Goat milk soap

[Leelalee]

I've been sifting through old thread's trying to get all my answers before I try my first batch of goats milk soap. Sorry if this has been answered.

I'm going to do the 1/2 of water being GM added at trace.

I'm assuming as the GM has fat in it I should do a huge percentage on my super fatting? Is there anything in regards to the types of oils, fats and butters I use that I need to be careful over?

And can I add honey to the water and Lye at the beginning, even though there is less water?

Thanks all!

 

[Sunny]

You don't need to account for the fat in the milk, just ignore it and do your regular superfat. Around 5%.

Be careful adding honey to your lye water because it can burn and get stinky! (it usually burns no matter what I do so there you go. hah)

 

[Leelalee]

Maybe I should try one variable at a time.

Thanks!

 

[Stinkydancer]

I wouldn't go with both if you haven't done it before. I would ace the milk part first and go from there.

But if your stubborn like I was when I first started go for it!

It has been awhile but I did it the same way- add the milk after you add the water- stick blend in or stir (work fast)- Then I threw the honey in there- stirred some more and didn't insulate- just stuck it in the freezer for a couple of hours and the fridge for another 12-24 or whenever I remembered to get it out of there.

Good luck to you and let us know how it goes.

 

[nattynoo]

Agree...I don't worry about adjusting the fat.

 

[peteyfoozer]

I do about the same thing. Dissolve the lye in half of the water, and add the GM at trace. I put honey and oatmeal in at trace also. I have wooden molds with lids so i just put the lids on and watch them for a couple of hours, until they fully gel. When they are done, they are kind of carmel colored and smell like a granola bar

 

[LisaNY]

I do about the same thing. Dissolve the lye in half of the water, and add the GM at trace. I put honey and oatmeal in at trace also. I have wooden molds with lids so i just put the lids on and watch them for a couple of hours, until they fully gel. When they are done, they are kind of carmel colored and smell like a granola bar

Do you put a towel over them as well, or is it just the lid? Once they gel, you remove the lid?

I just bought some goat's milk, but I'm afraid to try it. I soaped with coconut milk yesterday, put it in the refrig, and it started gelling almost immediately. I never felt such hot soap.

 

[Sunny]

There are some recipes that you can hardly help but to gel. I don't fight the gel, I just let it happen, otherwise you can get partial gel ... which is worse in my opinion!

 

[peteyfoozer]

I let my lye and oils get pretty cool when i do the milk soap. I had insulated before but they got too hot, then someone here mentioned the lid would be adequate, and its been working great for those, as they do heat up, but mine have not burned and smell wonderful when they are done, with no added fragrance.

 

[paillo]

I let my lye and oils get pretty cool when i do the milk soap. I had insulated before but they got too hot, then someone here mentioned the lid would be adequate, and its been working great for those, as they do heat up, but mine have not burned and smell wonderful when they are done, with no added fragrance.

this method has been very successful for me too. when i insulated milk soaps, esp goat milk, they burned and smelled terrible.

i've had good results from honey powder added at trace, instead of liquid honey.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Add your lye to the water and allow it to cool a bit and then add your honey and stir in well and don't worry about the orange colour. As a matter of interest, the other day I let my lye go stony cold and the honey would not dissolve.

I mainly use Olive/Coconut/Palm with no issues. What are you thinking of using?

When I pour GM & Honey soap into Milky Way shallow slab moulds or into individual moulds, it doesn't gel at all and I don't put it into the fridge. When I pour into loaf mould, it wants to gel. I prefer my goat milk soaps ungelled but that's just me. :wink:

 

[glenolam]

I made Oatmeal Milk & Honey GM soap by using frozen goat milk (from my own goat), crushed oatmeal and honey in a 4lb batch.

I freeze the milk and use that with the lye directly - I don't use water at all. There's a new thread where people say how they mix their GM with the lye.....I take my frozen, premeasured GM out of the freezer, heat all my oils, then put the frozen milk in my lye pot. I slowly add the lye to the milk - the more frozen the milk the better, although it will take a while for the milk and lye to mix. If your milk is too warm it'll scald and create bright orange-red chunks (burned milk).

I added my oatmeal and the honey at trace - the soap was AWESOME! I have used both wooden molds and the plastic tray molds from WSP - neither of mine gel because I don't soap at high temps to begin with. I don't insulate or cover the molds either - I prefer my soap ungelled.

 

[oh2bejoy]

Hello--sorry to butt in here, but I have to ask: do you strain your gm/lye solution before adding it to the oil? I do exactly what you do--add the lye to frozen gm, but it curdles a little and I get some solids. So I do strain the solution. Is that what you do, too?

 

[SudsyKat]

I'm about to make my first milk soap and I decided to go with buttermilk (for a facial soap). Would you say that this method would apply pretty much the same way to a buttermilk formula? I figure it will, but maybe buttermilk has some weird property that I'm not aware of. Thought I'd ask.

Thank you!

 

[Leelalee]

So I tried the 50% water with lye and goats milk at trace method. Seemed to work well, no dark color or anything. I put my soap in a 3inch PVC pipe and it got a bit to warm and pushed up for a minute or two (so my soap has an outie) and my lye water got cloudy as it cooled. Despite those two little issues it seemed to have worked out just right.

Anyone else have cloudy Lye water with this method?

 

[LisaNY]

So I tried the 50% water with lye and goats milk at trace method. Seemed to work well, no dark color or anything. I put my soap in a 3inch PVC pipe and it got a bit to warm and pushed up for a minute or two (so my soap has an outie) and my lye water got cloudy as it cooled. Despite those two little issues it seemed to have worked out just right.

Anyone else have cloudy Lye water with this method?

Yes, mine gets a bit cloudy with a slight skin on top. One thing I learned was when working with 1/2 the water, to add lye very slowly and stir, stir, stir.

 

[SmellyKat]

I do about the same thing. Dissolve the lye in half of the water, and add the GM at trace. I put honey and oatmeal in at trace also. I have wooden molds with lids so i just put the lids on and watch them for a couple of hours, until they fully gel. When they are done, they are kind of carmel colored and smell like a granola bar

Do you put a towel over them as well, or is it just the lid? Once they gel, you remove the lid?

I just bought some goat's milk, but I'm afraid to try it. I soaped with coconut milk yesterday, put it in the refrig, and it started gelling almost immediately. I never felt such hot soap.

Lisa, did you use the 50/50 split (coconut milk at trace) like some do with GM? How did it turn out? Sounds like it would be a creamy soap.

 

[glenolam]

Hello--sorry to butt in here, but I have to ask: do you strain your gm/lye solution before adding it to the oil? I do exactly what you do--add the lye to frozen gm, but it curdles a little and I get some solids. So I do strain the solution. Is that what you do, too?

I never have any solids in my lye/milk mixture. I found that if the milk isn't frozen enough it will curdle a little and turn a tan or orange color from being too warm. I mix a little of the lye in at a time and stir, stir, stir trying to break up the chunks as it warms - and I do it in an ice bath in the kitchen sink with the window open due to the fumes. My mixture rarely gets over ~95* or so.

My way takes a while and A LOT of stirring, but to me is worth it.

 

[LisaNY]

Lisa, did you use the 50/50 split (coconut milk at trace) like some do with GM? How did it turn out? Sounds like it would be a creamy soap.

Yes, I did. It turned out beautifully! There are little brown bits throughout the soap, but it looks fine to me. The soap is a medium brown color, due to the FO I used. My CM/GM soaps *definitely* feel creamier than those without. They are not cured enough yet, so I haven't tried them out. I can't wait, though!

I have a 7lb batch of GM and a 2.5lb batch of CM soaps in the molds right now. )

I think the 50/50 split is the way to go. Much easier to work with, and I've read that there isn't a huge difference in final product between 100% and 50%. (disclaimer: this is based on what I have read from a few soapers)