goats milk..

[turnedlight]

I made my first goats milk soap - I chilled it down in the freezer and added the lye, it went very curdled as expected but then I couldn't whisk out the curdled lumps, and I didn't try my stick blender..
So, then I went and read up some more and found people make up the lye with water, let it cool and then add warmed goats milk to that which sounds much more sensible. Is it? Or is there a good reason not to do this, and also does it prevent the curdling or does that still happen? Is it foolish to use goats milk without a stick blender (I haven't felt the need to use one in my soaps so far)

Any comments gratefully received

 

[Half Caper Farm]

Did you use 100% goat's milk? I've never had the milk curdle when adding lye. Sounds like maybe your milk wasn't frozen enough.

I freeze the milk solid, then put it in my mixing pot, in the sink which is filled with cold water. I add the lye very slowly - sprinkle some on top of the frozen milk, let it go slushy and scrape the slush off, then add some more lye. Takes me a good 15 minutes to add all the lye and melt the milk. Once it's all liquid, I add the milk/lye mixture to my oils. I have always used a stick blender, so not sure how long it would take just stirring by hand.

Some people do half and half, mixing the lye with water, then mixing the lye solution with their oils and, I believe, adding the milk at light trace. I have goats so I like to use 100% milk.

 

[IrishLass]

There are actually a few different ways to make goat milk soap. They all work, but the trick is to find the one with which you are most comfortable.

One way is the frozen the milk method as HalfCaperFarm explained.

Another way is the 'split method'. This is the one I'm most comfortable using as I have no talent or patience for the frozen method. :wink: My hat goes off to HillCaperFarm, because I suck at it. The 'split method' that I use is where you mix your lye with half of your liquid amount as water, and then add the rest of your liquid amount as fresh (not frozen) goat milk directly to your oils (not the lye water), either before or after adding your lye water to them. This will give you a 50% goat milk soap, but you can also make a 100% goat milk soap with it by stirring enough goat milk powder into your fresh goat milk to bring it up to a 100% concentration. This method works great for me. No curdling, no stinky ammonia smell and light, off-white colored soaps, even when gelled.

Another way is to use 100% goat milk powder in a slurry with water and add it at trace.

There are a few other ways, too. Hopefully more people will chime in with their methods.

IrishLass

 

[Half Caper Farm]

My goats don't make powdered milk. :?

 

[turnedlight]

Thank you, that is really helpful! The goats milk I used was actually semi skimmed longlife, as I couldn't find it fresh at the time. I shall get some fresh milk, and try again with your techniques

 

[Half Caper Farm]

Huh! Now I'm trying to remember if it's cheese or soap that you can't use ultra-pasteurized milk for - maybe both?

<mumble, mumble, franken-foods, mumble> :evil:

 

[tisci]

There are actually a few different ways to make goat milk soap. They all work, but the trick is to find the one with which you are most comfortable.

One way is the frozen the milk method as HalfCaperFarm explained.

Another way is the 'split method'. This is the one I'm most comfortable using as I have no talent or patience for the frozen method. :wink: My hat goes off to HillCaperFarm, because I suck at it. The 'split method' that I use is where you mix your lye with half of your liquid amount as water, and then add the rest of your liquid amount as fresh (not frozen) goat milk directly to your oils (not the lye water), either before or after adding your lye water to them. This will give you a 50% goat milk soap, but you can also make a 100% goat milk soap with it by stirring enough goat milk powder into your fresh goat milk to bring it up to a 100% concentration. This method works great for me. No curdling, no stinky ammonia smell and light, off-white colored soaps, even when gelled.

Another way is to use 100% goat milk powder in a slurry with water and add it at trace.

There are a few other ways, too. Hopefully more people will chime in with their methods.

IrishLass

I have a question about adding the powder to the fresh milk. Would you do half goat's milk w/the powder added & half lye water? That's how I'm reading it, but i jut want to make sure before I completely mess this up when I try it.

 

[SudsyKat]

Half Caper Farm - Not to get too off topic, but I just read your blog (the "www" link). I love it! For an animal loving city girl, it's fun to read about farm life - and you're a great writer. I'll have to try the goat's milk soap - I've done buttermilk and it came out good, so next, I'll go for the GM.

 

[Guest]

You are my dream!!! Access to goatsmilk. I have neighbors who have goats, but around here they are mostly for dinner........ I think I need to approach them for a swap. Just as an fyi, would you be offended if a neighbor wanted to swap honey for soap?

I do the frozen method. But what I do is start dissolving the lye in a very small amount of water, like 1/8 of the liquid amount, add some lye and stir until dissolved, wait until it cools, add slushy milk, wait for it to cool, add lye, wait for it to cool.......etc. It takes a long time but I got some soap that came out a light, light tan. I wasn't crazy about the scent, though. I add honey to all my soaps. Had friends tell me they could smell a sweet scent. I couldn't. A honey, goatsmilk soap, to me, would be for someone with sensitive skin so I would like to avoid scent and/or color.

 

[Microdot]

There are actually a few different ways to make goat milk soap. They all work, but the trick is to find the one with which you are most comfortable.

One way is the frozen the milk method as HalfCaperFarm explained.

Another way is the 'split method'. This is the one I'm most comfortable using as I have no talent or patience for the frozen method. :wink: My hat goes off to HillCaperFarm, because I suck at it. The 'split method' that I use is where you mix your lye with half of your liquid amount as water, and then add the rest of your liquid amount as fresh (not frozen) goat milk directly to your oils (not the lye water), either before or after adding your lye water to them. This will give you a 50% goat milk soap, but you can also make a 100% goat milk soap with it by stirring enough goat milk powder into your fresh goat milk to bring it up to a 100% concentration. This method works great for me. No curdling, no stinky ammonia smell and light, off-white colored soaps, even when gelled.

Another way is to use 100% goat milk powder in a slurry with water and add it at trace.

There are a few other ways, too. Hopefully more people will chime in with their methods.

IrishLass

I have a question about adding the powder to the fresh milk. Would you do half goat's milk w/the powder added & half lye water? That's how I'm reading it, but i jut want to make sure before I completely mess this up when I try it.

I'm not Irish Lass, but yes, add the powder to the milk.

Dotty

 

[ToniD]

My goats don't make powdered milk. :?

 

[Half Caper Farm]

Half Caper Farm - Not to get too off topic, but I just read your blog (the "www" link). I love it! For an animal loving city girl, it's fun to read about farm life - and you're a great writer. I'll have to try the goat's milk soap - I've done buttermilk and it came out good, so next, I'll go for the GM.

Thanks! I just started with it last month and wasn't sure if anyone ever read it - nice to know someone has. And I need to get over there and post some more stuff.

You'll love the GM soap. :wink:

 

[turnedlight]

just as an update, though I thought my soap had gone all wrong, I let it mature and tried it, and it was really nice! The tiny little dots which were left from the curdled lumps seem to have blended in, there is no graininess and it lathers nicely - I am going to try your methods, and do it again.

 

[Half Caper Farm]

just as an update, though I thought my soap had gone all wrong, I let it mature and tried it, and it was really nice! The tiny little dots which were left from the curdled lumps seem to have blended in, there is no graininess and it lathers nicely - I am going to try your methods, and do it again.

Excellent!

 

[turnedlight]

Made my second GM soap yesterday, I tried the method of mixing the lye with some of the water and then adding the GM (a greater proportion of the liquid) when it had cooled. It went really well, stayed a pale colour and not much curdling, and the soap doesn't look grainy at all I plan to try the frozen cubes of GM next - I couldn't this time as I foolishly froze the entire carton of GM! :roll:

 

[c.a.p.]

Good luck. I use the frozen cube method, same as Half Caper Farm. I use 100% GM because I need an outlet for my milk. That's the only reason I got into soapmaking - too much milk!

I love it!

 

[Half Caper Farm]

You are my dream!!! Access to goatsmilk. I have neighbors who have goats, but around here they are mostly for dinner........ I think I need to approach them for a swap. Just as an fyi, would you be offended if a neighbor wanted to swap honey for soap?

Absolutely not! I'd be thrilled! Actually, I do barter with a neighbour for honey sometimes - I trade eggs for honey. I also traded my Boer buck's services for some hay this fall with the same neighbour. Barter is the country way of life.

 

[Desdemona65]

I use canned goat milk. I add it to the oils or I add it to the soap mixture after I have added the lye water to that. I think it's much kinder to the goat milk and adding lye straight to it. Rarely do I have curdling, although some scents will cause that problem and there is little you can do about it. I also do the same with buttermilk fresh from the carton, making the liquid more of a percentage of water.

 

[Desdemona65]

double post