can you successfully gel goat milk soap?
- Thread starter kayjay
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With that recipe, it is still odd to have softish soap at 4-5 weeks. Do you account for the GM when you calculate your superfat? Even if you use full water, they shouldn't be at all soft at 4 weeks so I wonder if your SF is too high.
coffeetime
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Have all your batches of this recipe turned out this soft? How many times have you made this recipe?
CorinaDragonfly
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Would love to know how people do it without watching it like a hawk. I just made a GM batch and left it out for 3 hours. Was just getting ready to leave the house for the gym when I noticed it starting to crack - so in the freezer it went. I was so paranoid about a potential volcano even in the freezer that I babysat it until I went to bed. I have used wood, silicone, and plastic (Lock-n-Lock), and it doesn't seem to matter. I can't even imagine putting it in an oven (not the plastic mold at all, of course) :grin:.
coffeetime
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I do 50/50 GM and water and a wood mold and let it gel. No volcanos, not sure about colour change because it has pink clay in it.
HorseCreek
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How hot are your oils and lye when you soap? When I was first starting, I was soaping much too hot, and that caused me to get bad overheating. (Still haven't had a volcano, lol) When I lowered my temps, no more overheating and I get to decide for the most part what gels. I have a few fragrances that I know gel, so I just go with it instead of trying to stop it.
I don't decrease my super fat to allow for the fat in the milk! I use 100% milk in place of water and keep the super fat at 5%. No wonder these soaps are so lovely in the shower. Is there a rule of thumb for super fatting GM soap?? That and my reluctance (fear) of discounting water could be the cause of my softer soaps.
I think the amount of fat in the gm wouldn't up your sf by too much though.
What % fat is your gm?
What % fat is your gm?
girlishcharm2004
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Interesting question. I don't buy goats milk at the store so I don't know if they usually list what percentage fat it has like they do with cows milk. But unlike cows milk where the cream separates, is removed, and added back to a specific percentage, goats milk is naturally homogenized -- the fat doesn't separate. The amount of fat in the milk is determined by the breed of goat. So, unless they test each batch or go through the hassle of sending the milk through a fat separator, I wouldn't have thought that one could know the actual percentage!
And I don't have the packet mine came in any more. Interesting that gm is so different from gm.
I do think that here in the eu, shop bought stuff will have it on there. Not sure about over the pond.
I do think that here in the eu, shop bought stuff will have it on there. Not sure about over the pond.
Actually cow milk varies also by breed, but the dairy industry (at least here in the US) has standardized and hybridized their cows so much the standard dairy cow produces pretty much the same level of milkfat.
HorseCreek
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Without sending it off to be tested there is no way to know exactly what the fat percentage is. It also varies depending on where your doe is in her lactation. Generally though it should be between 3 and 5 percent. I usually just figure 4. So if you have 10 oz of gm in your recipe, the milk fat would be .3-.5 oz total. Roughly.
I don't figure the fat content in my milks either. I superfat at 5-7% so with the milks I use it's a touch higher.
HorseCreek
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I should have added I don't calculate the milk fat in my soap either. I figure it's just going to make it better. Was just giving info in case they wanted to.
