Goat milk and shea butter question

[Michel]

Hello all,

I am try to make a new soap but I am foreseeing some problems and hope you can help me.

I want to try a soap with Goat milk, shea butter (and some other oils).
Goats milk need low temperature so it does not burn.
Shea butter needs high temperature to dissolve completely and do the saponification.

I can keep the lye mix cold enough with ice and freezing the milk for the milk not to burn.
But can I make the cold lye/milk mixture to saponify with the shea butter?

Is there a way to make shea butter saponify at colder temperatures?

Michel

 

[ackosel]

Hi Michel,

I am by no means an expert with soapmaking, but every one of my 30 batches of soap has been made with goat milk. I have used small amounts of Shea butter once or twice without any issues. I do use goat tallow which I found begins to solidify at around 125 degrees, so that needs to be kept hotter in order to keep the oils liquid.

By using frozen goat milk cubes and mixing the lye and milk in an ice bath, I am able to keep my lye solution under about 72 degrees. I have had no issues with leaving my oils warmer than usual (125 is fine) and use the lye solution at whatever temperature it happens to be, usually around 68-70 degrees. My understanding is that mixing lye solution with oils at a vast temperature difference can result in false trace, but I have never experienced that. I use my stick blender sparingly and try to stop at emulsion, though I am still learning how to recognize that.

Also, I gel my soaps on a heating pad. They usually take an hour or two to come up to gel phase temperature, but gel phase doesn't seem to cause any burning issues with the goat milk.

I hope this helps.