Goat milk soap smells like lye

I made goat's milk soap for the first time, and I tried to prevent gel for the first time also. The soap looks very nice and creamy but the bottom of it smells like lye. the pH is 11 and no tongue zapping. Do you think the soap is ok, and the smell will disappear when I cure it? It is an unscented bar except for a small amount of peppemint EO in some of the soap I separated out and then drizled over the top.

Goats Milk soap always smells a little off when I first cut it. That goes away as it cures. Hopefully it will be fine. How long has it been out of the mold?

soap

Just took it out about 2 hours ago.

give it a bit... it should mellow out and smell fine soon.

smells better

I took it down to the curing room and put them out and they already smell better. I probably won't be making much goat milk soap, unless my family really likes it. If I plan to sell it at the local crafts fairs I need something more unique. There are already 2 goat milk soap businesses in the valley where I live, and they both make a nice soap.

goat milk soap

is the only kind we've made and it is wondrous! At least our recipe. It is so smooth and is not drying at all. Further, it got rid of 7 years of eczema for me. It's all I use now. It's helping others with skin problems that we sell it to too.

Did you use fresh milk?

I find that the fresher the milk, the less goaty it smells. Personally I can't smell any goat in my milk or in my soap. Then again, some dairy breeds have smellier milk. If it's fresh, is it from a Toggenberg? My gals are LaMancha, which I feel is the best dairy breed. Could be biased...but it's true

That smell will go away as the soap cures.

adoptapitbull said:

Did you use fresh milk?

I find that the fresher the milk, the less goaty it smells. Personally I can't smell any goat in my milk or in my soap. Then again, some dairy breeds have smellier milk. If it's fresh, is it from a Toggenberg? My gals are LaMancha, which I feel is the best dairy breed. Could be biased...but it's true

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It's not the breed of goat that makes the difference, but any one of the following reasons: what they are eating, the time of year, if a male is close to them or not, and if the goats are milked directly into a cooler or not.
I've kept fairly large herds of dairy goats all my adult life and have found that if the milk smells 'goaty' it's down to one of the reasons I've given above.

The richer their feed the more chance of having that goaty smell, or if a male is kept too close to the does will do it, during mating tiome has a big effect if your still milking your girls and if the milk is allowed to stand for more than a moment or two without being chilled down.

My dairy milks my irls directly into a refriderated stainless steel tank where the milk is constantly being stirred while more milk is being added as the goats are milked, but if you're only milking the odd one or two goats by hand I suggest that you put one of those freezer blocks in the bottom of your milking bucket so the milk goes directly onto it and causes it to chilled down immediately.

I make and sell around 500-600 bars of GM soap per month and have never had any problem with any of it even though it very often doesn't smell wonderful to begin with, but it always smells wonderful by the time it cures out

Those are valid reasons, too. This is why I don't give my gals any onion scraps, just in case. The onion grass they eat doesn't seem to affect it, thank goodness.

Togs are known to have a bit more of a "goaty" smelling milk regardless because their milk is better for cheesemaking. Most people who don't own goats wouldn't know if the buck was near, or if the doe didn't carry great tasting milk genes, but they may know what breed they're getting the milk from.

Could just simply be that the goat giving the milk might not produce great milk. I can tell whose milk is whose based on flavor. If it smells bad, maybe try a new goat.

I raise Boers so keep a couple of milking does around if I need to bottle feed babies. My nubians milk doesn't taste any different than regular cows, she also put a slight layer of cream on hers where as my Togg cross has a more goaty taste and smell, haven't noticed it in my soap. I guess it depends on the goat both get the same feed alfalfa and grain, I use the Toggs milk to make blue cheese the goatyness give's it a depth of flavor almost as strong as a good roqufort, and use the nubians for mozzarella and white cheddar. I have noticed when I use the nubies milk my soap is a lighter beige where as the Toggs is a darker butter yellow. Could just be the goats themselves are you using fresh or bought milk? Essential oils might mask the smell if it doesn't go away

no smell

Our milk from Nubians, which we are now only getting what's left from the freezer, never smells "goaty." And I adore the smell of plain goat milk soap. To me, it's a cross between the smell of fresh bread and oatmeal cookies. So yummy.

An aside here on the subject of goat milk soap--at what point do you add the goat milk? My one attempt at goat milk was a near disaster. I substituted goat milk for water and it was awful for a long time. It finally mellowed out and quit smelling burnt.

I have found that my soap often smells funny out of the mold, but then the smell goes away after a week or two.

The only time it has persisted was when I didn't add any fragrance to my lard soap.

My oatmeal soap smelled especially bad out of the mold, but now it smells great. Very weird.

You have to add the lye super slowly to the milk. Like, 10-15 minutes of adding lye. If you dump it all in at once, it will do that to you. Cold milk, slow adding lye, and lots of stirring and you'll be fine.

I freeze the milk and add the lye to my frozen milk.... the smell cures out.