Goat milk, Yogurt and Whey

[ackosel]

I started making soap because I raise dairy goats and like finding lots of ways to use the milk. I also make goat butter, mozzarella, cottage cheese, chèvre and yogurt. Well, this morning my 2-year-old got bored while eating her breakfast and decided to wash her hands in her cherry yogurt. When I washed her up, I noticed how soft her hands were and thought, "I wonder if I can put yogurt in soap?" So I looked it up on the forum and sure enough, yogurt in soap is a thing!

Then I wondered what properties yogurt would bring to soap, and whether or not it's "better" than just milk. Being pre-diabetic, I strain my yogurt to make it Greek style which has less carbohydrates than regular yogurt. My guess is that the carbs are in the whey that comes out of the yogurt. So that would make it higher in sugar than the yogurt itself, which should produce more bubbles in the soap. Does anyone here have experience using yogurt or yogurt whey in their soap? How about whey or uncultured buttermilk? I make cottage cheese by adding vinegar to the milk, so the whey would have vinegar in it.

Oh, the experiments that need experimenting! I am also rendering a couple hundred pounds of beef tallow I got from the butcher. I'm thinking high tallow and homemade goat yogurt soap...

 

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

I read this as Goat yogurt soup I’m curious about whey also, I was milking our cow and making butter, ricotta, yogurt and cream cheese. I was not good at using vinegar to curdle the milk and had to go old school with rennet. We had tons of whey that went to the pigs, no one liked whey no matter how I used it. It would be cool if it could go into soap instead. Off topic (sorry!!!) would you be willing to share your chèvre recipe?

 

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

I read this as Goat yogurt soup I’m curious about whey also, I was milking our cow and making butter, ricotta, yogurt and cream cheese. I was not good at using vinegar to curdle the milk and had to go old school with rennet. We had tons of whey that went to the pigs, no one liked whey no matter how I used it. It would be cool if it could go into soap instead. Off topic (sorry!!!) would you be willing to share your chèvre recipe? I have a dairy goat, I know goat math is going to mean I’m gonna wind up with 2 more, only so much can be frozen for soap.

 

[LidiaG]

I love adding milk products in my soaps! There's something special about it. Adds a nice creaminess to the soap.

I add yogurt at the end of HP soap to help with fluidity to pour into the mold. And goat's milk soap is my favorite, I replace all or 1/2 of the water with frozen goat's milk.

As for whey, I never had a chance to try it. I found this online that can interest and help you :
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/using-whey-in-cold-process-soap/

In case you also want to use up that whey.... I have been making yougurt at home this summer, and recently I was introduced to a Turkish drink called Ayran, that I make with the liquid leftover from straining yogurt to make greek yogurt, (not sure if this is whey also), water, a pinch of Pink salt, and yogurt. It's such a refreshing way of having yogurt. I thought it was weird tasting at first, because it is like salty yogurt, when I make my own I can add less salt to my taste. I've read that this is like their Gatorade, their way for staying hydrated. I often get headaches in the summer months and this drink has helped a lot. I also have made a similar drink with honey and a pinch of pink salt or made it like a smoothie with strawberries and pink salt.

Here is a Recipe for Ayran if you're interested:
https://www.themediterraneandish.com/ayran-turkish-yogurt-drink/

Good luck with your soaping experiments

 

[ackosel]

I read this as Goat yogurt soup I’m curious about whey also, I was milking our cow and making butter, ricotta, yogurt and cream cheese. I was not good at using vinegar to curdle the milk and had to go old school with rennet. We had tons of whey that went to the pigs, no one liked whey no matter how I used it. It would be cool if it could go into soap instead. Off topic (sorry!!!) would you be willing to share your chèvre recipe?

I love this topic, no apologies necessary! For chèvre, I just got a starter culture from New England Cheesemaking Supply and followed the directions on the package. Next time I'm going to add garlic and herbs. Mmm!

What breed of cow do you have? I'm tempted to trade in my goats for an A2A2 Jersey, but we have to buy a bigger property with cow pasture instead of goat browse before I can do that. I'll need a cheese cave, too!

 

[ackosel]

I love adding milk products in my soaps! There's something special about it. Adds a nice creaminess to the soap.

I add yogurt at the end of HP soap to help with fluidity to pour into the mold. And goat's milk soap is my favorite, I replace all or 1/2 of the water with frozen goat's milk.

As for whey, I never had a chance to try it. I found this online that can interest and help you :
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/using-whey-in-cold-process-soap/

In case you also want to use up that whey.... I have been making yougurt at home this summer, and recently I was introduced to a Turkish drink called Ayran, that I make with the liquid leftover from straining yogurt to make greek yogurt, (not sure if this is whey also), water, a pinch of Pink salt, and yogurt. It's such a refreshing way of having yogurt. I thought it was weird tasting at first, because it is like salty yogurt, when I make my own I can add less salt to my taste. I've read that this is like their Gatorade, their way for staying hydrated. I often get headaches in the summer months and this drink has helped a lot. I also have made a similar drink with honey and a pinch of pink salt or made it like a smoothie with strawberries and pink salt.

Here is a Recipe for Ayran if you're interested:
https://www.themediterraneandish.com/ayran-turkish-yogurt-drink/

Good luck with your soaping experiments

Thank you so much for all that great information! I've never made soap without milk, most of it being a 100% substitution for water. I've been using all my dairy byproducts to ferment chicken feed, and boy howdy, do those milkfed chickens taste good!!!
It sounds like whey doesn't really add anything different to soap than milk already does, so maybe I'll keep feeding that to the chickens and try using some Greek yogurt in my next batch of soap. I'm currently purifying a huge batch of beef tallow, so any suggestions for a tallow/goat yogurt recipe to use would be appreciated! I was thinking of using 1/3 olive oil, 1/3 coconut oil, 1/3 tallow with 33% lye concentration, 2% superfat and substitute frozen yogurt cubes for 100% of the water.

 

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

I love this topic, no apologies necessary! For chèvre, I just got a starter culture from New England Cheesemaking Supply and followed the directions on the package. Next time I'm going to add garlic and herbs. Mmm!

What breed of cow do you have? I'm tempted to trade in my goats for an A2A2 Jersey, but we have to buy a bigger property with cow pasture instead of goat browse before I can do that. I'll need a cheese cave, too!

We had a beautiful Guernsey cow, we lost her last month . She did have a heifer calf before we lost her that will be my up and coming milk cow I hope! Look into a Dexter or a mini, a Jersey is going to give you so much milk you will be drowning in it lol. We got my girl at the tail end of her lactation and we were getting 3+ gallons a day!!!! Another option for you is to see if a “cow share” is legal where you live. In VA it’s a work around to you can’t sell raw milk. You buy a share of the cow and a monthly fee for care and upkeep in exchange for milk from “your” cow.

 

[ackosel]

We had a beautiful Guernsey cow, we lost her last month . She did have a heifer calf before we lost her that will be my up and coming milk cow I hope! Look into a Dexter or a mini, a Jersey is going to give you so much milk you will be drowning in it lol. We got my girl at the tail end of her lactation and we were getting 3+ gallons a day!!!! Another option for you is to see if a “cow share” is legal where you live. In VA it’s a work around to you can’t sell raw milk. You buy a share of the cow and a monthly fee for care and upkeep in exchange for milk from “your” cow.

I'm sorry you lost your cow, but I'm so glad you got a heifer from her first! We have 8 children and raise hundreds of meat chickens a year for ourselves and family. All those children and chickens handle a lot of milk! I'm currently milking 6 goats for a total of about 4-5 gallons a day. We're keeping up with it, so a Jersey might be just what we need! I've heard great things about Dexters, too. A cow is a long way off for us, though.

Here in Montana, raw milk sale is legal, so we're in a good place that way.

 

[ackosel]

Haha, good old goat math! That's why I'm milking 6 does. I have 18 altogether, bucks and kids included. The 10 youngsters are freezer-bound, but not until I harvest that amazing goat tallow. I ran out a while back, and the herd got nervous!

 

[LidiaG]

tallow/goat yogurt recipe to use would be appreciated! I was thinking of using 1/3 olive oil, 1/3 coconut oil, 1/3 tallow with 33% lye concentration, 2% superfat and substitute frozen yogurt cubes for 100% of the water.

Love that tallow!!!
I personally find that 33% coconut oil would be way too harsh on my skin. I could use 20-25% in the summer months only, not in the winter.

If you have already tested and liked something that high in CO then go for it, or do something like a test batch and see.

Personally, with all that tallow that you have I would add more tallow to the soap recipe. And do something like
20%CO
60% tallow
20% Olive
2% superfat or even 1% because you will have the extra oils from your milk/yogurt and other unsaponifiables from the oils.

Do you have any castor oil on hand? If you do it would be nice to add 2-5% of the total oils.

If you have any Citric acid or sodium citrate, to use as a chelator you can use 2-3% of the total oil weight, if you use Citric acid adjust your extra lye need to turn the Citric acid into sodium citrate or use soapmaking friend lye calculator. It will do the calculations for you.

You could also add to your lye water, milk or yogurt a tsp/ppo of sugar for added bubbles, since I tried sugar in soap, I add it to all my soaps. Yes sugar is addictive even in soap

This high tallow soap will be very hard, so watch your timing to cut it. I'm guessing around 8 hours depending on your soaping and house temperature.
This is what the recipe above will look like on the graphic:

 

[ackosel]

Love that tallow!!!
I personally find that 33% coconut oil would be way too harsh on my skin. I could use 20-25% in the summer months only, not in the winter.

If you have already tested and liked something that high in CO then go for it, or do something like a test batch and see.

Personally, with all that tallow that you have I would add more tallow to the soap recipe. And do something like
20%CO
60% tallow
20% Olive
2% superfat or even 1% because you will have the extra oils from your milk/yogurt and other unsaponifiables from the oils.

Do you have any castor oil on hand? If you do it would be nice to add 2-5% of the total oils.

If you have any Citric acid or sodium citrate, to use as a chelator you can use 2-3% of the total oil weight, if you use Citric acid adjust your extra lye need to turn the Citric acid into sodium citrate or use soapmaking friend lye calculator. It will do the calculations for you.

You could also add to your lye water, milk or yogurt a tsp/ppo of sugar for added bubbles, since I tried sugar in soap, I add it to all my soaps. Yes sugar is addictive even in soap

This high tallow soap will be very hard, so watch your timing to cut it. I'm guessing around 8 hours depending on your soaping and house temperature.
This is what the recipe above will look like on the graphic:View attachment 78426

Thank you so much! I have used 33% coconut oil before and loved the lather, but I do prefer less coconut oil due to dry skin and cracked fingers. I've been using 23% co, 45% oo, 28% lard, and 4% castor oil which I really like for designs because it stays fluid. I really like the looks of your recipe. Thank you so much for sharing it! I've used citric acid before, but didn't like the feel of the soap, though it did improve with a longer cure time. I have colloidal oatmeal that I want to try, too.

I made an unscented, uncolored 75% oo and 25% goat tallow soap with 100% goat milk 3 1/2 months ago that is finally starting to turn into a really nice soap. Goat tallow is twice as cleansing/bubbly as beef tallow, and the Bastille soap is developing a decent, bubbly lather that looks to get even better over time. I'd like to make more Bastille soap with goat tallow after butchering season, this time with essential oils and some natural colorant. My first batch set up too fast for designs, but I have an itchy trigger finger on the stick blender, so maybe that had a lot to do with it.

But for now, I have LOTS of beef tallow to play with. I'll start with your recipe suggestion and go from there. I love playing with natural colors, essential oils, designs and toppings, so I hope the batter stays fluid long enough for at least a simple design. And who doesn't love the thought of unmolding and cutting soap in 8 hours?!

About sugar - I don't think it would have any negative health impacts in soap, but it has such a bad reputation when consumed that I have a stigma against it! I do want to try honey at some point, and I will also experiment with sugar. I'm sure I'll like it and get over the stigma!

 

[LidiaG]

It's easier for me to get a hold of lard than tallow,
I got an 8lb bucket of beef tallow a few years ago. I remember it making beautiful soaps, I'm finding that Lard is more cost effective for me right now.

Good for you for having abundance of materials like these to be able to make soaps!

For the Citric acid it depends a lot on your water. I maily use it to help with soap scum and to preserve the soaps. Never had any problems with DOS, i believe its because of the CA.
I do often use canola and sunflower oil on my soaps at 15-20%.

I love honey in soaps, but it affects the color. I don't mind the brownish tone of a honey and milk soap at all.

whenever you want to try honey, Its best to disolve the honey in a bit of water and add to frozen milk to be used as lye water. You may also need to put the iced lye water over a cold water bath. Just do what you can to keep the lye water cool enough not to overheat but warm enough that it dissolves the lye well.

You will have a lot less chance of your soap overheating, because of the honey, if you add the honey to the lye water instead of adding it to the oils.

So if I'm making any designs I use plain sugar because of the color given by the honey.

I also like natural colorants, I'm sticking more to using clays these days. pink clay is my favorite. I find that some of the botanical tend to fade a bit too quickly to my liking.

Getting the itch to make soap now

 

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

Haha, good old goat math! That's why I'm milking 6 does. I have 18 altogether, bucks and kids included. The 10 youngsters are freezer-bound, but not until I harvest that amazing goat tallow. I ran out a while back, and the herd got nervous!

I just got rid of all my boer goats, and my Nigerians ran from me for a few days

 

[ackosel]

Love that tallow!!!
I personally find that 33% coconut oil would be way too harsh on my skin. I could use 20-25% in the summer months only, not in the winter.

If you have already tested and liked something that high in CO then go for it, or do something like a test batch and see.

Personally, with all that tallow that you have I would add more tallow to the soap recipe. And do something like
20%CO
60% tallow
20% Olive
2% superfat or even 1% because you will have the extra oils from your milk/yogurt and other unsaponifiables from the oils.

Do you have any castor oil on hand? If you do it would be nice to add 2-5% of the total oils.

If you have any Citric acid or sodium citrate, to use as a chelator you can use 2-3% of the total oil weight, if you use Citric acid adjust your extra lye need to turn the Citric acid into sodium citrate or use soapmaking friend lye calculator. It will do the calculations for you.

You could also add to your lye water, milk or yogurt a tsp/ppo of sugar for added bubbles, since I tried sugar in soap, I add it to all my soaps. Yes sugar is addictive even in soap

This high tallow soap will be very hard, so watch your timing to cut it. I'm guessing around 8 hours depending on your soaping and house temperature.
This is what the recipe above will look like on the graphic:View attachment 78426

Three days ago, I made a batch of soap with the recipe you suggested. I added colloidal oats and sugar. Completely forgot to save out yogurt last time I made it, so yogurt soap will have to wait until next time. There is another gallon of yogurt incubating in the instant pot right now, along with two huge pots of tallow rendering on the stove top.

Back to your recipe suggestion. There was just a little batter that didn't fit in the mold, so I added some matcha powder to it and put it in a round cavity mold. Not the color I was looking for, but it was a good experiment. I tested that little bar just now. It is ROCK hard and already has an amazing lather! Do you think that high tallow content recipe will need as long a cure time as a more balanced recipe?

 

[LidiaG]

Do you think that high tallow content recipe will need as long a cure time as a more balanced

Glad the recipe suggestion worked well for you!

The soap will need some time to cure. I'm thinking minimum 2 weeks. The soap will get milder and milder with time.

It will be harsh on your skin if you use it too early, specially on private parts it would not be a good idea to risk it.

You mentioned that you have kids, so be extra careful.

Try on your hands a few times, then try on yourself before you let your children use it.

 

[AliOop]

My personal experience is that 60% of tallow or lard doesn't seem to require a longer cure time. Once I get up to 70% lard or tallow, the bars definitely don't lather well before 6 weeks, preferably 8-10. But that's based on my recipe, so YMMV.

 

[ackosel]

Oh, I definitely won't be using it except for a weekly test before at least 4 weeks, and my children won't either. Thank you so much for the suggestions and advice. I can't wait to make more!