How to use Goat Milk in CP recipe

[EllieMae]

I *think* I now have a favourite CP recipe after about 10 batches that I would like to now try making with goat milk for the first time. I have some questions that I *think* I know the answers to, but would love confirmation before I attempt!

1. To use goat milk would I simply replace the water in my recipe entirely with GM or do I have to do some sort of conversion (I'm planning to use GM powder, so I was planning to do my recipe as usual and just add the appropriate amount of powder, based on my water content, to my oils)

2. I'm planning to use 1-1.5 tsp PPO of oatmeal. Does this seem reasonable?

3. Can I use my base recipe or is it a good idea to adjust the oil percentages when using GM?

4. If I were to add some honey, at what PPO rate would you recommend (or would you recommend skipping the honey all together)?

5. Are there any EO scents that you would absolutely not recommend with GM (either because they react poorly or because they just smell awful together)?

For reference, my recipe is:
Castor - 5%
Coconut - 20%
Lard - 55%
Olive - 20%
Superfat 5%
Lye concentration 33%

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

I use the milk in place of water. I freeze the milk into cubes and then add the lye to the frozen cubes and stir constantly until melted to prevent the sugars in the milk from burning. If you're using the powder you can just mix up the lye normally with water and add the powder to your melted oils and stick blend the powder with the oils before adding the lye.

I use 1 tbs of colloidal oatmeal per pound of oils and I add it and stick blend it into the oils before adding the lye.

1 tbs of honey per pound of oils.
I add the honey to a small amount of hot water to dissolve it and then I pour that into the milk/lye solution after the ice has melted. Since you are using water just add the honey after the lye has been dissolved and stir well and frequently so prevent burning.

You can add any fragrance oil to milk soap. I make only milk soaps and I use all kinds of fragrances. The milk soaps don't have any particular smell after saponification other than just a soapy smell. Your Oatmeal will add an oat smell to the bars though. Kind of like cooking oatmeal but just slightly so if you add fragrance it's likely to cover any scent. I make just oatmeal, milk, and honey soap with no added fragrance all the time, it's one of my best sellers and everyone likes the smell of the soap by itself.

 

[EllieMae]

Thank you so much @CatahoulaBubble !!!

I think I'll try unscented with honey first!

 

[lsg]

If you are using goat milk powder, I would reserve just enough water to dissolve the powder and use the rest of the water to dissolve the lye. I would add the dissolved goats milk to soap batter at thin trace. I like Crafters Choice Oatmeal Milk & Honey. It does turn the soap darker, though.

 

[TheGecko]

I *think* I now have a favourite CP recipe after about 10 batches that I would like to now try making with goat milk for the first time. I have some questions that I *think* I know the answers to, but would love confirmation before I attempt!

1. To use goat milk would I simply replace the water in my recipe entirely with GM or do I have to do some sort of conversion (I'm planning to use GM powder, so I was planning to do my recipe as usual and just add the appropriate amount of powder, based on my water content, to my oils)

I haven't used powder, but I have used organic evaporated goat milk and fresh goat milk. I would imagine using powder is the same as using evap, you would want to read the directions to reconstitute it; for evap, it's 50/50 so if my recipe calls for 10 oz of water, I would use 5 oz of evap GM.

3. Can I use my base recipe or is it a good idea to adjust the oil percentages when using GM?

You can use your regular recipe.

4. If I were to add some honey, at what PPO rate would you recommend (or would you recommend skipping the honey all together)?

I personally would not use honey the first time around. I ended up tossing my first batch of GMS because I was not fully prepared for the difference that GM can make...I ended up with a medium brown loaf that didn't really smell all that great and had separated because it had overheated during saponification. Lesson learned and my second batch turned out just like I wanted.

5. Are there any EO scents that you would absolutely not recommend with GM (either because they react poorly or because they just smell awful together)?

I used to buy GMS (the whole reason I got into soap making) from a lady and she easily make two dozen+ different scents on a regular bases and then had seasonal scents, and then there are all the other scents I have seen other GMS makers us. As long as you don't scorch/burn the milk, you would use the same scents as you would with any other kind of soap, with the same caution for acceleration, ricing, discoloration, etc. An example is Pearberry...it accelerates in regular soap (I lost a bowl the first time), it accelerates in GMS...smells just as nice in either.

 

[Curtis]

I have limited experience but I do use goats milk with most of the soap I'm now making. I added GM (and honey) to my 3rd batch and I can't believe how much of a difference it made! I use powdered GM and subtract a small amount of water from my water/lye and mix the powder. I get a thick GM solution that looks a bit like heavy cream. I add that to my oils after I add the lye water and everything has reached emulsification. I also add honey directly into the oils before I add the lye water. My last batch I did 1 Tbs of honey PPO (along with GM) and had no issues. It was a 1 Lb silicone mold, I covered it with 2 blankets to gel and there was no overheating and it gelled nicely. On that batch I used EO's of lemongrass, rosemary and orange and it smells really nice.

My first batch using powdered GM I just stick blended the powder into the oils before I added the lye water. I got soap that had little white splotches in it. I recall stick blending a lot, but it seems that it was probably not enough. Since then I've been doing the method above and have not had that issue. I have read that many people just stick blend the power into the oils before adding lye water and it works perfect. I added an extra step that does create more work but I need something to do while the lye solution cools anyway

I have used several different FO's and EO's and not had a bad reaction yet. Regarding honey, I imagine you could start with 1 Tsp PPO and see how that goes and slowly increase as desired. As I mentioned I last used 1 Tbs PPO without issue but I won't be experimenting with adding more; that's my limit. I did try to CPOP a batch of GM and honey. That didn't go too well, I got some pretty bad overheating but luckily no volcano (I was prepared for it), so I'd suggest staying away from GM, honey and CPOP. I've been covering mine with cardboard and 2 blankets in a variety of molds and they have all been perfect, but this might be temperature and humidity dependent.