goats milk question

[crazyk]

Hi all, Ive just tried my first goats milk soap but when I added the lye it turned a curry yellow colour. Does this mean I burnt it?

Thanks

 

[ilovedoxies]

Mine did the same thing. It made my soap a light toasted honey color.

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Hi all, Ive just tried my first goats milk soap but when I added the lye it turned a curry yellow colour. Does this mean I burnt it?

Thanks

As long as it was not a dark tan to orange colour, you didn't. If you burn the GM, it will smell and look a ugly orangish/brown. I burned several batches when I first started...wow did I burn them.

 

[Guest]

If you're willing to accept advice from a newbie who has made only one GM batch here is my version. I'm going to do it this way next time I make GM soap, maybe today or tomorrow.

Start out with chilled GM and optionally about 1/4 or 1/3 as frozen GM cubes. Fill your sink with cold water perhaps 2-3" deep and throw in some ice cubes to keep it cold. You have already weighed your GM and your lye.

Place your lye mixing container filled with your GM in the ice water bath. Put a thermometer in the GM. Have your measured lye nearby and use a small spoon and add just a very small amount of lye to the GM. Stir the GM to mix in the lye and observe the thermometer. Definitely do not allow the GM to heat up beyond 100 degrees, but even better try to keep it to 80 or below.

Now wait several minutes! When you're sure the heat won't rise any more and it's under 80, add a small amount more lye. Continue doing this taking at least 30 minutes to add the lye, or even an hour or longer. I plan to be doing other things and just stopping by the GM-lye mixture perhaps every 10 minutes or so, so I'm not going to spend hours just standing at the sink.

The goal is to never allow the GM to rise above 80 degrees, and this should avoid any heating problems. Remember that adding lye will create a hot spot where the temperature is much higher than your thermometer indicates, so add your lye in very small amounts and quickly stir the mixture to mix it evenly to avoid hot spots.

Well that's one newbie's take on how to avoid the traditional GM problems. I'll report in when I've tried it and let you know how it works.

 

[Lucy]

small amount at a time works althogh I do not take temperture. My goatmilk soap is almost pure white.

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Here is a log of goats milk soap I made today that turned out nice and white, even though it is still in the sylicone type liner, you can see it;


Rosemary~Doublemint

 

[crazyk]

Thanks for all your replies.

I'm going to try another batch and see how it goes.

 

[Guest]

Something else you might want to try -

Get the condensed GM, dissolve your lye in half of the water and add the rest of the GM at trace. It will still be 100% GM but it doesn't burn because you're not adding it to the lye.

 

[cdwinsby]

Powdered goats milk can be used in the same way Marr mentioned.

 

[crazyk]

Suggestions are great. Thanks.

Also one other thing.

What happens if you freeze milk? Does it go off?

you can tell I don't do the cooking at home

 

[zajanatural]

Powdered goats milk can be used in the same way Marr mentioned.

YEs, I love the powdered stuff. I make a slurry with a little water and add it at light trace. White creamy soap every time.

 

[jcandleattic]

Suggestions are great. Thanks.

Also one other thing.

What happens if you freeze milk? Does it go off?

you can tell I don't do the cooking at home

Yes you can freeze it, and no, as long as it doesn't freezer burn, it should be fine. I had some GM in my freezer that got buried and then I forgot about it for about 2 years or so (it's the fridge in the garage and we rarely use the freezer except during the holidays) and when I found it again it was fine. I use fresh from the goat - frozen GM for all of my GM soaps. As long as you mix slowly you should be fine.

Soapmaker Man - that's a nice looking GM soap you have there.