I've always had problems with milk.....

[My Mountain Soaps]

Hi there, i have made two or three batches of milk soap (Its been a while now) and they flopped. I dont remember how they did, but they did. So i would like to ask you how to deal with milk. please tell me a step by step how and what to do. I have some coconut milk that i would like to use. Thank you!

 

[TVivian]

When I used coconut milk, I froze it and mixed it 50/50 with water then added the lye slowly to avoid scorching. It turned the finished soap tan and I wasn't too impressed because to me it didn't add anything special to the soap ... I like what goats milk does to soap a lot better.

 

[My Mountain Soaps]

The only reason i want to use coconut milk is because i bought some for my sever lactose intolerance (Hence the title of this post! ha ha) but come to find it, my stomach cant handle coconut milk either. So, being the recycler that i am, im gonna put it in soap . So, after you have frozen your 50/50 mix, what was your final temperature of the milk lye solution? does the milk ever completely thaw or even get hot? thanks!

 

[TVivian]

I'm so paranoid about my milk burning that I actually put the container of frozen milk into an ice bath in my sink so that it stays super cool. I try not to let the mixture go over 60-70 degrees. It honestly takes me about 45 minutes to incorporate all of the lye because I add it so slowly. On the last spoonful of lye, I take the container out of the ice bath and add it to bring the temperature up just a tiny bit. This is probably an overly cautious technique, but I figure, better to be that way than to mess up expensive ingredients!

 

[TVivian]

Oh! And yes, the milk completely thaws out and the lye does dissolve.

 

[TVivian]

Ok and one more thing then I'll shut up (ha) If you're talking about the kind of coconut milk used for drinking, you can sub 100% of the water! I use the kind for cooking which comes in a can and is too thick to dissolve the lye on its own.. Hence the addition of water.

 

[tinytreats]

I cut my liquid amount In half and mix in my lye. I let that cool to room temp and add to my oils. I then add the other half of my liquid amount in milk at trace. For example, let's say you needed 15oz of water and 5 oz of lye. I would use 7.5 oz of water mixed with 5 oz of lye. Then at trace, I would 7.5 oz of milk. I then freeze my soap for 24-35 hours to prevent the milk from scorching.

 

[Tienne]

When I used coconut milk.... I wasn't too impressed because to me it didn't add anything special to the soap ...

Hmm, well that's disappointing to hear... so it won't make the soap creamier or smoother I guess, but did you notice if it increased the lather or bubbles in any way? Any way at all? :-(

 

[Obsidian]

I really like coconut milk in soap, the lather is creamier but I have only used it in salt bars.

 

[Ruthie]

I've used coconut milk and found it does do a bit for the lather. Otherwise it looks good on the label. And if your coconut milk has guar gum in it, it may speed trace a bit, though it is not unmanageable. There are many ways to handle it. I do it the same way as I do beer or goat's milk (my fav!). I freeze it all and add the lye about a teaspoon at a time to the ice cubes and stir well. I have taken the extra time as TVivian does, but for me it works as well just to add it a bit at a time and keep adding it. I find my ice cubes are just finishing melting as I add the last teaspoon or 2 of lye, so the temp. is still very cool. As long as I do this, I end up with a nice white soap. (Though not with the beer of course!)

 

[neeners]

I use 100% milk in my soap (mostly goat, but used coconut and banana once). I freeze in old tofu containers (they're rectangle, and I put about 1cm of liquid in it). then, when solid frozen, I put in my lye container. start adding some lye to it, little at a time. i'll chunk off the frozen liquid, and just keep mixing. my mixture doesn't usually get hotter than RT that way, so I don't have an ice bath nearby anymore......

good luck, and you can do it!

 

[MaitriBB]

I soap at room temp, so I need hot lye solution to melt my hard oils, and therefore I can't use frozen milk. I put powdered goat's milk in at trace, and that works for me.

 

[judymoody]

Canned coconut milk used at 100% of your liquid will effectively raise your superfat quite dramatically and will actually depress your lather. I haven't used the kind in a carton that you can drink. That is very diluted and would behave differently.

 

[TVivian]

Hmm, well that's disappointing to hear... so it won't make the soap creamier or smoother I guess, but did you notice if it increased the lather or bubbles in any way? Any way at all? :-(

Tienne, I didn't notice any difference compared to the soaps made with just water in any way except the opaque tan color.. But that's just my opinion so don't take my word for it. To me it was not creamy and lathery (is that even a word?) the way goat milk soap is,however I should probably try the soap again since it's had months and months to cure and may be much better now!

 

[DeeAnna]

Yep, one brand of coconut milk added about 5% fat to my recipe. I am not a fan of large amounts of superfat, so I calculate the amount of fat added by coconut milk and include that in my fats when figuring the amount of lye to use. (I'm talking about real coconut milk, not the drink version which is low fat and contains sweeteners/sugars.)

 

[onugs]

I've used coconut milk and found it does do a bit for the lather. Otherwise it looks good on the label. And if your coconut milk has guar gum in it, it may speed trace a bit, though it is not unmanageable. There are many ways to handle it. I do it the same way as I do beer or goat's milk (my fav!). I freeze it all and add the lye about a teaspoon at a time to the ice cubes and stir well. I have taken the extra time as TVivian does, but for me it works as well just to add it a bit at a time and keep adding it. I find my ice cubes are just finishing melting as I add the last teaspoon or 2 of lye, so the temp. is still very cool. As long as I do this, I end up with a nice white soap. (Though not with the beer of course!)

^^^ That's the way I do it. ^^^

 

[My Mountain Soaps]

Ok so what i have is the store bought Silk brand pure coconut milk. Is there anything that i should watch out for when it comes to using this? thank you every one so much for your tips/experiences. When i go to make the soap in a few days i will read back through this!

 

[kazmi]

I've used coconut milk and found it does do a bit for the lather. Otherwise it looks good on the label. And if your coconut milk has guar gum in it, it may speed trace a bit, though it is not unmanageable. There are many ways to handle it. I do it the same way as I do beer or goat's milk (my fav!). I freeze it all and add the lye about a teaspoon at a time to the ice cubes and stir well. I have taken the extra time as TVivian does, but for me it works as well just to add it a bit at a time and keep adding it. I find my ice cubes are just finishing melting as I add the last teaspoon or 2 of lye, so the temp. is still very cool. As long as I do this, I end up with a nice white soap. (Though not with the beer of course!)

That's what I do too. If I add too much lye at a time and find the temps rising I put it in an ice bath that I keep handy. I also put my finished soap in the freezer to be sure I get no overheating.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...store bought Silk brand pure coconut milk. Is there anything that i should watch out for..."

Yep, the sweetener. This product is not "pure" in the sense that it's only water and pureed coconut meat. It has thickeners, sugar/sweetener, etc. and is lower in fat than "real" coconut milk.

 

[Obsidian]

I used silk brand almond milk once, just about ruined my batch. The bars were sticky and weird feeling, even rebatching didn't really help the texture. I'm going to donate it to clean the world.
I would recommend buying either plain coconut water or canned coconut milk. The canned milk is very thick and is what will raise your superfat, I love it in soap.