Curdled lye/yogurt solution

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Mtn5ro

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2nd time with a yogurt recipe. My notes weren't great and I did a frozen yogurt/lye at 67:33 ratio and it looked curdled. I think I should have done a 50/50 water/lye and added yogurt to the oils. Brought to trace and poured into individual molds which handled like normal. Will probably get DOS. How soon for a zap test?
 
Curdling is pretty common with milk/yogurt but it shouldn’t affect the outcome of your soap. I prefer the 50/50 method as I hate dealing with having to freeze things first. Depending on your oils used DOS won’t likely be an issue.
 
I recently read Anne Watson's book on milk soap making and if I'm remembering correctly, yogurt is one of the only milk products she found works better if it is used at 50%. She did many, many experiments with various milk products, including vegan versions. Using the split method recommended above would make it easier (lye dissolved in a portion of the water, yogurt added to oils as the remaining liquid). Maybe this is because yogurt is high in solids compared with milks.

ETA: I checked the book, and there’s not much detail except that she recommends mixing both yogurt and sour cream with water 50/50 to avoid getting marbled streaks through the soap. All of her recipes for liquid milks (any milk product that is not in powder form) use frozen milk to dissolve the lye. She uses the split method, but only for adding powdered milk to warmed oils.
 
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If it's regular old-fashioned yogurt, wouldn't the milk solids be the same as for regular milk? At least the way I make yogurt, I can't see how it would be different.

I agree the solids content would be higher if using Greek yogurt or other yogurts that have some whey removed or have added milk solids.
 
Yes, I was thinking in terms of Greek yogurt, so “some” yogurt is high in solids.

ETA: a little research revealed that some yogurt manufacturers add skim milk powder and/or whey protein concentrate to increase the protein concentration to a minimum standard, which then results in an increase in solids.

Even if the yogurt is very thick, using it at 50% of the liquid and stick blending it well into the oils should eliminate the possibility of any streaking in the soap.

and @Mtn5ro , Watson says that as long as the lye is truly dissolved, any lumpiness (fats saponifying) or graininess (lye interacting with the proteins) in the milk lye mixture is okay and can be blended out in the batter.
 
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