Goat Milk soap keeps separating

[Becky]

I make an oatbran, goat milk & honey soap, that never failed until now!! The last 3 batches have all had this big crater full of oil in them.

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The recipe is:
675g Olive oil
405g Coconut oil
270g Palm oil

193g Lye
478g Goats milk

At trace:
125g Oat bran
45g Honey
6g Ginger Souffle FO

As you can tell from the picture, I don't chill the milk. I forgot to the first time I made it, and everyone who tried it liked the brown colour.

I have been really careful for this last batch to do everything the way I did the first 3-4 times I made it with no problems, but I'm still ending up with this huge crater full of oil. The only thing that I am doing differently is using a wood log mold instead of PVC pipe.

Has anyone out there got any ideas on what I am doing wrong? I'm getting really tired of cleaning up the huge mess of oil, and this soap is for an order from a girl at work, so I'd really like to get it made and curing!

Thanks in advance.

Becky.[/img]

 

[CPSoaper]

It looks like the soap might have gotten too hot. Honey and milk are known accelerators. Next time, try soaping with your gm chilled, frozen or added at trace. To add it trace, you can save back some of your gm from your liquid calculation for you lye. Once you hit trace, you then add that gm in. Also try putting the soap in the refrigerator once you are done. Or put fans on it to keep it from getting to hot.

 

[Lucy]

Do you make sure your palm is mixed up? The stearic could be settling at the bottom

 

[Becky]

OK, so I made sure that my palm was well mixed before use, and put the soap in the fridge until it firmed up. I got a lovely tan log of soap, with a huge crater of oil.

I didn't chill the milk before use, because I like the tan color that I'm getting. This hasn't made a difference in the batches I've made previously (before this last few)

I'm wondering if the mold I'm using is keeping it too hot, regardless of the fact that I put it in the fridge? Previously, I made a smaller batch & used a 3 inch PVC pipe as a mold. Now I am using a wooden log mold that DH made for me that fits a larger batch, but has less surface area and due to the wood is more insulating.

Maybe this soap is just destined to be round!

 

[Guest]

Are you cooling your oils down, including your lye water? that will help too.

 

[Becky]

I have been, but maybe not enough...

Off to try again this arvo!!

I am determined to make this one work. Everyone that has tried it loves it, so I don't want to keep mucking about with small batches.

 

[CPSoaper]

I soap in a log mold and can tell you that they can get warm. With my gm soaps, I usually use my kelsei. Try this next time. Only use a part of your water amount to mix with the lye with the remaining amount being the gm that you will hold off to the side - don't add it to the lye solution. Soap with your oils at rt only. Freeze or cool the gm that you have held back. Add it the lye mixture made with only a portion of the liquid to the oils and once you have reached trace, add in the held back gm. Always slowly add the lye mixture to the oils. Once you pour the mixture in the mold, place in the fridge and just leave it there.

This method works well for me so I hope it works for you.

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Yep too hot, oils separated in the center. I use my TOG Dual Log Mold most always. I put to top on just until I get full gel, then remove. That is why I soap at Room Temperature Cold Process! Especially since I only do goat milk. All my ingredients, master-batched recipe in 2-1/2 gallon jug, 1/2 gallon of pre-mixed 50% lye solution, all at 75 degrees, and very cold fresh goat milk added at emulsification. Goat milk and room temp oils go hand-in-hand! Love it! Works every time guys!

Paul.... :wink:

 

[HerthElde]

According to one of my books (Soapmaker's Companion by Susan Miller Cavitch or Casey Makela's Milk-Based Soaps, I don't remember which), if you leave your milk/lye mix at room temp for 24 hours, it will darken. So you could do room temp soap and still have your dark color.
HTH!
I just did a batch of goat milk soap using the crock pot hot process method - I added my lye to frozen goat milk, and by the time it dissolved it was room temp.

 

[Becky]

Success!! Finally.

I mixed the lye & milk, put it in the fridge for a couple of hours to cool down. I then zapped the oils until they were soft enough to combine, and set them aside to come back to room temp. Then, to make REALLY sure, I put the batch in the fridge until it was firm.

NO big cavities of oil and nastiness, YAY. It has come out a pale tan or beige colour. Not the nice gingerbread brown that I was getting, but I'll take tan for the sake of having soap that doesn't leak oil everywhere when I slice it.

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Great news Becky! Sounds like a great batch og GM soap!

Paul.... :wink:

 

[CPSoaper]

Way to go Becky. We never doubted that you could do it. 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)