HELP, my milks curdled.

[Jeremy]

I have tried twice now to make a milk/lye solution but both times it curdled. Both times I used frozen 2% cow's milk and I slowed down the addition of lye for my second batch. The second batch looked like it might be working but near the end it curdled.
I was using 24 ounces of milk and 9 ounces of lye.
Any input would be greatly appreciated, I'm not willing to quit and am going to try slowly adding milk cubes tomorrow but I'd rather learn the tricks before milking the cow dry.
Thanks
Jer

 

[Barb]

don't think it really curdled. it is just the lye reacting with the milk fats and trying to make soap with it. as long as it isn't orange, i would carefully stick blend it, to smooth out the lumpy's and proceed.

did i say carefully stick blend it.

 

[barefootbody]

I haven't tried using fresh milk, I always use powdered, I add it once I've reached trace & I'm ready to pour. I've never had any problems with curdling or color changes.

 

[Lindy]

I did try soaping with fresh Buttermilk and froze it a thick slush - it tried to turn the milk fat into soap so I carried on - I ended up rebatching it because I had hot spots within the soap that zapped. So I would recommend that you keep a really close eye on it. I've used cream in my soap and how I did it was I used 1:1 lye water ratio (equivalent amount of water to lye) and then put my cream in at trace - that worked really well.

HTH

Lindy

 

[IrishLass]

You have just discovered the reason why I absolutely, positively refuse to mix my lye with any kind of milk. It's just not worth the hassle or heartache to me anymore. I make lots and lots of milk soaps but I do it via a different method now. I mix my lye with at least 50% of the total liquid amount that my batch calls for as water, and then I add the rest of my liquid amount as refrigerated or room temperature milk, either directly to the oils or at thin trace. If I want to make a 100% milk soap I use the same method, but with the difference that I dissolve enough full-fat powdered milk into the liquid milk in order to make a 100% milk concentration for the water amount that was mixed with the lye. It's so much easier for me this way and my milk soaps turn out great. There's no curdling, no burning, no off smells, and my soap does not turn brown or tan.

IrishLass

 

[beachgurl]

This is the trick .. you can't add the lye to quickly .. can't add it to slowly ... I freeze mine in a ziploc bag and break it down so that the chunks are about the size of ice cubes, but that I have a few bigger ones. You want all your lye incorporated before the chunks melt. I probably tried 15 times before I got it, just don't quit .. you'll figure it out .. it's just trial and error.

 

[Jeremy]

I think third times the charm

I made milk cubes and set them aside, I also froze the rest of the milk solid. It took a little while for the big solid ice mass to sart dissolving but once it got going it never curdled, I just kept adding milk cubes, poured the lye fairly quickly actually and the temperature never rose above 100 degrees farenheit. The mixture was actually quite white in the end. Now I have to wait two days to see if I have soap, but so far so good.
Thanks for all the advice. Oh yeah, and I used a stick blender so I never let the solution seperate.

 

[Jeremy]

One thing I forgot

one more thing, I was so excited that my milk didn't curdle that I forgot to add my ground flax seed exfoliant, oh well, this one will just have to be a smooth batch.

 

[IrishLass]

Congradulations!

IrishLass