Made my soap a bit wrong... will it be ok or shall I bin it?

craftyjen · Jan 23, 2011

Well, I made some soap last night using chocolate and goats milk. I mixed my water and caustic soda, then realised I was supposed to mix the water and milk and then add the soda.

I was going to start the soda water milk mix again, but had used the last of my caustic soda and it was too late to get any more so I just added the milk to the caustic solution, but it kind of curdled and went yellow...

I carried on with the soap and thought seeing as I was using a stick blender to trace it would all mix anyway, but I'm not sure if I should wait and see how the soap turns out, or shall I just throw it away and have another go?

I've realised since starting to make soap I seem to suffer with beginners luck, the first batch turned out really well, but the two I've done so far have had something go wrong both times! :roll:

AmyW · Jan 23, 2011

I had best luck by freezing the milk and sprinkling the lye onto it, letting it melt the milk while I stirred. I tried adding heated milk at thin trace and it did the curdle look too. Did your soap smooth out while you SBed, or was it still curdled looking? Either way, wait and see.

craftyjen · Jan 23, 2011

no it did smooth out, when I put it into to mould it wasnt curdled anymore. I hope it turns out ok!!

Bubbles Galore · Jan 23, 2011

I'm sure it will be ok. :wink:

Bnky · Jan 23, 2011

If your amounts (water and milk) were correct, it should be fine, even if you did add the milk later. I have intentionally added the measured amount of milk (or honey with water) after the lye water cools, so it doesn't heat up so fast. But, as Amy mentioned...freezing the milk works great if you have the time to freeze ahead of time.

AZ Soaper · Jan 23, 2011

It may smell of ammonia if the milk was burned. But it will cure out. The reason you freeze the milk is to keep the lye from burning the milk. So it really doesn't matter when add the milk, you just want to keep it from being burned. That is the trick with milk soaps. Some will add the milk at trace but if you are using 100% milk as the water you have to add the lye to the milk. Some also use powdered milk and add at trace or mix in the oils. HTH.