Goats Milk Question

[Catscankim]

I cannot find fresh goats milk. But I DID find evaporated goats milk. I tried doing a search and got varying results.

Can I dilute the evaporated goats milk by half, and use it as "goats milk" in a recipe? In my search here, I found only a recipe that suggested that you add part evaporated milk to the oils and water to the lye. Which wasn't the answer i was looking for LOL.

I was thinking of using diluted evaporated milk/distilled water and freezing like that, like you would with just regular goats milk recipes. I don't know if there was something with it being "evaporated" that made things different.

While I am here, talking about the same bar of soap recipe, and so I only bother you guys once with this.... I have made my lard bar a few times pretty successfully. This time I plan on adding the honey and using the goats milk and finely ground oats, with no fragrance. My question here is, how much honey for a 3lb loaf? I saw a few different answers on my search, ranging from 30g to 60g. I have Florida raw unfiltered honey if that makes a difference, which I don't think it does, but in my 3 week experience, any thing is possible LOL. I didn't go out and buy this specifically for this recipe, I just happen to have a lot of it for allergies.

I appreciate you guys.

 

[jcandleattic]

I found only a recipe that suggested that you add part evaporated milk to the oils and water to the lye. Which wasn't the answer i was looking for LOL.

May not be the answer you are looking for but it will give you what is considered a "full milk" soap.

I was thinking of using diluted evaporated milk/distilled water and freezing like that, like you would with just regular goats milk recipes. I don't know if there was something with it being "evaporated" that made things different.

You can do that as well, nothing different than using just regular milk.

My question here is, how much honey for a 3lb loaf?

no more than 1 tablespoon per pound, but I would go even lower at 1 teaspoon per pound.

 

[Catscankim]

Thank you so much. This is the most solid answer I have found.

Soooo.... This didn't go exactly as planned LOL LOL. But I think it might be ok

I froze the goats milk. put it in an ice bath like recommended. added lye. I got it nice and smooth,. then I added the goat's milk/lye to the cooled oils. It wasn't just gloppy, it was glumpy. I tried to sb it. it wasn't worth it at this point. I was ready to throw it away.

so I'm like whatever. added the honey and ground up oatmeal. and stirred like crazy with a wisk. my shoulders and forearms hurt.

Anyway. Somehow it turned into a batter. Like a honest to god pour-able medium trace batter. Like I'm looking at it .... should I swirl with leftovers? nooo...let it be.

 

[IrishLass]

Evaporated goat's milk is a concentrated form of liquid goat milk that has had 1/2 of its water content removed via evaporation. Because it's concentrated, most folks that use it for soaping dissolve their lye with an equal amount of water in weight, and then add the balance of the recipe's liquid amount as concentrated/evaporated goat milk to the oils. This is called the 'Split Method' of milk soaping, and it makes milk soaping soooooo much easier because lye dissolves much more quickly and without hassle in water as opposed to milk.

If one can't find evaporated or fresh goat milk, the split method works the same with powdered milk, too. Just dissolve your lye in a equal amount of water by weight, and then add enough got milk powder to your remaining water amount to make a concentrated slurry equal to whatever % of goat milk you want your soap to have, and then stickblend that into your oils either before or after adding in the lye solution.


IrishLass

 

[Catscankim]

So im a total idiot. I was so careful about making sure everthing was cold. cleared a spot in the freezer for it....

after i finally got it poured, i forgot to put it in the freezer. Such a stupid thing. I was so proud of myself that i happily wrapped it up and put it away without even thinking. 30 minutes later it occurred to me. I panicked and ran in to retrieve it, but it was too late. Already cracked. It was super hot so i tossed it in the freezer.

I am so mad at myself. Its a nice color on top but still cracked down the middle. Havent cut it yet.

 

[shunt2011]

You could have taken a piece of plastic wrap and gently smooshed it together. the Crack will generally minimize as it cools too.

 

[jcandleattic]

So im a total idiot. I was so careful about making sure everthing was cold. cleared a spot in the freezer for it....

after i finally got it poured, i forgot to put it in the freezer. Such a stupid thing. I was so proud of myself that i happily wrapped it up and put it away without even thinking. 30 minutes later it occurred to me. I panicked and ran in to retrieve it, but it was too late. Already cracked. It was super hot so i tossed it in the freezer.

I am so mad at myself. Its a nice color on top but still cracked down the middle. Havent cut it yet.

Another good reason to do the split method - yes it will still get hot, but not near as hot, and it won't scorch etc., Of course I don't know how much honey you put in it either and that will really heat things up, so that could have been more of the culprit than the milk.
The split method is the only way I'll do milk soaps now.

 

[Elizevt]

Can a person use powdered Goats milk? Would you add water to it to reconstitute it and freeze it the night before and add it to the lye. Or would you just add the powder to the oils before adding the water/lye?

 

[IrishLass]

Can a person use powdered Goats milk? Would you add water to it to reconstitute it and freeze it the night before and add it to the lye. Or would you just add the powder to the oils before adding the water/lye?

Yes, absolutely- you can most assuredly use powdered goat milk! And there's no need to go through the hassle of freezing it & adding the lye to it if doing the split method of milk soaping. Just do this: dissolve your lye into an equal amount of water by weight, and then with the remainder of the water amount that your recipe calls for, add enough powdered milk to it to equal whatever % of milk you want your soap to have, and then add that to your oils before (or after) adding the lye solution. Easy peasy.

I make all my milk soaps via the split method. For what it's worth, I never get overheating in mine, not even when adding honey (because of how I incorporate my honey....I mix it into my room-temp lye solution first). Believe it or not, I actually have to CPOP my honey-milk soap to get it to go through complete gel. I should mention that I use a 33% lye concentration, which matters, because the less liquid you use, the more difficult it is for soaps to go through full gel without extra applied heat. I soap between 110F and 120F, and then CPOP in my oven @ a pre-warmed 110F. Basically, I turn my oven on for exactly 3 minutes, turn it immediately off, and then put my soap inside and leave it be for the next 18 hours. Three minutes is all it takes for my oven to heat up to 110F. My soaping temp combined with the initial 110F temporary oven jumpstart is all it takes to encourage my soap to go through a well-behaved, full gel on its own without any drama.

For what it's worth- in case anyone fears milk soaps done this way will turn out dark- my fully gelled milk soaps (without honey) turn out a nice off-white/ivory color.

However, my milk soaps with honey turn out a nice amber/honey-like color, which I find is very fitting.


IrishLass

 

[Catscankim]

The crack didnt go as deep as i thought, so i was able to cut off the tops. But they all have these white spots. Is that from getting too hot?

so far they smell wonderful. No added fragrance

gonna try a new batch this weekend trying the split meathod