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Jaccart789

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Hi! I am very new to soap making but practicing different techniques with yogurt. I haven't been able to find too many recipes on yogurt soap, but I did find one claiming to be Dr. Oz recipe that was for breast milk or yogurt... needless to say I used yogurt! I tried it several ways first I froze the yogurt (like I would have with Goats milk) and added the lye water slowly. I still rushed it and it came out dark, BUT the bar is extremely hard and very lathery (is that a word? lol). I tried again changing when I added the yogurt. I added it at thin trace, but boy oh boy it brought to trace QUICK! The problem I had with this method is that it became crumbly but I still molded it and I will see how it turns out tomorrow when I unmold. I am going to try tomorrow adding the yogurt in the oil before adding the lye. I will bring it to a very thin trace and then mold. I will let you know how it turns out. If anyone reading this can give an answer to why my soap became really crumbly please let me know! I am going to try adding to oil, because if I can avoid freezing then I would be super happy. I am so impatient!
This is the recipe I used...
Makes 3 lb batch of soap.
13 oz. yogurt
5.25 oz. distilled water
6.25 oz. lye (pure sodium hydroxide crystals: WARNING: can be dangerous if handled improperly)
3 oz. fragrance oil (optional - omit for unscented soap)
24 oz. olive oil
12 oz. lard
12 oz. Crisco (or double this and omit lard for vegan soap)
1 oz. castor oil
 
Is it soft and crumbly? What I mean by this is if it feels oily when you rub a little between your fingers. If so, soft and crumbly combined with what you said about coming to trace quickly makes me think you didn't really stir long enough for everything to emulsify thoroughly. It might have been false trace and the batch didn't fully saponify. I had this happen several times when I soaped at a cool temp. Because the oils started to re-solidify at the low temp, I thought I had reached the emulsification stage and poured the loaves. Umm...not quite. :lol: One of the batches really didn't reach emulsification and separated into an oily mess after I had poured it into the mold. I had reached emulsification with the other two batches. But because of not stirring long enough and too much heat loss, the loaves were soft, crumbly and had an oily texture. I rebatched them and they turned out fine.

However, this is just my opinion of what the problem might be and I could be wrong. I found Kathy Miller's Troubleshooting Help very helpful when I first started soapmaking.

eta: I re-read your post and I think adding the yogurt at trace caused the batch to cool too rapidly. I think this caused the fast thickening which you thought was trace. JMO
 
I haven't ran you recipe thru a soap calc. ( I hope you did before trying) and this is not really an answer to you your question but I did notice that this recipe has you dissolving 6.5 oz of lye into 5.5 oz of water. You need to use at least as much water as lye in order for it to dissolve properly.
 
I really appreciate your replies Sistrum and Hazel! Sorry, I don't mean to hijack the post (to the original poster) both answers seem so logical! Thank you so much!!! Hazel... what you described is exactly what my soap looked like! I uncovered today and not so pretty. :(

PIC #1 The crumbly ugly bumpy soap was what I ended up last night...when I added at "supposed trace"
PIC #2 The dark brown soap I have pictured is what I ended up with when I froze yogurt but still rushed adding lye. I added oats.
PIC #3 The smoother cream looking soap was my first attempt to adding yogurt at trace


Thanks again ladies. I am going to attempt again and use your suggestions!

photo-5.JPG


photo-6.JPG


IMG_2724.JPG
 
Last edited:
They still look nice. That was a good catch on sistrum's part. I didn't even notice there wasn't enough water to dissolve the lye.

Please let us know how every thing turns out. :)
 

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