I made a batch of goat milk soap for the first time. . I put the goat milk into ice cubes and froze it. When I was ready to use them I put them into a bowl and then put the bowl inside another bowl of ice. I added some spoonfuls of lye to the goat milk cubes to melt the goat milk. When I was finished the goat milk was about 61 degrees. In my oil pot I melted my oils. The temperature of the oils was about 91 degrees. I added the lye mixture to the oils and immediately the soap set up. I didn't have time to get it into the molds. The recipe was large so I had to rebatch it into two batches. The first batch I added about 1/2 cup of water into the crock pot and kept stirring. Then I put it into my mold. It seemed rather thin. Then I rebatched the second batch and didn't add quite as much water. When I was finished I put them into the refrigerator. The second batch set up real nice and I was able to cut it into bars but it seems to have a lot of moisture. I haven't taken the second batch out of the mold yet (that's the one that I added about 1/2 cup water). It was very runny at first but after sitting all night in the refrigerator it appears to have set up. I have not cut it yet. Am I going to have to let this sit for a few weeks before I use it for some of the moisture to evaporate from the bars of soap? This is the first time I have ever tried to rebatch soap. The bars look beautiful. Any recommendations on the temperatures I should use when making goat milk soap? It seems so luxurious.
Goat milk soap
- Thread starter wbocrafter
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Hi there, and congrats on your first goat milk soap! It sounds like you had too much of a temperature difference between your lye solution and your oils.
While there is no hard-and-fast rule on this issue, what happened to you is a good example of why many folks recommend getting them closer in temp.
The other issue is that your NaOH may start to precipitate out of solution (won’t stay dissolved) when the solution temp drops below 65F. This sets you up for possibly having undissolved bits of NaOH in your soap.
Next time, try dissolving the lye into the cubes without the extra bowl of ice around it. Your solution will get hotter, but it will lessen the hardening-up of your oils when the two are combined, and also lower the risk of undissolved lye.
Yay, you did the absolute right thing by rebatching with some heat! Good job! It can take a fair amount of time for the extra moisture to evaporate, especially since you put the soap in the fridge, which slows down saponification and cure. Give it a few weeks, and I bet you will love it.
While there is no hard-and-fast rule on this issue, what happened to you is a good example of why many folks recommend getting them closer in temp.
The other issue is that your NaOH may start to precipitate out of solution (won’t stay dissolved) when the solution temp drops below 65F. This sets you up for possibly having undissolved bits of NaOH in your soap.
Next time, try dissolving the lye into the cubes without the extra bowl of ice around it. Your solution will get hotter, but it will lessen the hardening-up of your oils when the two are combined, and also lower the risk of undissolved lye.
Yay, you did the absolute right thing by rebatching with some heat! Good job! It can take a fair amount of time for the extra moisture to evaporate, especially since you put the soap in the fridge, which slows down saponification and cure. Give it a few weeks, and I bet you will love it.
Is your recipe high in hard fats? Based on the information you provided (“melted the oils“, thin batter when you rebatched), I wonder if you may have experienced false trace when the cool lye was mixed with the fats.
It is always best when trying a new recipe, scent, colorant or additive to make a test batch first. I wasted a lot of ingredients learning that lesson.
Like you, I use frozen GM and I put the bowl in another bowl with ice, water and salt. I add the Sodium Hydroxide in amounts that I can dissolve it without letting the temp get above 70F. Your GM Lye Solution will be thicker because the NaOH is binding to the fats in the milk. I usually just give it a good whisk before pouring into my oils; you can also use a stainless steel wire mesh strainer.
Now your soap didn't "set up" when you added the GM Lye Solution, it solidified your hard oils because they were at too low of a temperature to handle the sudden temperature drop. I usually heat my oils to around 120F before adding my GM Lye Solution which is around 65F...that puts my batter at around 90F. I also blend a little more than I do with my Regular Soap because of the potential of 'false trace' with the bound fats and lower temps.
ETA: My recipe is around 65% hard oils.
Like you, I use frozen GM and I put the bowl in another bowl with ice, water and salt. I add the Sodium Hydroxide in amounts that I can dissolve it without letting the temp get above 70F. Your GM Lye Solution will be thicker because the NaOH is binding to the fats in the milk. I usually just give it a good whisk before pouring into my oils; you can also use a stainless steel wire mesh strainer.
Now your soap didn't "set up" when you added the GM Lye Solution, it solidified your hard oils because they were at too low of a temperature to handle the sudden temperature drop. I usually heat my oils to around 120F before adding my GM Lye Solution which is around 65F...that puts my batter at around 90F. I also blend a little more than I do with my Regular Soap because of the potential of 'false trace' with the bound fats and lower temps.
ETA: My recipe is around 65% hard oils.
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