Please help

[pkelly0507]

If I have a goats milk recipe that I like but I want to make without the milk, do I need to add more water to compensate? I already use water and lye and mix it, then add slushy goats milk to that before adding to my oils. Do I need to add more water or is it fine to simply omit the goats milk?

 

[Marsi]

It's a little hard to tell whether you need to add replacement water, or can leave it out, without knowing your lye concentration, however in a general sense, replacing your liquid with water will keep your recipe close to the original water content, and your final soap will be similar to the original.

If leaving the milk out, and not replacing it with water, is something that you want to try, and your lye solution is already fully dissolved, an outcome could be that the soap either comes to trace very quickly, or if your lye concentration is exceptionally high it is possible it will go the other way and take a very long time to trace (recipe dependant).

So ... either will work, water replacement is simpler and more predictable, but a strong lye solution can be made to make soap too (you may not want to try this as a beginner, if it moves fast, it can be very fast, which risks not having the mix fully blended before it starts setting up on you)

 

[Iluminameluna]

When asking a question such as this, where you want either clarification on an ingredient replacement or how to do a certain step in the soaping process, it's really best if you give the soaping community a look at your recipe and tell us how you're processing your soap (cold, hot, dual lye, liquid, etc.).
There can be so many variables in a recipe that giving advice blind can cause even more issues than what brought you to the forum in the first place! Especially as you start on your way down this amazing adventure, the wrong word given and then taken the wrong way can mean at the very least a waste of time and money, at worst an injury. So please, share your recipe and how you're intending to make your soap, and believe it, there's quite a few of us that will love to set you on your way to soapy Nirvana!!

 

[lsg]

You can replace half the water with goat's milk and dissolve the lye in water, then add goat's milk to the oils and mix well before adding the lye/water mixture. You can also just use frozen goat's milk for all of the liquid. Add lye slowly to the frozen goat's milk and stir well after each addition. Be sure to strain the goat's milk/lye mixture before adding to oils. This will ensure that no undissolved lye particles get into the mixture.

 

[pkelly0507]

thanks for the answers!

The original recipe called for 6oz water, 6oz lye and 18oz of slushy goats milk. I have made that recipe and it works fine, I just really wanted to try a non milk recipe and was wondering if I needed to replace the milk with more water or if I could just omit the milk altogether and keep the rest of the recipe the same. Does that better explain what I'm asking? Its CP as well.

I did go ahead and make the recipe and used more water in place of the goats milk. It took a long time to trace and was still pretty soft 12 hours later in the mold. Idk if it will work out or not but I'm learning for sure!

 

[Obsidian]

thanks for the answers!

The original recipe called for 6oz water, 6oz lye and 18oz of slushy goats milk. I have made that recipe and it works fine, I just really wanted to try a non milk recipe and was wondering if I needed to replace the milk with more water or if I could just omit the milk altogether and keep the rest of the recipe the same. Does that better explain what I'm asking? Its CP as well.

I did go ahead and make the recipe and used more water in place of the goats milk. It took a long time to trace and was still pretty soft 12 hours later in the mold. Idk if it will work out or not but I'm learning for sure!

for 6 oz of lye, use 12 oz of water. 2 parts water to 1 part lye is my standard mix, works well.

 

[Iluminameluna]

If I have a goats milk recipe that I like but I want to make without the milk, do I need to add more water to compensate?

I was going to say that a full replacement of the goat's milk would've been the exact amount of water, measure for measure, not more nor less. Or any other liquid for that matter. The only change to your soap would've been the "characteristics" of it, that would not show up on any soap or lye calculator, like any additive.
Extra water will add time to the setup of your soap. It's happened to me before, but it's not going to otherwise affect it unless you changed any other amounts of its ingredients.
Happy soaping travels!

 

[Marsi]

thanks for the answers!

The original recipe called for 6oz water, 6oz lye and 18oz of slushy goats milk. I have made that recipe and it works fine, I just really wanted to try a non milk recipe and was wondering if I needed to replace the milk with more water or if I could just omit the milk altogether and keep the rest of the recipe the same. Does that better explain what I'm asking? Its CP as well.

I did go ahead and make the recipe and used more water in place of the goats milk. It took a long time to trace and was still pretty soft 12 hours later in the mold. Idk if it will work out or not but I'm learning for sure!

If it's taking a long time to trace, this (generally) suggests that you either have too much water-based liquids, or the recipe could be high in soft oils.



It appears you are following a fairly poor recipe (for a cold processed soap), as the water-based content is too high
(20% lye concentration, or 4:1 water to lye ratio).

A lye concentration of around 30-33%
 is better for cold process soaps.

The recipe you have used may have been designed for open-cooking hot process soapmaking, where you lose a lot of water to steam)
.
This is why providing the recipe (including superfat and lye concentration) is helpful here, but for yourself, always run a recipe through a soap calculator! .


Obsidian's 2 parts water to 1 part lye, or 2:1 water/lye ratio is a good choice
.
2:1 lye ratio is easy way to remember, simple to use and gives good to excellent results for just about all recipes.

For any variations to the lye concentration (if you choose to), don't go stronger than a 50% lye concentration (or 1;1 ratio) maximum (for safety) or below 25% (or 3:1 ratio) minimum (as soap warping and difficulty keeping the recipe emulsified are problems that occur below 25% for cold process recipes)
.

24oz of water/goats milk to 6oz of lye is a 20% lye solution (or 4:1 water/lye ratio) - this is too much water and will cause trouble with just about any recipe.


I suggest that you enter the recipe into a soap calculator, and change the lye concentration to 33% and the superfat to 5%.
(later you can change the superfat, most don't go below 1-2% for safety reasons).

 

[pkelly0507]

If it's taking a long time to trace, this (generally) suggests that you either have too much water-based liquids, or the recipe could be high in soft oils.



It appears you are following a fairly poor recipe (for a cold processed soap), as the water-based content is too high
(20% lye concentration, or 4:1 water to lye ratio).

A lye concentration of around 30-33%
 is better for cold process soaps.

The recipe you have used may have been designed for open-cooking hot process soapmaking, where you lose a lot of water to steam)
.
This is why providing the recipe (including superfat and lye concentration) is helpful here, but for yourself, always run a recipe through a soap calculator! .


Obsidian's 2 parts water to 1 part lye, or 2:1 water/lye ratio is a good choice
.
2:1 lye ratio is easy way to remember, simple to use and gives good to excellent results for just about all recipes.

For any variations to the lye concentration (if you choose to), don't go stronger than a 50% lye concentration (or 1;1 ratio) maximum (for safety) or below 25% (or 3:1 ratio) minimum (as soap warping and difficulty keeping the recipe emulsified are problems that occur below 25% for cold process recipes)
.

24oz of water/goats milk to 6oz of lye is a 20% lye solution (or 4:1 water/lye ratio) - this is too much water and will cause trouble with just about any recipe.


I suggest that you enter the recipe into a soap calculator, and change the lye concentration to 33% and the superfat to 5%.
(later you can change the superfat, most don't go below 1-2% for safety reasons).

thank you so much!!