Goat's milk question

[terminatortoo]

I am going to make GM soap and I was told by one person that I could use GM in place of all the water. I froze the GM 11oz. but I'm wondering if the lye will absolutely melt all the frozen GM and if it doesn't what should I do?

 

[kpduty51]

I have done this three times, so am not an expert. But it has worked well each time. I am very careful.
Here is what I would suggest, that has worked successfully for me. I break up the frozen goats milk so it is sort of a slushy mix in the bottom of the bowl. Add the lye very, very slowly and stir carefully all the while. take short breaks from adding lye to stir and melt. Then add more. Give the lye a chance to melt the milk. Continue to slowly add lye. Stir this really, really well. You can't see if it is dissolved as well as you can with clear liquid. Some people strain the mixture once it is combined to make sure there is not lye chunk. I do not. I do stir it slowly for a long time and look at it carefully. Going slow is good. Your milk might change color (probably) and it could scorch. Maybe not, if you froze the milk and slowly dissolved the lye..... this works for me.
I love using goat milk. My milk has gotten bright yellow, but has not scorched. The color was not a big deal and made no difference to the soap.
I bet more experienced soapers will weigh in with good advice.

 

[Ruthie]

It will melt it all. You'll want to add a little lye at a time so it does not "cook" the GM. I add about a tablespoon at a time, stir it into my GM ice cubes, then add another T., and continue til all my lye is stirred in. If you add it too quickly, the GM will turn brown, which negates the good you did by freezing it.

 

[kpduty51]

Also, the slower I went, the better it melted. The lye will melt it if you go slow and don't overwhelm it.
the first time I did it, I was worried about getting to a higher temp. then I learned about soaping at low temps. I love it. The temp may not go to high, but it should melt.

 

[terminatortoo]

What about the temp of the oils? Should I make the oils and the lye around the same temp like I do with my other recipes?

 

[thefarmerdaughter]

I recommend straining your GM lye solution. If you don't already. Sometimes you can get undissolved lye particle using this method and they are hard to see in the milk.

 

[kpduty51]

When I do it I make them close in temps. Like within 10 degress. Which is easy since the slow melting process lets the oils cool, too. Seems to be almost the same without having to fuss at all. I have seen different ways of interpreting the cool temp soaping process, but I like to keep it simple and am trying to standardize (while at the same time refining) my method. Learning, learning, learning...

 

[terminatortoo]

I just got thru pouring it, it turned a golden tan during the lye mixing and it has a slight odor. I sure hope it comes out!

 

[kpduty51]

Hi,
Sounds like you did a good job.
Are you going to gel it, or keep it cool and try to prevent gel?
I am currently embracing gelling... It seems to want to do it, so instead of working hard to stop it, I am going along for the ride. Maybe later I will try to stop it again. I did keep it from gelling once with my honey goatsmilk and oatmeal soap.
I made hard cider soap today for the first time--it gelled completely and is cooling down. Looks like it worked so far.
Good luck with yours.

 

[Aunt Polly]

What others said about adding lye slooooowwwlly to your GM. In addition I place the GM/lye pot in an ice water bath while adding the lye. It will smell, though:sick:. I melt the solid oils, then add the liquid oils, and this helps cool the oils down.

 

[terminatortoo]

What others said about adding lye slooooowwwlly to your GM. In addition I place the GM/lye pot in an ice water bath while adding the lye. It will smell, though:sick:. I melt the solid oils, then add the liquid oils, and this helps cool the oils down.

I do the same thing with my oils melt the hard ones then add the liquid ones, it works great.

 

[judymoody]

I SB powdered goat's milk into my oils because I'm too lazy and I don't have access to fresh. I admire your patience!

 

[terminatortoo]

Hi,
Sounds like you did a good job.
Are you going to gel it, or keep it cool and try to prevent gel?
I am currently embracing gelling... It seems to want to do it, so instead of working hard to stop it, I am going along for the ride. Maybe later I will try to stop it again. I did keep it from gelling once with my honey goatsmilk and oatmeal soap.
I made hard cider soap today for the first time--it gelled completely and is cooling down. Looks like it worked so far.
Good luck with yours.

I like to gel my soaps but this one I stuck in the freezer.
Judy I usually use powdered GM but I wanted to try this at least once.