Hemp milk saponifying when lye is added

[roseb]

How can I prevent the frozen hemp milk from saponifying when I add the lye? I add the lye very slowly to the frozen milk, and I have to strain it thru a fine wire strainer before adding it to my oils. It's a big mess and a real time waster.

 

[judymoody]

I'm not sure what the problem is - can't you stick blend it smooth?

 

[DeeAnna]

If I get curds when making a lye + milk solution, I add the solution to my oils without straining and move on with the soap making. It's just soap, after all.

There is no way to keep lye + fat from saponifying. It's the nature of the beast. If you really, really don't want odd little bits in your lye solution, don't add lye to the hemp milk. Mix it with plain water or another liquid that doesn't have any saponifiable ingredients.

 

[roseb]

I didn't think to use the SB. Good idea, judymoody.

I know it's only soap...I keep telling myself that all the time. I'm just anal, so I'm going to have to make a water/lye solution and add my milk to my oils. Or just stop stressing and enjoy my straining time. Hey maybe I can talk myself into thinking of it as meditation!

Thanks, ladies!

 

[kikajess]

But isn't straining all those bits taking away a lot of the milk? I only have coconut milk to compare it to, though. I'm guessing you're talking about all those teensy white globules that float to the top of the lye mixture. I just dump the whole mess into the oils and stick blend the soap batter as normal. It comes out great! I will be trying hemp milk soon. I bought hemp seeds to even make my own milk. Woah!

 

[Obsidian]

As long as the lye fully dissolves, there is no reason to strain the milk. When I used a puree potato in a batch, I added it to the water before I added the lye. The resulting water/lye/potato mix turned into a very thick, gel like goo as it cooled. As soon as I mixed it into the oil, it blended in nice and smooth.
My coconut milk/lye mix also get pretty thick and lumpy, it also mixes in smooth.