Oat milk soap--what's your method?

[ocean_soul]

So I was planning on making oat milk soap but I was wondering how people prefer to make their oat milk? The oat milk that I drink I normally soak overnight/several hours but it seems like several soapers here prefer to blend their oats and water without soaking them, then straining the liquid out and using that. Anyone ever tried the other way? I've strained my oat milk several times but I've noticed that for some reason the leftover oats feel slimy. :sad: Makes me kinda worried about how it would perform when combined with lye...but then it's not for drinking so should slime really matter? I'll try straining the milk again after it's had some time to settle and separate out.

What do you all think?

 

[Obsidian]

I soak oatmeal for 5 minutes or so then strain it. The liquid can be a bit slimy but thats just from a high amount of starch, add some water if it seems too thick/slimy.

 

[seven]

i soaked mine overnight. pls dont do full water sub, as you'll get problem when the oatmilk is mixed with lye. there is a thread about this here, it didn't only happen to me, but also to another soaper. the milk became a dough like consistency when mixed with lye.
i ended up with partial water swap.

the cause? i have no idea, as another soaper here (mzmolly) did a full water swap with oatmilk and it was fine. does it has something to do with the way one made the milk? maybe. i was using regular oats, soaked, strained a couple of times.
i am gonna try with commercially made oatmilk someday, and do a full water swap again.

 

[ocean_soul]

Obsidian, it's good to know where the sliminess comes from!

i soaked mine overnight. pls dont do full water sub, as you'll get problem when the oatmilk is mixed with lye. there is a thread about this here, it didn't only happen to me, but also to another soaper. the milk became a dough like consistency when mixed with lye.
i ended up with partial water swap.

the cause? i have no idea, as another soaper here (mzmolly) did a full water swap with oatmilk and it was fine. does it has something to do with the way one made the milk? maybe. i was using regular oats, soaked, strained a couple of times.
i am gonna try with commercially made oatmilk someday, and do a full water swap again.

Yeah, I've read stories of people ending up with a horrible lump when doing a full water swap. I very much want to avoid that! I guess I'll just make my soap tomorrow, splitting up my liquids half and half.

 

[Rowan]

I'm pretty new to soap making, so I hope you don't mind me adding my comments? I made my oat milk and honey soap with the oats I soaked overnight and only strained once through a muslin. I used half oat milk and half water. When I added the oat milk to the lye it felt like stirring really thick porridge. I can't imagine how thick it would have been if I had subbed out all the water. Despite this I noticed that it took twice as long to trace as the same recipe that used just water. The finished SOAP was well worth it though. It feels so silky and the lather is incredibly creamy. I didn't have the same scratchy feeling I had when using the soap with the oats added directly to the recipe.

I really can't believe how addictive soap making is! I'm still really nervous about posting replies, but rarely get the chance to talk "soap" with friends and family!

 

[ocean_soul]

I'm pretty new to soap making, so I hope you don't mind me adding my comments? I made my oat milk and honey soap with the oats I soaked overnight and only strained once through a muslin. I used half oat milk and half water. When I added the oat milk to the lye it felt like stirring really thick porridge. I can't imagine how thick it would have been if I had subbed out all the water. Despite this I noticed that it took twice as long to trace as the same recipe that used just water. The finished SOAP was well worth it though. It feels so silky and the lather is incredibly creamy. I didn't have the same scratchy feeling I had when using the soap with the oats added directly to the recipe.

I really can't believe how addictive soap making is! I'm still really nervous about posting replies, but rarely get the chance to talk "soap" with friends and family!

Thanks for sharing your experience, Rowan! I can't wait to make my own batch of oat milk soap tomorrow! ^_^

 

[Rowan]

Thanks for sharing your experience, Rowan! I can't wait to make my own batch of oat milk soap tomorrow! ^_^

Thanks, can't wait to hear how it goes for you!

 

[welsh black]

I've just made some oat soap. I put 2 table sppons of oats in oil and heated in low heat overnight. I then used that oil as part of my total oil in soap. I also took out the soaked oats and blended into the main oils so the bits were not too big, before adding the lye solution. Not cut yet, but everything went great. Perhaps because I soaked in oil not so much starch comes out? It may be better ingredients come out of the starch if you soak in water?

 

[seven]

Rowan, so it's ok to use the porridge like lye mixture? Mine came up soooo thick, like a dough, i ended up throwing it in the bin. Somehow i cant put it past me to use that material as my lye mixture.

 

[clhigh29]

I mixed mine together in a blender and strained through cheesecloth. I was totally thrown off when my oat milk mixed with lye the first time I made it..it was like dough as well, but I can still stir it. I was convinced that I didn't strain it well and set it aside. I got the same result the second time, so I continued on. The soap was slow to trace, despite that I also added colloidal oats to the batter. When everything turned out perfect, I was glad that I didn't toss the first batch of lye. I used it to make another soap the next day. The last time I made oat soap, I used lavender water with the oats, and the result was a browner batter (which I didn't like).

 

[Rowan]

Rowan, so it's ok to use the porridge like lye mixture? Mine came up soooo thick, like a dough, i ended up throwing it in the bin. Somehow i cant put it past me to use that material as my lye mixture.

I just stirred the hell out of the mixture and made sure there were no lumps. It then thinned a little bit. Next time I would strain it as well. For some reason it didn't occur to me until afterwards. One of those "Duh" moments, lol.
I really wanted to keep the starchy mixture because I had read that it makes wonderful soap. Some people even wrote they used their water after cooking potatoes. It was so worth it, the soap feels really luxurious and I can't get over how silky it is.

If it helps, I only used 2 large tablespoons oats, soaked in cold water overnight. It wasn't like dough, more like porridge. Dough would have freaked me out too.

I am pretty new to soap making, so I'm sure the more experienced soapmakers could tell you more.

 

[ocean_soul]

Thanks everyone for your feedback! My oat milk soap is made and in the freezer, I'll get pics posted in a couple of days or so.

 

[seven]

thanks Rowan. mine def was dough, not porridge. the more lye i put, the more worse it became. fyi, i think i used too much oats and too lil water. am gonna try again. the word silky really interests me.

 

[djk17]

I haven't had a lye dough :shock: and I do use oatmilk in almost every batch of soap as I also do find I get raving feedback that my soap is "so silky".
I put the oats into an open-ended tea bag (the kind you buy when you drink loose tea) and soak them for as long as I've got while I am gathering up the rest of my supplies and setting everything up to soap, usually a half hour or so. I use 1 Tbsp ppo

you are weighing your liquid AFTER you've strained out the oats, right? you might need to top up water too.

 

[Roselyne]

I'f I use frozen oat milk and an ice bath, would I be able to use 100%Oat milk, no water with my lye? Don't want lumps or burning it..

 

[cmzaha]

This thread is almost 3 yrs, so it would be better to start a new thread. To answer your question no it will make no difference of you freeze it. Think about it, it is not going to stay cold once it is added to the lye. Best method is to do a split using less water for your lye and making the difference up with the oat water adding it to your oils before adding in you lye solution. 50/50 is the highest concentration for lye solution you can make since any higher the lye will not dissolve. I recommend going higher with the water since 50/50 can be testy to get it all dissolved. We call this the split method which also works out nicely for goat milk soap

 

[amd]

Roselyne,
This is an old post - the only contributing member that I recognize is Rowan, so she might reply back to you. Any posts older than (my personal rule is 1 year) since the last comment may not get responses from others with the no-how as the contributing members may have moved on from the forum. It is usually best to start a new thread, and you may reference this one with a link.

Sorry I can't help with your question. I have only used oatmilk in lotions... but reading this has made me a bit curious to hear some recent experiences anyone may have had with it in soap.

 

[artemis]

Try this thread for more recent info: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=64976

 

[SparksnFlash]

As suggested, try the other thread. In the meantime, many of my soaps are made with oatmilk. I just use a strainer and 100% of the liquid is mixed with lye at my regular lye concentration. I've only had one problem, and that was more likely the FO I used and not the milk.

 

[Roselyne]

That's great, thank you all for the response, I know the thread is old but couldn't find anything closer and, hum, I don't know how to start a new thread