Getting ready to make first 4# milk soap

[jsanders]

I have a friend who has a goat farm, so I have an endless supply of goats milk. This is the recipe I'm going to use - 32 oz olive oil, 16 oz palm oil, 16 oz 76* coconut oil. I am using a 5% discount.

I used 6 different soap calculators and got 6 different liquid/lye amounts. There isn't a consistent ratio but the ranges are liquid 21.12 - 24.32 oz and lye 8.96 - 9.17 oz.

So what do ya'll think about going with 23 oz milk and 9 oz lye? :?: :?

 

[agriffin]

I usually ignore all of the calculators and do 2 x my lye.

So if your recipe has 9 oz of lye, I would do 18 oz of liquid.

For milk soap you could even make a lye solution of 9 oz lye and 9 oz water. Then add 9 oz of goat's milk at trace. This helps the goat's milk not to burn and keeps your soap a creamy white color (unless your olive oil is green or something).

 

[jsanders]

Thanks, that's a great idea. I'm glad I posted this because I haven't seen that before. I was thinking of going 1/2 water.

 

[MissMori]

It doesn't really matter which lye calculator you use. Pick one and stick with that one. I personally would pick the one with the most options and oils to input. I used to use MMS, but now use soapcalc. Not sure why I switched.

Liquid, do what agriffin said. You can experiment with different liquid amounts and find the one you like. Be sure to take notes.

 

[MeadowHillFarmCT]

I do GM soaps and use 36% of my oils as the fluid amount. I use this because I like more GM in my soaps. It will take a full cure but to me it's worth it.

My calc comes up with 9oz lye and 23oz gm.

That is with pomace olive oil. Your sap values for your oils may be different. I buy from Soapers Choice and they supply the sap values for each oil they sell so I modify my excel template for the exact values.

I have to add I am new (3 months 10 days) and not an experienced/seasoned soap maker.