Sub for Sodium Lactate

Candybee · Apr 27, 2018

Unmolded soap today. I didn't need to freeze the molds. Soaps slid right out-- almost came out like torpedos so I had to be careful I didn't launch one! LOL

The salt trick seems to have worked out very good. But I have yet to try it out using no salt, SL, etc. I confess I am a bit chicken as I really don't want stuck soap in a log. But its good to know I don't need SL for my PVC molds!

BrewerGeorge said:
No, I did the calculations a couple years ago but I never tried it. Once I started using pre-batch lye I forgot about it.

I also found out about the butyric acid smell from milk fat being a potential problem, which was further discouragement.

But if you want to experiment, the acidic whey drained off yogurt allowed to fully ferment (at least a day) should be approximately 7% lactic acid. Replacing ALL the water in a batch at 25% lyc concentration should give you roughly the same amount of sodium lactate that people normally use, while dropping superfat about 3%. Those are rough approximations, so do the math if you want to try it, obviously.

Don't think I will be making my own version of SL. Unless I ever have an excess of yogurt whey which I doubt. Haven't gotten around to making my own yogurt yet. I keep saying I will some day but so far it hasn't happened. But at least I know a good use for it now!

shunt2011 · Apr 27, 2018

BrewerGeorge said:
No, I did the calculations a couple years ago but I never tried it. Once I started using pre-batch lye I forgot about it.

I also found out about the butyric acid smell from milk fat being a potential problem, which was further discouragement.

But if you want to experiment, the acidic whey drained off yogurt allowed to fully ferment (at least a day) should be approximately 7% lactic acid. Replacing ALL the water in a batch at 25% lyc concentration should give you roughly the same amount of sodium lactate that people normally use, while dropping superfat about 3%. Those are rough approximations, so do the math if you want to try it, obviously.

I might have to give this a try. I make yogurt once a week and have quite a bit of whey after straining. Though my math skills suck!

BrewerGeorge · Apr 27, 2018

madison said:
I know that butyric acid smell applies to using butter or ghee, didn't think about yogurt. I do ferment my yogurt 24 hours then I get plenty of whey when I dry it out for further use which means extra fermentation up to 72 hours. I am not sure if I am getting it right, does the long fermentation help with the butyric acid smell?

I'm just guessing about the butyric, but I'd expect there to be some butterfat in there, right?

As for the longer ferment, that is just to get the complete conversion to reach the 7% average I used in the calculation.

Really, the whole thing is full of WAGS.