Please help!!

[niki75]

I am making my first milk based batch of CP I froze my milk added my lye and now its a deep brownish orange colour and has curdled the milk. Please any tips would be appreciated.

 

[fatfacedcharlie]

I've only used goats milk once so I'm no expert, but I suspect the brown / orange colour was caused by the lye/milk mixture heating up and burning the sugars that are naturally present in the milk. As for the curdling, when you add the lye to the milk it will start to saponify the fat in there, and if you don't stir it enough you might get clumps of soap forming in the milk.
When I used goat milk I added the lye in stages, letting the mixture cool down before I put the next bit in, and kept stirring it pretty much constantly. The mixture stayed nice and white and creamy. Sadly the finished soap got a bit too hot in the mould and went orange anyway:roll:

 

[niki75]

Thanks for that, I'll just keep trying it in small batches until I get it right.

 

[BlackRiverBubbles]

You have to add the lye VERY slowly, and stir, stir, stir. Did you put your pot in an ice bath-that usually helps too. The key to making milk soaps is to take your time and make sure that the lye/milk mixture stays as cool as possible.

Also when mixing it with the oils, the cooler the oils the better to avoid it heating back up-Good luck!!

 

[Moody Glenn]

Don't fret. I think this happens to everyone when first doing milk based and even beer based soap. I remember making a vivid orange soap when using milk and the smell was also vivid - yuck on both counts! When making a beer soap I neglected to allow it to sit for awhile to allow the alcohol to evaporate. My soap was worthy of a great science experiment when I added the lye solution. Instant volcano. Instant panic. Thank goodness I was soaping in a sink. As for making milk based soap go with what fatfacedcharlie and BlackRiverBubbles recommends. Good advice from both!

 

[100%Natural]

The orange colour is definitely from the milk and lye mixture overheating. As for the curdled milk you can stick blend it before you put it into the oils to smooth it out again. All that curdled milk means is that you're going to have a creamy bar of soap when you're finished!

 

[theath2010]

I have had this happen another soap comes out fine. The color was darker but the soap was ok to use. Careful what type of mold you use too. I used my wooden mold and always have a battle with milk soaps overheating so I rush it to the freezer and hope for the best!

 

[gratia]

I freeze my goat milk in ice trays and then add the lye to that. A little at a time and then stir. Repeat until the lye is gone.

 

[liafrank]

As gratia mentioned, many people avoid the overheating by freezing your milk. I also recently read about another potentially easier method recently.
http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-b...ss-soap/hscg-conference-guest-post-milk-soap/