Split Method for Goat's Milk Soap

[sage&co]

Greetings, all! I've made around 5 batches of 100% goat's milk soap (no water), and have discovered that around 1/4 of my bars have some brown spots on them. According to Reddit, they don't think it's DOS, and I'm not convinced it is either since all of my oils are only 2 months old and don't expire for another couple of years. I'm thinking it has something to do with the milk I'm using - I purchase unpasteurized goat's milk from a local farm and use that as my "water" in my lye solution.

To remedy this, I've found the "split method" here on the forum. Only thing is, I can't seem to find a good detailed explanation of how to do it. I know I split my milk weight 50/50 and dissolve the lye in one part with water, and add the other part as milk to my oils. Should I add the milk to the oils cold? Should I bring the milk to room temp before adding it? I only worry that adding the cold milk to warm oils will scorch it.

Thanks a ton, everyone! Also - I've attached a picture of the brown spots of my 100% goat's milk soap. If anyone can give suggestions on what it could be other than the milk, that'd be amazing. Thank you all! (Also, please ignore the ugly white 'streaks' on the soap - it was my first time using a planer and it left these marks).

 

[Todd Ziegler]

I can't answer your question specifically but an alternative would be to use powdered goat milk. It does not come with the problems and difficulty of fresh goats milk.

I'm sure someone else will be able to answer your real question.

 

[lsg]

Adding milk to warm oils should not scorch it. What scorches it is adding the lye directly to the milk. Another way to get around that is to freeze the milk. I usually freeze the amount I am going to use in a Zip Lock type bag. I place it flat in the freezer so it will be easier to break up. Add the lye a little bit at a time to the frozen milk, stirring well until dissolved, before adding more lye. When all the lye has been added to the frozen milk and you think it is all dissolved, then strain it to make sure there is no undissolved lye in the mixture. Add the lye mixture to the oils and make the soap. I usually pop the poured soap into the freezer and leave it for several days to prevent gelling.

 

[TheGecko]

I make GMS with fresh GM and haven't seen any brown spots.

I freeze my GM and then use an ice bath with a bit of salt. Let your frozen GM and the container sit in the icy water for several minutes. Doing that I have found allows me to add more lye at a time and still end up with a very creamy looking soap. My only additives are Sodium Lactate, Kaolin Clay and scent.

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

I don't use the split method with my goat milk. I just freeze the goat milk and then add in the lye while constantly stirring. As long as I keep stirring it doesn't scorch.

 

[sage&co]

Hy, everyone! Thanks so much for your suggestions! As a lot of you said, you freeze the milk prior to adding the lye - that's exactly what I do. I usually freeze it around 24 hours prior and add the lye about 1/4 at a time. I just can't for the life of me figure out what those brown spots are. Other than that, the soaps are great. They later super well and don't have any lye pockets, etc. I think I'm going to try the split method and see if that helps at all. What do you all think?

 

[Arimara]

I would personally just make sure the lye solution, milk, and the oils are close to the same temperature, stick blend in bursts (pulse I mean) and hand stir for a little bit. You could get by with the milk being cooler, provided your recipe doesn't have to much by way of butters (you don't want false trace either) but I have a habit of following baking conventions sometimes.

 

[IrishLass]

I use the split method, and I add my refrigerated (i.e., not frozen) goat milk to my warmed oils before adding the lye solution. I either let the goat milk come to room temp first before adding it to the oils, or just warm it up with my oils. In either case, I have never had scorching with the split method. The only time I have ever had scorching is when I used to do the frozen method, i.e., dissolving the lye in frozen milk.......not that that method is bad, mind you..... it's just that I really suck at doing that method. lol The split method is more my speed.

Those spots do not look like DOS to me. I'm not sure what they are for sure, but they look more like they could be FO spots. I've gotten such before when my FO was not mixed in as thoroughly as I thought. I was able to tell it was FO because the spots smelled more strongly of FO than the rest of my soap.


IrishLass

 

[SoapLover1]

I use Goat’s Milk in Powdered form. Add & blend it in my Liquid Oils. However, I do add extra Distilled Water to my Lye to accommodate for the GM powder because it will absorb your Liquids. No scorching. Perfect Soap!

 

[sage&co]

I use the split method, and I add my refrigerated (i.e., not frozen) goat milk to my warmed oils before adding the lye solution. I either let the goat milk come to room temp first before adding it to the oils, or just warm it up with my oils. In either case, I have never had scorching with the split method. The only time I have ever had scorching is when I used to do the frozen method, i.e., dissolving the lye in frozen milk.......not that that method is bad, mind you..... it's just that I really suck at doing that method. lol The split method is more my speed.

Those spots do not look like DOS to me. I'm not sure what they are for sure, but they look more like they could be FO spots. I've gotten such before when my FO was not mixed in as thoroughly as I thought. I was able to tell it was FO because the spots smelled more strongly of FO than the rest of my soap.


IrishLass

Omg, thank you so much, IrishLass!! You're amazing! I just picked up one of the bars and compared the smell of one of the brown spots vs the rest of the bar and the brown spots definitely smell stronger of FO. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out if its the milk, the oils, not enough airflow, etc. and could not for the life of me figure it out. Thank you again so much <3 So you’ve experienced this before With FO spots?

 

[penelopejane]

To ue the split method dissolve the weight of lye required by the recipe in the same weight of water. Use the remaining water amount from the recipe as milk and mix it into the oils. If you want to make 100% goats milk soap you can add enough powdered goats milk to the milk to make the total water into milk.

Did you add you FO after trace? If you add your FO to the oils you won't have the problem of FO spots.

 

[IrishLass]

Omg, thank you so much, IrishLass!! You're amazing! I just picked up one of the bars and compared the smell of one of the brown spots vs the rest of the bar and the brown spots definitely smell stronger of FO. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out if its the milk, the oils, not enough airflow, etc. and could not for the life of me figure it out. Thank you again so much <3 So you’ve experienced this before With FO spots?

You're very welcome! And, yes- I have indeed experienced this before with FO spots......and I don't mind saying that I'd much rather deal with those rather than DOS any day for sure! ☺


IrishLass

 

[Lin19687]

If you search on here for this topic there are a bunch of threads on it. Even the old threads have. Lot of good info to search and learn. Some even have videos