it will help counteract any slight discoloration you get from the milk/lye.