Goat Milk/Lye Mixture Clumpy

[Cooperkeeper]

Hi everyone.
I probably should start by saying I have been lurking and learning so much here, but this is my first post. I am relatively new to soap making. I have made several CP batches with results I have been happy with so far. Liquid soap...not so much (but that is for another post).
So today I formulated a 100% GM soap and wanted the lightest colored bar I could get so mixed my lye with frozen milk in a sink with ice/water. I kept track of temp and it never went above 90 degrees. I discounted the water amount to 30% as my bar was going to be a soft one according soapcalc. My worry is that my lye mixture was quite thick and kind of clumpy like the milk had separated a bit?? Do you think this was because the temp was so lowing while mixing the milk/lye? I went ahead and added to my oils that were at 100 degrees and stick blended like crazy. It seemed to come together fine and came to trace relatively quickly. Poured into mold and have it in fridge.
Just wondering if you think I should be concerned about DOS or something else entirely?
Thanks, Jenny

 

[ruby61]

Welcome to the smf! Now actually when i soap with goats milk I keep my temps in the 80's and the water discount you used was quite low. Just from mixing the oils and with the blender can put your temp up quite high. I think the clumping could have been from the lye not disolving completley If you post your recipe and percents maybe someone can help you get a harder bar so you don't have to discount so much. Dos takes a while to occur during your curing period so don't think that is the problem.

 

[chicklet]

If you mix the lye into the frozen/slushy milk very, very, very slowlyand hold your mouth just right, you won't get those clumps. Unfortunately I've never figured out exactly how to hold my mouth and I don't know how to do anything slowly so I usually get clumps. Sometimes I get a clump that covers the whole top of the lye mix. To make sure this doesn't affect my soap in a bad way I do two things: one, I stir and stir and stir the lye mix. Then I'll go do something else like melt oils then I'll go back and stir some more. I'll get the mold ready, then stir the lye some more. It's hard to know when lye is completely dissolved in milk, so I stir it a lot more than when I mix it with water. The second thing I do is strain the lye. I use a fine mesh stainless steel strainer (from Walmart) that rests on my soap pot. If you don't strain a lye/milk mix you are taking a chance on some of the lye not being dissolved and then you'll have lye pockets in your soap. Clumps do not necessarily mean you have undissolved lye, but undissolved lye could definitely be hiding in the clumps.

Now you know why most people who make milk soap mix the lye with water, using half the liquid called for as water, then add their milk later, at trace. I still mix mine frozen/slushy as you did and my method works for me, but I would not do it without the excessive stirring and then straining.

 

[new12soap]

The "clumping" is most likely soap, the lye will immediately saponify the fat in the goat milk. As long as you blended it into submission it will probably be fine. That will pretty much always happen w goat milk (or any milk or fatty liquid) and lye. Btw that won't have anything to do w DOS.

And welcome

 

[MooreThanBags]

I add my lye verrrrrrrrrrrrrry slowly to my frozen goat milk; about 2 tbs. at a time and have not had any problems with clumping. It always completely dissolves and I haven't strained it before adding to the oils.

 

[gratia]

What sometimes happens to me is that I get clumps of lye on the bottom of my mixture if I add the lye quick. I don't think that you need to use water and ice to make it even colder. I have yet to have a problem with the frozen milk over heating as I add the lye (knock on wood). Was it hard chunks or mushy?

 

[Cooperkeeper]

Thanks for all the encouraging words. Seems to have set up fine. Will be cutting this afternoon and watching through the curing time for those darned DOS.

 

[chicklet]

DOS is not really likely to show up that soon unless you used some really bad oil. It's a sign that one or more of your oils has gone rancid and it usually takes a while to show up, though you might see it in a month I guess, especially if you used a lot of sunflower oil or hazelnut oil or some other oil that doesn't have a long shelf life.

 

[Hazel]

Hi Jenny,

Welcome to the forum! :grin:

I use sunflower and hazelnut and haven't ever had DOS in any of the batches (just saying).

 

[Lindy]

In my experience I don't get DOS unless I am storing the soap incorrectly with the exception of an organic batch I made and it DOS'd something terrible within 8 weeks. Had to throw it all out....

 

[Cooperkeeper]

Thanks for the responses everyone. To update you all, I took my soap out of the fridge (after it had been there overnight) and took my slab mold apart but let soap sit to warm before cutting. After several hours I attempted to cut and it seemed too crumbly. Ugly cuts!! I let it sit for a couple more hours and finished cutting. Looks terrible. Do any of you have tricks to smooth an uneven edge and make these a little more presentable. I do not sell my soaps yet so if after curing I find this to be a nice conditioning recipe, I will retry without discounting water to see if that helps with this problem.