My goat milk soap keeps cracking on top

[Ekuzo]

Thank you. I have actually tried that and it usually gels to about 90% and leaves a ring, lol.

How about turning on a heating pad in addition to the insulation? I never felt like oven process was needed, but that's just me - a lot of people are used to CPOP

 

[ackosel]

I am afraid of overheating but I will experiment with temps and pursue that option more, thank you!

I put my soap on a piece of cardboard on a heating pad and cover it with a cardboard box. It's usually around 90 degrees when I put it on there. I leave the heating pad on low for about 4 hours. Then I turn it off and leave the soap tucked in overnight. I have never had a partial gel ring.

Maybe, if you want to try again for full gel, try a 30% lye concentration (a little extra milk) which should make it more likely to gel completely. I hope you find something that works for you.

 

[Delon]

I am pretty new to soapmaking, but I have only ever made goat milk soap. I mostly soap around 100°F. The only time I go hotter than that is if I'm using a lot of goat tallow in my recipe because it tends to re-solidify under 120°. But I keep my lye/milk mixture under 100°. I do let my soaps gel and have never had them burn. The closest I have gotten to a crack is a teeny little blip in one batch with coffee and milk. My best guess is that the soaps that crack are probably made at closer to that 120° range than 100°. I'm sure someone with more experience can give you a better idea of what is going on.

Your soap looks beautiful, by the way, in spite of the cracks.

Question about this, @ackosel! How do you get your lye solution to stay cooler? I've made soap 3 times now, and all 3 times I've had to wait a long time for the temperature to go down. This is with ice cubes! Am I pouring the lye in too quickly? Should I try to add it slower? I don't pour it all in at once since I know that's bad. Even with ice, my lye temperature sits around 120 F after stirring.

 

[Shelley D]

Question about this, @ackosel! How do you get your lye solution to stay cooler? I've made soap 3 times now, and all 3 times I've had to wait a long time for the temperature to go down. This is with ice cubes! Am I pouring the lye in too quickly? Should I try to add it slower? I don't pour it all in at once since I know that's bad. Even with ice, my lye temperature sits around 120 F after stirring.

I'm not an expert by any means so I'm just guessing ~ but maybe it's in the percentage of liquid (?). When I was actively making GM soap, I would use the GM for 100% of my lye solution liquid, freeze it solid, put the milk cubes in a container and slowly pour in the lye flakes, usually all at once, just slowly so I didn't make a lye dust cloud. I would give it a thorough stir, and let it sit a few minutes then stir again, then let it sit and continue until the lye was thoroughly dissolved. And usually, my lye solution rarely went above 100°F. That worked out well for me because my oils would have already been melted at this point and set aside to cool a bit, and by the time the lye solution was ready, the oils were usually around the same temperature so it seemed the perfect balance. I didn't force gel, if anything, I would refrigerate to prevent overheating but I only had one recipe get super hot and that one had oatmilk in it, not the goat's milk ~ go figure.
If your lye solution is staying hot even when mixing with full frozen ice, maybe you need a little more liquid What's your ratio of lye to liquid? Does the temperature of the lye solution cause any problems or are you just concerned?

 

[ackosel]

Question about this, @ackosel! How do you get your lye solution to stay cooler? I've made soap 3 times now, and all 3 times I've had to wait a long time for the temperature to go down. This is with ice cubes! Am I pouring the lye in too quickly? Should I try to add it slower? I don't pour it all in at once since I know that's bad. Even with ice, my lye temperature sits around 120 F after stirring.

I add the lye VERY slowly, just a little at a time. It usually takes me about 20 minutes to add the lye in small increments, dividing the total amount into 6 or 8 additions, and then stir until each addition is dissolved before adding more. The milk ice cubes are usually all melted by the last addition or two, so I started putting the lye solution in an ice bath while adding and stirring. With the ice bath, I have been able to keep the lye temperature below 80°F.

 

[Shelley D]

I guess I just like living on the edge

 

[ackosel]

I guess I just like living on the edge

I read all kinds of things that said the milk will scorch if it gets above 70-something degrees. While it may cause problems for some people, that has not been my experience. I have gotten my milk/lye solution temperature as high as 110 degrees and have never had a batch scorch. I also read that gelling milk soap will scorch it. Acting on the advice I got here on the forum, I have been intentionally forcing gel in all my soaps and have never had a scorching problem.

While it is always important to follow safe handling procedures, I think that sometimes it doesn't hurt to push the envelope a little and try something outside the "norm" and see what happens. The result might not be as bad as you think! I might get brave and try adding the lye like you did and see what happens. I'd sure like to find a faster way to add lye to milk. Adding it slowly all at once, and then stirring every few minutes would be a lot less time consuming than the way I'm doing it. I could use that time between stirring to weigh fragrances, set up molds, mix colorants, etc.