50/50 split water

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squeakycleanuk

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If I use goats milk or something similar in place of water, would splitting it 50/50 mean I don't have to freeze the milk. The reason I'm asking is because I soap at work and I don't have a freezer there. I considered freezing it at home and taking the ice cubes to work but suspect that they'll have melted by the time I get there :crazy: so would be 50/50 method be a workable solution here? If so, at what point would I add the milk portion?
 
Yes. You can add it to the oils pre lye water and sb, but I add lye water first,sb three short bursts, add gm, and sb to emulsion. I keep mine, however, chilled in fridge til ready. You can use gm concentrate and half water which brings you to full milk, or if using fresh gm add gm powder as well to bring it to full milk if you like.
 
Ditto what LionPrincess said^^^. You can even use room temp milk and heat it with your oils if you want (I've done that before, too, with no issues).


IrishLass :)
 
Thank you both, thats great :) Just one thing lionprincess, what is sb? Its probably something very obvious but I can't figure it out :think:
 
SB.

US - Stick Blender
UK - Immersion Blender
German - STABMIXER!

Ah, those Germans. I'll add that one to my repertoire. It joins:

Kummerspeck: Excess weight gained from emotional overeating. Literally, grief bacon.

ETA:

I was just thinking about how much those terms reveal about our cultures.

US - Stick Blender (I dunno what to call it... looks like a stick I reckon)
UK - Immersion Blender (One must immerse one's blender in the container).
German - STABMIXER! (WEAPON - EET CAN BE USED AS A WEAPON! Also, stirring)

No offense meant to the English folks or the German ones. Americans can take any offense they wish. ;)
 
Last edited:
I usually do equal water to my lye and then the remainder in whatever my liquid of choice may be.
 
Ah, those Germans. I'll add that one to my repertoire. It joins:

Kummerspeck: Excess weight gained from emotional overeating. Literally, grief bacon.

ETA:

I was just thinking about how much those terms reveal about our cultures.

US - Stick Blender (I dunno what to call it... looks like a stick I reckon)
UK - Immersion Blender (One must immerse one's blender in the container).
German - STABMIXER! (WEAPON - EET CAN BE USED AS A WEAPON! Also, stirring)

No offense meant to the English folks or the German ones. Americans can take any offense they wish. ;)

Hahahahahahahaha made me spit tea on my tablet screen when I read this
 
How does splitting your water in half and adding equivalent milk later work?

Even at full water, that would be 56% lye solution.

Do you have a lot of trouble with getting the lye to dissolve completely?
 
I do a 50/50 most all the time. I just make sure I have enough water to dissolve my lye 1:1 and then add the remainder in milk to my oils and stick blend before adding my cooled lye mixture. It's never posed a problem at all.
 
How does splitting your water in half and adding equivalent milk later work?

Even at full water, that would be 56% lye solution.

Do you have a lot of trouble with getting the lye to dissolve completely?


Speaking only for myself, I split my liquid amount when making milk soap because I passionately hate mixing my lye with anything but water. All the times when I've dissolved it directly into my milk, it was problematic for me....if it wasn't the milk getting scorched, then it was the fat in the milk saponifying before I could add it to my oils, etc...

Things just proceed much better for me when I dissolve the lye in an equal amount of water and add the milk to my oils. My milk soaps come out beautiful with a nice creamy, off-white coloring this way instead of tan.

That's not to say that one cannot get a nice off-white milk soap doing it via the direct way with frozen milk, but it takes way more time and patience than I'm willing to invest.


IrishLass :)
 
I do a 50/50 most all the time. I just make sure I have enough water to dissolve my lye 1:1 and then add the remainder in milk to my oils and stick blend before adding my cooled lye mixture. It's never posed a problem at all.

Things just proceed much better for me when I dissolve the lye in an equal amount of water and add the milk to my oils. My milk soaps come out beautiful with a nice creamy, off-white coloring this way instead of tan.

Sounds like you keep the lye solution at 50% strength and then make up the difference w/ the milk, rather that cut the liquid straight in half, then?
 
Sounds like you keep the lye solution at 50% strength and then make up the difference w/ the milk, rather that cut the liquid straight in half, then?

That's correct. Sometimes I do more water than milk especially if using cream as it really thickens my soap batter even before adding the lye mixture since I soap room temp most times.
 
Nothing to add to the conversation, but, WOW, am I jealous that you can soap at work! :mrgreen:

I'm a self employed massage therapist, so just trying to make good use of the spare time I have between customers :)
 

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