Teach Soap

I keep seeing different ways and times when people add goat's milk. I have tried recipes that add powdered goat's milk at trace. I have also tried reconstituted goat's milk at trace. Both times I was happy with the bar, which came out creamy white. I saw a video the other day where a woman just added a scoop of goat's milk right to her oils, before the lye. The one time I used whole goat's milk and mixed it slushy frozen with my lye pre-oil it turned an orange. What's the difference as long as the
milk is in there. I have been very happy with both results.

As there are many soapers, there are different ways to add milks. Do what works for you.

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

When I use GM powder, I always mix it into my oils with a stick blender before I add my lye water. If I'm using liquid GM I freeze it until slushy and add my lye to the slush. These are the methods that work best for me.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

So if you add lye to the slushy milk, does it always turn orange?

I want to eventually try a milk recipe but I'm scared I'll burn the milk.

When you get the bright orange color in you lye/milk mixture do your bars end up with that tint to them?

That orange should turn tan as the soap cures.

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

I freeze my milk solid and slowly add the lye. As in, I sprinkle a bit in, wait for it to start melting the milk, stir carefully to ensure it is evenly distributed, then repeat until all of the lye is incorporated and all of the frozen milk has melted. It takes at least 5-10 minutes to sprinkle in all of the lye. But, for me, the batter has stayed pretty pale, no tanning, so far. I did this batch the other day and am pretty happy with it. Full goat milk and the creamy color is because I used some unbleached shea butter.

Very pretty!!!

It is pretty, but it will darken as time goes on.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

Usually begins in days, but is gradual so you may not notice for a bit. When the cure time is done you should be able to see the difference. There is almost 2 months exactly between the first picture and the other two.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

Those are lovely!

How did you do the packaging on them?

TY. The "holders" are just made from scrap-booking paper. I actually ended up adding some small buttons across the brown strip on the little boy one (on the left), and the right hand one got a sticker where the space is on its trim piece. I like to dress up my gift sets a bit.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

Do you guys know if adding powdered goat's milk to the batter gives as much benefit as reconstituting it & replacing water/freezing? Has anyone tried both to see if it makes a difference?

I've tried both and didn't really see or feel a difference. I preferred adding the powder to my oils before I added the lye though. Honestly, I haven't found much benefit to adding the GM at all. IMHO. I think if you've got goats (and I hope to someday) it's a good way to use the milk, but to buy it just for soap I haven't found that it adds enough to my recipe to warrant the expense, especially since I don't sell my goodies. I do like the GM powder in my bath truffles though.

I did try coconut milk and am still experimenting with it. I personally like the feel of the coconut milk better. It seems to add a silkiness. I tried using all coconut milk frozen in cubes in my recipe and I did like it. I didn't get any zap but I could see how it would be hard to determine if the lye is mixed enough that way and my soap was definitely softer at first and took a long time to harden up. I don't ever discount the liquid. I just haven't played with that yet and I like having time to make swirlies and such. I recently tried half frozen coconut milk and half water in two batches with different fragrances and I really like that method and the end result the best so far. It's just an opinion, but thought I'd share it.