Problems with goatmilk soap

[EZ_Girl]

This weekend I was playing with goat milk and had 4 batches. Two were successful, and two - complete failure. The basic recipe is the same for all batches: olive oil, corn oil, coconut oil, palm oil, Shea butter, castor oil, grounded oatmeal and honey.
I used enough water to dissolve lye, and add raw goat milk at light trace. I didn’t freeze it, just let sit for 24 hrs wrapped in blanket.
As I mentioned my first two 5lb batches were perfect, a little bit too soft after 24 hrs, but I can live with that, my last two – disaster. One – separated oils, another – who know what, seems like something decided to grow… yak…
My first thought – raw milk, warm environment – perfect for bacteria to grow. But then I was doing some research and maybe too much honey in the recipe?
Any thoughts, comments, recommendations would be greatly appreciated!



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[NancyRogers]

I don't know what causes it, but I had the same thing with the funky stringy stuff and everything. My batch was also an unscented GM, Honey and Oatmeal soap. I think it's probably overheating. I just dumped the whole thing in the crockpot and HP'd it. Turned out fine after that.

 

[EZ_Girl]

Thank you Nancy, but I don't know how to do HP soap.

I'm just curious what caused it and how to avoid it.

 

[adoptapitbull]

Yeah, I believe, too, that it overheated.

By any chance, was the milk from a goat who just had a kid within the last 3 days? If so, heated colostrum milk gets very stringy.

I wouldn't think it had anything to do with the milk being raw. Raw milk contains lots of good bacteria that fights the bad. If you used rancid milk, then maybe that would happen, but you'd know for sure once you smelled the milk that it had gone bad.

 

[EZ_Girl]

No, milk was fine (I drank it in the morning )

Ok, so if I want to avoid it, would it be better to stick it into the freezer and avoid the geling stage?

 

[agriffin]

It could be overheating but the top one looks like it separated. Maybe you didn't get a stable enough emulsion?

Try for a thicker trace next time.

 

[adoptapitbull]

I've found that to work better for me, even though I did get a tiny bit of a partial gel on one that I froze. First ever batch went in the freezer and came out great though!

 

[EZ_Girl]

Agriffin,
yes, I think that the top one separated on me right after I mixed everything together in the pot. At first it started to get thicker, but in few seconds i saw that milk curled and oils separated. At least it was a liitle batch.
Another thought was that it was too hot. All my previous batches were mixed at room temperature, but not this one. I just want to do it "quickly" and instead of waiting for th lye water to cool down, I warmed oils up to 90F to match the lye and mixed them. Of course when I mixed it, it went up to 120F, which I think was too hight for milk.

 

[Happy Lass]

I'm not an expert like agriffin, but to me, the first batch looks like over heating (very common with milk & honey) and the second batch (round) looks like the oats & honey weren't mixed in well enough.

I agree with agriffin, try mixing it a bit more next time.

 

[EZ_Girl]

Thank you, Happy Lass

So I need to mix lye and oils better, before I add milk, oats and FO?

I use plexi glass mold, should I cover it with blanket, or should I just leave it as is to avoid overheating then?

 

[busymakinsoap!]

Ive seen a pic just like your circular one, it was also made with gm, oats and honey. I think its one of the things that can happen with this this type of soap. It was suggested that perhaps the cause was too much oats?

As for the overheating - how much honey are you using? A little goes a long way, and too much honey will burn, sweat and go oily (trust me I know )

Agriffin might be onto something with the separation, again gm soaps seem to be prone to this. Ive had one separation and I dont believe it emulsified enough because I had added the milk to the oils befor the lye, I kept trying to blend the milk and oils together but they kept separating.

 

[krissy]

this(green mold) happened to me a few days ago only the separation was much worse and the oils never fully absorbed back into the soap, and my FO pooled in pockets throughout the soap, mine was FO related though, no honey or GM.

 

[EZ_Girl]

Ok, for 5lb I used 1Tbsp of Honey and 5 Tbsp of Oats (52 oz of oils total). But for 2lb I guess I screwed up, I used the same 1Tbsp of Honey and 3 Tbsp of oats (29 oz of oils total).

Tonight I'll try to use no honey and go easy on oats, and probably stick it into the freezer.

 

[busymakinsoap!]

I wouldnt think your honey or oat quantities were excessive. I use up to 1tbs per kg (nearly 2pounds) of honey with no prob and about 1/2 a cup of oats per kg.

I dont insulate at all though, honey gets hot, I would just let it sit out and keep an eye on it.

Honey is lovely when it works - dont give up!

 

[MeadowHillFarmCT]

I made this batch yesterday and cut it this morning. It is 6lb wooden mold. I used 5 tbsp of honey in the oil, didn't freeze the milk but slushy and used 1 1/2 cups of oats that I milled into a powder.

I don't cover and it was fully gelled....

 

[EZ_Girl]

MeadowHillFarm, your soap is wonderful!

How did you mix lye - in water or added to slushy milk?

 

[Finchen]

Lovely soap, MeadowHillFarmCT.

 

[MeadowHillFarmCT]

MeadowHillFarm, your soap is wonderful!

How did you mix lye - in water or added to slushy milk?

I mix the lye in with the milk - I was impatient and it got a little to hot - I usually don't let it go above 100.. So the color was really orange but the oatmeal made it brownish - I colored some with paprika and attempted a swirl which ended up to be blobs on top....

This batch I was more patient with keeping the milk cool... and the color is perfect.

 

[EZ_Girl]

Beautiful soaps!!!

I'm just trying to wrap my head around mixing milk with lye

So, I'm freezing the whole amount of milk, needed in my formula to a slushy stage, then add lye to it and mix it. Let it cool down and mix it with my oils, am I correct?

 

[EZ_Girl]

Here are my "good" bars, too brownish, but I didn't add no color and used honey.