New to CP soap-- use goat's milk -- always traces quickly!

[tasmithmd0725]

Hello! I am new to CP soap and use frozen goat milk. I have made 7 batches of soap and no matter what I change it traces quickly. I have used different fragrances, etc. I have increased to amount of milk to what seems like the max by most online calculators.

What I used yesterday:
16.2 oz olive oil
14.2 oz palm oil
14 oz coconut oil
2.2 oz sweet almond oil
1.4 oz castor oil

19 oz frozen goat milk
6.7 oz NaOH

generally I have soaped when both mixtures reach 85 degrees. Yesterday I tried having the oils at 100 degrees and the lye / milk at room temp-ish. Same result-- quick trace- would never have time to incorporate colors, although the finished product seems fine.

What am I doing wrong that it traces so fast? I have used different fragrances in the batches and none of them make a difference.

Thank you!!!!!
Tammy

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Welcome!

I know that some people consider palm to be a trace-speeder. I word it like that because I haven't done any comparisons to be able to state one way or the other. Lard has very similar properties to palm but is known to slow trace - have you considered using that?

 

[shunt2011]

Hello and welcome! You could start by dropping your CO to 20-25% as any higher can also be drying and adding more Olive oil. Having a higher percentage of liquid oils will help with quick tracing. Also, you could try the split method with your GM and split the liquid to 50/50. Mix lye with water and add milk to your melted oils and stickblend.

I have a recipe similar to yours but will less CO and more OO and I generally have plenty of time to color and do some swirls. However, I use the split method with my milks.

 

[DWinMadison]

Welcome!

I know that some people consider palm to be a trace-speeder. I word it like that because I haven't done any comparisons to be able to state one way or the other. Lard has very similar properties to palm but is known to slow trace - have you considered using that?

I'm in the "all of the above" camp. I find every additional oil added to a recipe beings something different to the party.

 

[Obsidian]

I have a terrible time with palm, even 20% will make your soap trace within 3 minutes or so. Using lard not only makes the recipe trace slow but it makes a super nice bar of soap.

 

[seven]

yes, palm can def make your soap trace faster. that said, you can still do swirls/layers/whatever, even with high percentage of palm in your recipe. the key is only to SB till emulsification, and start doing your colors, etc. just be gentle with the SB, that's the key

 

[HorseCreek]

I would also guess you're blending too far into trace. Stop blending as soon as everything is mixed well. This comes before you start getting "trace" lines when you pull the blender out.

 

[tasmithmd0725]

Thanks so much for the replies!! I will try all of the above!! You guys are awesome!

 

[tasmithmd0725]

Just one question:
What is "SB" in Seven's answer

 

[JustBeachy]

Stick blender.

 

[tasmithmd0725]

lol-- duh-- I feel like an idiot!

So yesterday I made a batch, dropped coconut oil to 20%, split liquid between GM and water. Dissolved lye in water-- Overall, traced much slower thank you! Plus is didn't blend and blend and blend..... It takes forever for the lye/ water solution temp to drop! Can I hurry it by putting it in a bowl of ice water?
Thank you so much!
Tammy

 

[JustBeachy]

lol-- duh-- I feel like an idiot!

So yesterday I made a batch, dropped coconut oil to 20%, split liquid between GM and water. Dissolved lye in water-- Overall, traced much slower thank you! Plus is didn't blend and blend and blend..... It takes forever for the lye/ water solution temp to drop! Can I hurry it by putting it in a bowl of ice water?
Thank you so much!
Tammy

No reason to feel silly. There's a lot of acronym's being tossed around these forums with wild abandon. :razz:

Ice bath can help to cool down your lye solution faster.

 

[lovinglife]

I use frozen goat milk to disolve lye, takes a little longer but my lye solution usually only reaches about 80 degrees or less.

 

[HorseCreek]

When you get more comfortable with things, you can make your lye/water ahead of time, then just add the GM to it when you're ready to soap. Just make sure you store it in a safe place that it won't get spilled! It cuts down on the waiting time

 

[cmzaha]

Horror's if I have run out of my master batch of lye and have to mix before soaping, my lye pitcher goes in the freezer to cool it down, but I have no kidlets at home. Just the hubby and I and he is used to seeing lye pitchers in the freezer

 

[tasmithmd0725]

Awesome! Thank you so much everyone!:smile:

 

[SunWolf]

I started soaping as a way to use excess milk from my goats, so I use GM as total liquid. I feel since I'm specializing in "Goat Milk Soap" I should have as much GM as possible in the recipe. :-D

I pre-measure my milk into zip-loc baggies, each baggie holds the amount required for each recipe I'm planning. I lay the baggies out flat in my freezer so they are easy to stack for storage once frozen. This also makes it easy to whack on the edge of the counter to break into small chunks when ready to add lye.

I add the lye slowly in small amounts while stirring constantly as the frozen milk melts. So far, I haven't had any problems with the milk scorching this way, since it stays quite cool. I keep my oils as cool as possible too, barely heating beyond minimum melt temps.

In addition to keeping things cool, I also learned early to go easy with my SB. I stir with the blender as much (if not more) than I actually blend...and stop as soon as everything just comes together.

I don't have time to dawdle, but I can get some pretty nice swirls done as long as I have a design preplanned and everything ready to go.

 

[marie743]

Some of the initials confuse me too. SB means stick blend. OO means olive oil. CO means coconut oil. I alternate stiring with the stick blender with swirling the stick blender to slow tracedown.

 

[reinbeau]

I have always used frozen goat's milk ice cubes to make soap. Matter of fact I'm freezing a new batch of them right now as I'm almost out. My GMOH batch has lard in it, so I keep the oils a bit warm, and when combining it with the cool lye solution it evens out to a good temp. I have never tried to swirl that GMOH recipe, I just put it in my tube mold. I'll have to play with it and see how well it swirls without the honey and oatmeal in it.