Teach Soap

I am TOTALLY new to the goat soap, and haven't even tried it yet. I have a recipe from a friend and also some I've gotten off the internet. I'm wondering about the chemistry part... How do you transfer out ingredients and make sure the percentages are correct? The recipe I have calls for Lard. Can I transfer out the lard and put in olive oil or coconut... straight across?
What about a soap recipe that calls for water? Can I transfer out the water and put in the goat milk?
Is it best to use a stick blender instead of a regular blender to get to trace? Thanks for any help you can give!

You can sub one oil for another, but you will need to recalculate your recipe. If you already have a recipe, plug it into just about any lye calculator and it should tell you what each % of what each oil is. Lard does have a different SAP value than Olive or Coconut, so no, you can't always sub straight across. If you are new to soap, I would keep it simple.
Just use water for now til you get the hang of the process.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Hi AlaskanGoat,

I am assuming from your name that you have goats, hence your interest in making goat milk soap?

I have been making goatmilk CP soap for quite awhile now (milk from my own does), in fact it is the only CP soap I make - it is very mild and feels nourishing to my skin. I used to have very dry skin, since I make all our own soap now that is no longer a problem. I love it so much that when I recently started adventuring with MP, I chose the goatmilk base!

It is really important when making goatmilk CP soap that you freeze the milk first - it can be either totally frozen or super mushy. The reason for this is that otherwise the lye will heat up the goat milk too much and make it turn a dark (I think it is yucky!) color and it can also affect the smell. I freeze mine in a relatively thin layer and then break it up - though in a pinch I have made thicker bags of it and used a serrated knife to (carefully) cut in small chunks. Trust me, the thin layer is way better!

I put the frozen milk in the mixing container and add the lye and start mixing - the heat melts the milk relatively quickly. I have added my melted oils as soon as the milk is melted and I am sure the lye is also melted, without waiting for it to heat up further, and the result was the same as when I let the milk heat to about 100 F - the soap came out fine. Because the weight of goat milk can vary depending on the percentage of fat, some people add a bit less milk than the max called for in a recipe. Also factor in the percentage of milk fat - for example, if your milk is from a high-fat breed like Nubian, you might want to use a 5 % discount. Soap made from fresh goat milk can have a slightly "earthy" smell if left unscented, but by using frozen milk it will not have the almost burnt scent that can occur when the milk is overheated by lye.

I totally agree with Soapbuddy that if you have never made soap before, it is best to start out with a simple recipe - but always check your recipe with a lye calculator before starting. They are fun to use and it is interesting to see the lye amount change with differnt oils.

Good luck!

Holly

Oops, forgot to say about the stick blender - it works way better than hand stirring and reduces the time till trace (in my experience) as well as super-efficiently blending oils with lye solution - do not use a regular mixer as it can cause splashes as well as adding too much air to your soap. I use the stick blender (submerged) and then blend with my heavy spoon alternately.

Also, read as much as possible before making your first batch so that you are comfortable with the process - lye really needs to be handled carefully! And if the whole process seems too daunting or scary at first - try goat milk melt and pour. Brambleberry has a wonderful base!

Holly

Wow! Thanks for all the good info Holly and thank you both for being so quick to reply! Yes, we do have goats. We just started with 3 that we bought in June and we just recently got 2 more does for free. Good thing we've got a nice big barn! We are loving the milk and cheese, but wondering about trying to make soap. I'm getting some old plastic molds for free from some friends, and we'll start with that and see how it goes.
We make our own (all liquids) shampoo, hand soap and body wash from a Dr. Bronner's base, and are really enjoying that.

Since you have goats, I would suggest making your own liquid soap with the goat's milk too.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Using the goats milk instead of the water? With the Dr. Bronners? Won't it go sour?

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.