Unnatural fear of making GM soap...

Cactuslily · Jan 10, 2015

As a newbie, my very first soap was lavender goats milk. I froze the milk and added lye in increments putting my bowl back in the freezer to keep temp down so sugars in milk wouldn't burn.i actually had no problem except for the purple color came out blehh. Ironically, this is one of two soaps that have so far behaved for me. As for the tutorial you mentioned by soap queen, I was misled on her frosting recipe. Waste of $$ and product. Thank g-d for Katie at royalty soaps for her tutorial mentioning a crucial step that would have been nice the first time around.

dillsandwitch · Jan 11, 2015

If you add honey I suggest put the mold into the freezer after pouring. I had 2 batches overheat the other day. They are bin bound cause I cant be bothered to go chase down a second slow cooket to rebatch. Or I'll turn it into laundry soap. I dunno yet

girlishcharm2004 · Jan 11, 2015

I agree with the split method.

I believe that SoapQueen recommends measuring milk by volume rather than by weight because water measures the same either by weight or volume. This is ONLY true of water. One gallon of water, which is 64 fluid oz, weighs 64 oz. Therefore, one gallon of water is 8 lbs. Milk is actually heavier than water. One gallon of milk is 8.6 lbs. So, by weighing out the milk as if it is water, you are actually using less liquid in your overall recipe. Your recipe is at a 26% lye solution, so I wouldn't be worried about not having enough liquid. However, for other soap makers who use a steep discount would want to find a reliable way to measure milk (whether by conversion or by volume) so that they are not discounting their liquid too steeply.

AMyers · Jan 12, 2015

My second soap was goat milk. I have best luck with the frozen milk option. It takes more time, but I get predictable results. I have one recipe where I split about 50/50, but still did the frozen milk, and added the water just before mixing with the oils. I tried the split method where milk is added at trace, And it accelerated my soap like crazy! I had no time for anything. Good thing I had planned an uncolored, unscented soap!