Teach Soap

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JILLY

Hi Powell,

Not sure it was so much the temps but that the lye wasn't entirely dissolved in the milk. It can be hard to tell because milk is opaque, unlike water which allows you to see that every bit of lye is dissolved.

Just a theory. Not sure.

Karri

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I soap therefore I am.

Thanks for your reply Karri. I mixed half of my water mixture to disolve my lye and the other half of water amount was substitiuted for milk. But i was just reading more on goat's milk soap and realized that i didn't dilute the condenced milk. So that was probably one factor. That i'll fix. I guess i'm really concerned about the milk soap getting overheated. I read that milk soaps tend to heat up more than other soaps. When do you control that? During mixing and by controlling temps of oils and lye, or during instulation?

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JILLY

I've done it both ways (full milk or partial milk + water) but if you want, you can do full milk but freeze it into a "slush" first. Works great

When you used part water, how much water vs how much lye did you have? I wonder if you didn't have enough water to fully dissolve the lye. While it's true that you can "technically" use 1:1 water/lye it's very dangerous and very tricky! A 1.5:1 water/lye is better but still can be tricky (and is VERY concentrated which means you can get injured faster/more seriously should it touch your skin/eyes).

Karri

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I soap therefore I am.

Condensed milk has a lot of sugar which can make the soap overheat. Are you able to get regular goat's milk where you live, or possibly goat's milk powder? Milk soaps are better mixed cool, so the sugars in it do not caramelize. Is the lye pure?

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

Sorry i ment evaporated milk not condensed. I used Rooto drain cleaner from ACE Hardware. 100% sodium hydroxide.

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JILLY

Is david fishers video the one wher he"s useing a crockpot? Maybe that method is one where you had to cook the soap? just a guess.

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JILLY

Even 100% lye can be poor quality. It MIGHT be the problem but hard to know. I'm still thinking the lye didn't fully dissolve which happens to even experienced soapers with milk soap.

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I soap therefore I am.

When you ran the recipe through a lye calc, did it give you a water range? My thinking is if you didn't add enough water to dissolve the lye, you could end up with lye crystals on the bottom that wouldn't dissolve, since the lye solution was super saturated.

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

[img][img][/img][/img]Here's pic of my goat's milk gone wrong

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JILLY

That looks overheated.

Did you add honey to this recipe?

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I soap therefore I am.

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JILLY

I'd just try soaping at 100 degrees (F) next time and see how that goes. 120 is probably just too hot for milk soap.

Put the mold up on blocks and insulate very lightly if at all. Or put it in the fridge or freezer for up to 24 hours. A "slab" mold sometimes works better too as soap in a loaf mold tends to hold more heat.

Soapbuddy might be able to comment on this too. She doesn't let her soaps gel at all.

Karri

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I soap therefore I am.

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JILLY