Soaping with Buttermilk

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Cellador

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I made a soap tonight, using buttermilk, for the first time. All went fine, but it went to heavy trace very quickly.

I reserved water from my recipe and added it to powdered buttermilk. I mixed thoroughly and added the buttermilk once the oils/lye reached emulsion. The oils and lye were both pretty cool (I think)- around 88 degrees F. My fragrance was an EO blend (mostly lavender and citrus).

Is this typical? Just curious, so I can know what to expect next time. I know the sugars in the buttermilk can cause the soap to heat, so I'm wondering if that's why it went to thick trace so quickly?

Is this typical of other milks also? I've used coconut milk using the same process and didn't have any issues with acceleration.
 
Hey all! Sorry to bump my own thread, but I tried this recipe again tonight. I had the same results, so I am now thinking it's either a recipe or process issue. Details below.

I am using powdered buttermilk. I reserved 100 g of water to mix with the powder (about 2 Tablespoons, maybe a little less), so when incorporating the lye and oils, the water amount was 132 g and the temperature was about 105 degrees F combined. By the time I had stick blended to emulsion (before adding color/essential oils/buttermilk) it had already jumped to 116 degrees F. After incorporating the additives and hand stirring, the temperature had increased to 126 degrees F.

By the time I had poured into molds (I tried cavity molds tonight), it was pretty much soap on a stick. I wasn't able to get the air bubbles out or do anything with the tops besides smear/smash them. I threw it into the freezer where it's sitting comfortably now.

So, what's going on here? Is it the high(er) lye concentration before mixing-in the buttermilk? Am I better off trying the frozen milk method?

Thanks in advance for your help!

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I have not used powdered milk, so hopefully I remember this right....

I remember reading on the forum that someone uses milk powder, reserved, like you do but they don't reserve any of the water. They use the recipe amount of liquid in the beginning for the lye solution then add the powder last, like any other additive. It is possible that the sudden extra liquid and the sudden extra sugar is causing it to heat up but I don't know enough to be sure
 
Have you made the same recipe with just water?
I've used powdered buttermilk a few times and not had any accelaration but I blend my milk mix into the oils before adding the lye solution and soap cool, around 95-100
 
"...the temperature was about 105 degrees F combined. By the time I had stick blended to emulsion (before adding color/essential oils/buttermilk) it had already jumped to 116 degrees F. After incorporating the additives and hand stirring, the temperature had increased to 126 degrees F...."

IMO, your troubles are less about the buttermilk and more about your technique. The amount of stick blending you are doing is not just mixing the ingredients, but it is also accelerating the saponification reaction, as proved by the large increase in temperature. By the time you see a 3-4 degree F rise (1 to 2 degree C rise) compared to the initial temperature, it's high time to be pouring, not mixing. It's no surprise with a 20 degree F rise in the batter temp that you got your "soap on a stick".

Look at how you can stick blend a LOT less, and I suspect you'll see substantial improvement. I usually add most fragrances (FOs or EOs) and most additives to the batter right at the beginning, so when I get to emulsion, all I usually have to do is portion out the batter as needed, add colorants, and pour.

I also SB a lot less than I used to as a beginner. I can get my batter to emulsion with 1 to 3 seconds of stick blending. I incorporate colorants with perhaps another second of SB'ing. How long are you SB'ing to get the soap to emulsion and how much more SB'ing do you do past that point?
 
I stick blended the initial oil/lye mixture for about a minute total, but I pulsed the blender, then stirred, pulsed, and stirred. After noting the increase in temperature, I stopped SB altogether. The additives were stirred-in by hand with a spatula.

The more I think about this, the more am I thinking it was the high lye concentration. I didn't add the buttermilk/additional water to the mix until after emulsion, so that "extra" water wouldn't be available until it had already started heating-up.

I noticed everyone commenting adds the powdered buttermilk to the oils before adding the water/lye. I think I should have done the same?
 
A minute of SB'ing is way too much. Honest ... you don't need nearly that much time. Ten seconds, total, of stick blending is plenty and when you get more experience, you may find you can use even less. Only when I want to force a slow batter to speed up will I use more time than this.

It doesn't matter that you stirred and pulsed and so on. It's the total amount of high intensity mixing that is the problem in your situation.

Once you see the temp rise, there is no slowing things down. You have to act in a way that anticipates this normal behavior, not respond after it happens.
 
I go father, I do not mix buttermilk with water but add powder to oils and stick blend it like crazy, never had any issues :)
I do exactly the same as Dahila, because I find buttermilk and goat's milk powder easier to mix straight into the oils before adding the lye solution. You want cool lye solution. I forgot to mention I whisk my lye solution in and use the whisk for a little while to determine if I need to hit it with the SB
 
I use buttermilk powder quite often. I mix my lye with half water and then mix the buttermilk with the remaining water. I add this to my oils and stickblend well. I've not had any issues using it. I do soap fairly cool.

I do pretty much the same.
I do mix my oils, milk/water mix and FO all together with a SB before I add the lye/water mix.
Then it only needs a few seconds SBing and some hand stirring to get to emulsion.

I suggest you soap cooler and with a lye concentration of 30% to start with.
 
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