how to make buttermilk soap

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Or how not to I should say?!

Ok, I usually do GM by half water half concentrate for a full milk. Cold GM into oils after lye water is pulsed in 3 short bursts. Easy! Works every time.

So I decided to do a buttermilk soap today.

I froze to a slush the buttermilk. I wanted a full buttermilk soap and didn't have concentrate like I use with GM (is this my mistake?? Is full buttermilk too much???). I added lye crystals to the slushie buttermilk (like a slush GM soaping technique I read about), and stirred. It turned yellow, of course, and I had it sitting in an ice water bath, tried to turn orange but it calmed back.

The buttermilk curdled. Horribly. Curds. Being my 12th batch, I decided not to panic. I stirred and stirred. Still curds, so I SB the lye milk. It's just going to saponify, right?! Well it smoothed out, and I poured it into my oils. I Then SB all to emulsion. Split my batch, and it traced so freaking fast (before the fo and colorants!). Ah! Literally from emulsion to thick trace in 2 minutes!

Well long story short, I made a buttermilk soap at full milk. Is this ok? What do I do for a full buttermilk soap next time to prevent massive curdling? Is it too high in fat and that's going to be similar to a ghee soap now? Stinky? Any insight is beyond welcomed!
 
Buttermilk is the milk left over after making butter. So, there's no butter/fat in buttermilk. I don't know what made it curdle. That's very interesting. However, I'm sure it's somewhat acidic, so maybe part of it was neutralizing the lye. Do you know if you used true cultured buttermilk or soured milk? Most grocery store buttermilk is skim milk that has been soured with an additive.
 
I would agree with Lsg. Actually, real buttermilk is very low fat since it is what is left after churning butter. What we get in the stores is a cultured low fat milk that does have the tang like real buttermilk has. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but that is what my daddy explained to me years ago. He was raised on a farm in Oklahoma and grandma always churned butter, daddy loved buttermilk over cornbread. He hated the store bought he had to buy after leaving the farm
 
Yep, buttermilk from the store is cultured, exactly like yogurt. I suspect what you were seeing was soap bits, not curdling.

I use buttermilk powder, it is actually made from real buttermilk, and it much easier IMO.

Your 100% buttermilk will probably be fine, the smell goes away.
 
I soaped with uncultured homemade buttermilk a wk or two ago. Make butter from scratch, pour off the excess liquid, and it's uncultured buttermilk. Waiting on those results.

The curtling happened almost as soon as the first crystals dissolved. In fact, it was curtling as some lye stuck to the bottom of the pot. So it wasn't even fully dissolved yet.

Yeah, regular store bought pint sized buttermilk in the ole containers like you'd get at your local school back in the day.

Shunt, I thought of half and half, but I really wanted full. Interesting if I try both and compare.

Once dissolving, SB the buttermilk lye, then blending in the oils, it went white and smell free. I'm not too worried, but was a tad concerned when it happened. I figured, meh, SB it and see what happens. Probably will just saponify and work itself out lol! I'm not used to soaping lye into milk, and I didn't strain (only soaped prior by adding milk to oils after lye water), so lye pockets are always an underlying concern for me.

So shunt. You love buttermilk, as do others, but it's low fat skim milk that's been cultured like yogurt...so does the culture do something for the sap process that fats don't? Deeanna, any insight on buttermilk qualities considering its low in fats and strained from the cream during separation making butter?

I enjoy studying and learning almost more than I do soaping lol, so thanks to all for their insight and knowledge. I am grateful to you all for your perspectives.
 
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I love Buttermilk soap, I usually use the 2% or the Bulgarian Buttermilk. When I use the Bulgarian I add the fat content into SoapCalc. I am using these with half water for the lye. I used to add cold milk, but I have a much easier time if the milk is room temp. and add the milk before the fo.
 
I used buttermilk the other day for the first time. Used the powder at 1/4 cup for a two pound batch, dissolved it in just enough water to create a slurry then blended it into the oils before the lye. It worked really well.
 
I just made a batch a few weeks ago for the first time and was very happy with how it turned out. I used all full fat buttermilk ( from the supermarket) frozen solid in ice cube trays in a water bath containing ice and slowly added my lye. My milk turned a dark beige/yellow colour which looked nice, it never went over 32 degrees Celsius and I added to my oils at 28 degrees. I used a SB and it took a good 5 mins to trace and was a nice lump free consistency. I added no colour or scent. I'm not sure what went wrong but perhaps it just got too hot. I hope this helps, good luck for next time.
 
I'm thinking it was too hot perhaps, as well. I'm thinking the bath cooled it, after some time. Once poured into the oils, it remained in the bath while I SB. I was able to pick up the lye oils pot from the bottom and it felt cool, so it finally calmed. It did turn a beautiful cream color after all was said and done and I was ready for a pour. Unfortunately I was trying this new 'thing' and it turned out ugly. Sigh. But as I strive to perfect my recipe, it may be an awesome soap in spite!! Thx for the help you all.
I may try half and half, or powder next time.

Thx!!!
 
I use half and half too. It works well and makes a nice creamy bar. I prefer buttermilk or half and half over GM or CM. My personal preference. However, I also make GM & CM soap.
 
Resurrecting an old thread, I know... But I recently had given to me a very large container of buttermilk powder, and did a search on using it in soap, and here I am...lol... How did this work out for you over time? Is there a noticeable difference between using the powder and liquid? I'm going to give it a shot, just wondering if I need to look for anything different :)


I used buttermilk the other day for the first time. Used the powder at 1/4 cup for a two pound batch, dissolved it in just enough water to create a slurry then blended it into the oils before the lye. It worked really well.
 
I use powdered buttermilk. I make slurry with some water then add to oils, slurry kaolin add it to oils stickblend and add the color, then lye water. It works pretty well, at thin trace FO
I love my last soap is so mild. I am going to make every soap with buttermilk:))
 
I use powdered buttermilk. I make slurry with some water then add to oils, slurry kaolin add it to oils stickblend and add the color, then lye water. It works pretty well, at thin trace FO
I love my last soap is so mild. I am going to make every soap with buttermilk:))

Thanks for the info! I'm just gonna go for it, and hope for the best...lol
 
I am wondering if what the advantages are to using fresh milks over powdered generally. Ie; I currently have in my refrigerator (for soaping): full cream, yogurt, buttermilk, coconut milk, goat's milk. I also have powders for all of them. I have been doing the split method, mixing the powders into the liquid milks to make up 100% milk versions. The soaps are still short of the minimum month's cure, so don't want to test them yet, and also don't have powder-only versions to test them against.

It would be a lot easier, cheaper, and take up less space in the fridge if I just used powders, but don't want to short-change the soap. So is there a difference, really? Theoretically it does not seem as if there should be, since I assume the powders contain the same proteins, fats, etc, just in dehydrated form?
 
I use powdered and liquid. I add the powdered to the liquid to make it full buttermilk since I split it and use water for the lye.
This is the way I do too, I just copy you my dear. you posted the info, some time ago:)) Thank you again
Buttermilk soap is incredible, it is so gentle on my skin, I do not need moisturizer, after shower:))
 
I am wondering if what the advantages are to using fresh milks over powdered generally. Ie; I currently have in my refrigerator (for soaping): full cream, yogurt, buttermilk, coconut milk, goat's milk. I also have powders for all of them. I have been doing the split method, mixing the powders into the liquid milks to make up 100% milk versions. The soaps are still short of the minimum month's cure, so don't want to test them yet, and also don't have powder-only versions to test them against.

It would be a lot easier, cheaper, and take up less space in the fridge if I just used powders, but don't want to short-change the soap. So is there a difference, really? Theoretically it does not seem as if there should be, since I assume the powders contain the same proteins, fats, etc, just in dehydrated form?
I really prefer milks in powder form. It leaves room for making your milk as strong as you like. Since I soap with a 50/50 lye solution I cannot use full milk replacement so I make it up with powdered milks.
 

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