keeping gm soap from darkening

[polarbearforge]

A goats milk batch is on my list of things to try. Other than darkening, what other negative things occur if you let the lye/gm mixture get hot?

Jamie

 

[awi]

A goats milk batch is on my list of things to try. Other than darkening, what other negative things occur if you let the lye/gm mixture get hot?

Jamie

So far I have not had any other negative things occur other than the soap getting dark. I have made a lot of batches of gm soap and they are wonderful. Even as cool as I try to make my mixture, I think every batch has turned out a little different in color.....but all wonderful!

 

[awi]

Everything seems to have been covered so nicely already, but I just wanted to add to all these great answers how I keep mine from turning brown.

I use powdered goats milk actually, but anyway, I take my water amount and mix my goats milk powder with my water. Then I put it in a zip lock baggie and freeze it.

I then break it up and put it in my lye/water mixing pitcher. Then I add my lye and stir. It does not heat at all as far as I can tell. Then I just soap as usual and, after I pour the soap mixture into the mold, I stick the mold in my frig overnight. The soap stays a nice creamy white/off white color.

I have never had a batch go brown or tan on me doing it this way.

Hi Julie -

I am getting ready to make another batch of GM soap in my loaf mold and I am going to try your suggestion of putting it into the fridge right after I pour it in the mold. I have one more question for you....what temp do you have your oils at when you add the goats milk?

 

[tangled_panda]

THank you for your suggestion. I have used the ice bath trick and it seems to work, but I have worried about the mixture not heating up enough to process the soap correctly, but so far it seems to be working! Does your soap ever start to smell bad after a year? How long of a shelf life does gm soap have? I have been told only a year, but I wasn't sure. How do you store it? Thanks again for your help and your soap looks nice!

Sorry I lost this thread. . lol. My soap hasn't started to smell bad yet, it seems to get sweeter with time. It still lathers like it did a year ago too (actually it is more like two years now) I just happened to have some bars in a box that I forgot about. I was moving my craft room and found them.

Normally I store all my soaps in clear containers, I think they are "shoe" size tupperware containers. I get them at Kroger for .99 But the old soaps were packed up in a cardboard box.

And thank you for the complement on the soap. That was actually my first batch of GM soap! I was testing out labels and layouts and snapped a picture.