Teach Soap

I am thinking maybe I should give up on goatsmilk.. I put my frozen milk in a container in a bowl of ice and slowly added my lye a little at a time and keep watch on the temp. It was looking pretty good and no ammonia smell. The milk was 85 degrees and my oils were 90 degrees. When I added them all together then the ammonia smell came and I could no longer smell my fragrance. So for it has not turned that dark brown like in the past. I used evaporated goats milk..does that make a difference? Is powdered goats milk better and easier to work with?

Donna

That ammonia smell should go away as the soap cures. Give it some time.

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

PATIENCE GRASSHOPPER!

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

Tammy

I have never had any success with that method. My soap always end up smelling like sour milk/baby spit up. I add the milk to the oils, then add the lye water, and that works for me.

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

well the smell finally went away and I can now smell alittle of the fragrance oil. That makes me hopeful. I guess maybe I did use too much soft oils because the center still looks pretty soft. The soap looks kinda the color of butterscotch which is alot better than the brown color I got in the past.
I have another question. I read that if you use evaporated goatsmilk that you should use half milk and half water? Is the correct

Donna

For milk powder, I use minimum water required to dissolve the lye, then mix the powder into the rest of the water to reconstitute the milk.

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

Yes, for the canned (liquid) evaporated milk you use half milk and half water.

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

Tammy

Does the goatsmilk powder turn brown also?

For me, it turns more of a tan color.

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

Now that my soap has set for 4 days it is looking funny. There are really dark spots that kinda look like moldy dark. I was able to cut some of it off so it is not dark all the way through. Also I think the tops has that soda ash stuff on it.. I can just wipe that off. Could the dark spots be because I did not dilute my evaporated goats milk and too many soft oils? I used BB black amber lavender f.o.

Donna

Donna, taste a small piece of the dark spot. It could be caramelized milk or the fragrance.

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

I was very afraid of using goat's milk but had a friend who really wanted me to make it and so I read and read and researched before I began. Now I must tell you, I've only made 5 batches of goat's milk so I'm NO EXPERT. With that said, this is what has worked for me.

1. I use powdered goat's milk (none in my area and it's cheaper that way)
2. Dilute it in distilled water.
3. Pour into ice cube trays. I usually make this up the night before I want to soap.
4. Place frozen goat's milk cubes into a plastic container that fits in a larger ones that is an ice bath.
5. Stir in lye a bit at a time. In my mind, I'm putting in 1/10 of the lye at a time and stirring until I don't feel any lye crystals.
6. Keep adding small amounts and stirring, all the while I check it with my temp gun to never get above 70 degrees. Usually it's no more that 55 degrees while it's all melting down.
7. Make soap! My oils are usually around 80-90 but the temp difference between the lye/milk and the oils don't seem to be a problem. Anne-Marie has a good video on this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8-D7nGlwFk
8. If you don't want it to change color, put in freezer. I let mine gel but need to watch carefully for overheating.

I've only had one that had a faint smell of ammonia which shortly went away.

With all that said, I made a batch yesterday in the midst of a crazy stressful day and guess what? I insulated it by mistake and got a crack before I realized what I had done. Luckily, I had checked on it an hour after insulating it. I just uncovered it and let it sit on the table. Even forgot to stick it in the freezer! One thing I learned......DO NOT SOAP WITH ANY DISTRACTIONS AROUND or if your mind is occupied with something else

It looks good this morning but it could have gone horribly wrong.

Oh and please feel free to pick apart my process as this is the only way I can improve

BTW I like your method of mixing the milk powder into the oils Linda. I'm going to try that!!!

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Jeannine

~the journey is everything~