Using goats milk

[Lee242]

If I use goats milk in my soap do I have to figure lye for it or not ?

 

[snappyllama]

The fat in the milk will slightly rise your SF. I don't fiddle with my regular recipe SF though (normally around 6%) but consider my milk soaps to be superfatted a bit more as a feature of them.

 

[TBandCW]

I could be wrong, but I measure gm same as water for my lye. Works for me!

 

[not_ally]

Goat's milk is low enough in fat that like Snappy I do not jigger with resetting the SF percentage. I only do that if I am using something that really will kick in a bunch of fat. Eg, full cream, or sometimes if I am using full coconut milk - doing the split method and using both liquid and powder - and potentially adding another fatty additive like avocado puree, and want to keep the bubble factor higher.

 

[SunWolf]

Just remember that the milk fats will start to saponify and can get pretty thick if you leave it sit for too long while mixing oils. I weigh out all my oils and have the solid oils melted before I mix my lye into my goat milk. Also, freeze your milk before adding the lye to help keep from scorching the milk and turning it orange.

 

[Nevada]

Powder goat milk is quite handy! Stick blend into the soft oils. I like to use distilled water as the lye water because it's easier to strain out the precipitate after adding edta or Citric acid. Might be cheaper too, I get mine from Vitacost.

 

[TeresaT]

Just remember that the milk fats will start to saponify and can get pretty thick if you leave it sit for too long while mixing oils. I weigh out all my oils and have the solid oils melted before I mix my lye into my goat milk. Also, freeze your milk before adding the lye to help keep from scorching the milk and turning it orange.

SunWolf. I froze my GM (canned, didn't dilute) and it turned a yucky orange. I'm thinking of tossing it. Have you any experience with orange gm? If I use TD in the main batter and lots of colors, can it be salvaged? It was only $2-ish, so I'm not out a whole lot of money if I have to toss it. Of course, I didn't read the label until after I saw my orange milk cubes and dug it out of the trash can. :-( I learn a lot by screwing things up.

 

[TeresaT]

Powder goat milk is quite handy! Stick blend into the soft oils. I like to use distilled water as the lye water because it's easier to strain out the precipitate after adding edta or Citric acid. Might be cheaper too, I get mine from Vitacost.

The co-op sells powdered gm for milk replacement. I'll have to look into that to see what they charge. The feed store carries it, too. I'll bet they're cheaper.

 

[snappyllama]

I've used frozen orangish goat milk before without any problems... the evaporated-double strength kind seems to change more in the freezer - sometimes the fat separates in the cube giving it a bizarre two-tone effect. If you're using it as a full replacement (so half your double strength milk cubes +half water), you'll probably get a beige bar depending on your recipe oils. Even hitting it with TD will give you a creamy color. Don't keep adding TD like a madwoman. It will make your bars feel chalky. Ask me how I know.

I've recently switched to the powder since I can get it from Amazon and it frees up my freezer. I like to pull out some water and premix it along with any other powdery additives I have - then mix with the oils before the lye solution. Just make sure to have at least as much water as lye in your lye solution so it dissolves properly.

 

[SunWolf]

Sorry, I've never used canned goats milk, I have no idea why it would turn orange in the freezer. :think: I raise Nubian dairy goats and have a free, regular milk supply, so I use the real thing.

 

[SunWolf]

The co-op sells powdered gm for milk replacement. I'll have to look into that to see what they charge. The feed store carries it, too. I'll bet they're cheaper.

Be sure to read the ingredients, many milk replacers are made with soy...nasty stuff.

 

[Lee242]

I freeze mine no problem with it(canned condensed 1/2 milk 1/2 water)

 

[TBandCW]

Just remember that the milk fats will start to saponify and can get pretty thick if you leave it sit for too long while mixing oils. I weigh out all my oils and have the solid oils melted before I mix my lye into my goat milk. Also, freeze your milk before adding the lye to help keep from scorching the milk and turning it orange.

I recently started to let my lye and oils cool to around 85-90 degrees and batter was tracing way too fast. I'm going back to 95 degrees and see if that was my problem. I use frozen gm for all my recipes. Never had an issue before. The milk is from the neighbor's goats.

 

[Dharlee]

I made my first batch of GM a couple of months ago and used canned GM that I had frozen first but not diluted in place of distilled water. It stunk to high heaven and turned somewhat orange. I soaped at 90 degrees but the odd thing was that I got lye spots throughout the soap. I've never seen that before. I tried to rebatch but it stunk again and worried me enough that I ended up throwing it out. The ammonia smell was super strong as I soaped and rebatched both times.

 

[IrishLass]

I made my first batch of GM a couple of months ago and used canned GM that I had frozen first but not diluted in place of distilled water. It stunk to high heaven and turned somewhat orange. I soaped at 90 degrees but the odd thing was that I got lye spots throughout the soap. I've never seen that before. I tried to rebatch but it stunk again and worried me enough that I ended up throwing it out. The ammonia smell was super strong as I soaped and rebatched both times.

Dharlee- the ammonia smell and orange color are fairly normal when making goat-milk soaps with 100% canned goat-milk that's mixed directly with the lye. At least it was always that way for me back when I used to make my milk soaps by that method (I use a different method now, see below). Good news, though- the ammonia smell goes away about a week into cure, and the orange color always cured to tan for me.

In regards to the 'lye spots' that you mentioned- are you sure they were lye spots? I ask because sometimes white spots in milk soaps can actually be fatty globules from the milk that didn't get mixed in well enough.

When it comes to milk-soaping, I personally like using the 'split-method where the liquid amount for my batch gets split into 2 parts: part water and part goat-milk. The lye gets dissolved into an equal amount of water in weight, and the remainder of my liquid amount is made up of refrigerated (not frozen and not canned) goat-milk which gets stick-blended into my oils either right before or right after adding in my lye solution. When I want to make a 100% milk soap with this method, I just fortify my liquid goat-milk portion with enough powdered goat milk to boost the milk concentration up to a 100% level for my batch. I really like doing it this way because there's no initial ammonia smell, my soap does not turn orange, and it cures out to a creamy, off-white color.


IrishLass

 

[lovinglife]

I freeze my goat milk in ice cube trays, one time I didn't get to making soap when I first froze my milk so it sat in the freezer for who knows how long before I made soap again. I noticed when I was taking the cubes from the trays that it seemed the tops were somewhat thicker, like it had maybe dried out some from being in the freezer longer than usual. I had dark spots in my soap, which I think was from the milk not melting as it should have and the spots were burnt milk, they did not smell, soap was fine to use just looked terrible. So now I always scrub off the tops of my cubes just to make sure it does not happen again, and it hasn't. I have a ton of milk so I don't mind washing them off some.

 

[Dharlee]

They were definitely lye spots. The zap was insane even 6 weeks later and it stung my hands to use it. It was terrible smelling after rebatch but the smell had died down before I tried rebatching it. I was just too worried to keep it even though I was only going to use it myself.

So if I understand correctly, you take enough water to match the amount of lye and mix that with the lye so that the lye will desolve well and mix that first. Then the rest of the liquid is used as GM and added to the oils before adding the lye? If you wanted to make it 100% you'd add enough powdered GM to make up the amount of whatever amount was used with the lye, do I have it right? I want to try it SO bad. I have some powdered GM and was thinking to use that for the soap only. I was thinking to add the powder to the oils before adding the lye water. The GM powder I have is the real deal- no soy. Can this still burn? I ususally soap at about 130 but could certainly soap cooler.

You guys are AWESOME! Thank you!

 

[IrishLass]

So if I understand correctly, you take enough water to match the amount of lye and mix that with the lye so that the lye will desolve well and mix that first. Then the rest of the liquid is used as GM and added to the oils before adding the lye? If you wanted to make it 100% you'd add enough powdered GM to make up the amount of whatever amount was used with the lye, do I have it right?

Correct.

I want to try it SO bad.

Go on- do it! :mrgreen:

I have some powdered GM and was thinking to use that for the soap only. I was thinking to add the powder to the oils before adding the lye water. The GM powder I have is the real deal- no soy. Can this still burn? I ususally soap at about 130 but could certainly soap cooler.

You guys are AWESOME! Thank you!

I can only speak for the GM powder that I use - Meyenberg GM powder- but for what it's worth, I have often soaped with it at 120F - 125F and have never experienced any burning issues with it. I always dissolve it in milk (or sometimes water) first before adding it to my oils.


IrishLass

 

[karenricha]

I am pretty new to soap making...well to cold process. Like a newbe...I rely on the soap calc. If the soap calc says it will be good...then I believe it to be that. So I have actually done a couple batches of goats milk. I use it in place of my water...I freeze it...and add the lye slowly...comes out white and creamy. My biggest question is...(since I use the calc) if you are adding dried goats milk...or cream to your batch...are you plugging that in to soap calc..or are you just adding it? I've seen people get their batch together...they add their lye to their oils...begin to blend...come to a beautiful trace...and then add cream...or milk...or oils...and I sit there while watching and think..."Was that part of their calculations?"..or are they just adding a couple oz here and there...lol someone help! lol ~~ Karen

 

[IrishLass]

Hi Karen- speaking only for myself, I don't add the milk into my calculations, whether fresh or powdered. I do, however adjust my super-fat % if I am making a 100% milk soap (I reduce it down to 3%).


IrishLass