Help needed please: milk only soap

[porumi]

All,

Here is my problem: used frozen buttermilk instead of water, added a bit if silk then the lye. When it all melted the mixture was too cold! Less than 20F!! Plus the silk did not melt.

What did I do wrong?

Thanks.


Thanks,
Porumi

 

[innerdiva73]

Did you add the silk to the lye when it was at its highest heat? The silk will dissolve at high heat in the lye.

 

[Obsidian]

Sounds like you kept the lye too cold to melt the silk. You can strain the silk out and still use the lye. If you do want it warmer, set the container of lye in a bowl of hot water. I don't know if silk plus milk is a good idea, one has to be kept cool while the other needs high heat.

 

[porumi]

I was more worried about the fact that the mixture was too cold than the silk. Should I next time just use a hot bath to up the temp?


Thanks,
Porumi

 

[Obsidian]

I'm not sure if cold lye will cause any issues. If it was me, I wouldn't worry and would use it with oils around 120* F that way the batter would be so cool it gives a false trace.
Next time try using cold milk or slushie milk but not completly frozen. If you add the lye slow enough, it won't overheat

 

[HorseCreek]

It was only 20ºF and you checked to make sure all that all your lye was dissolved?

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[Saswede]

I haven't ever made buttermilk soap, but have always had to use an ice bath and add the lye very slowly to keep temperatures down when I make a GM soap ...... So I'm not sure what happened, Porumi. My concern would be that not all of the lye was dissolved, so I'd stir, stir and stir some more to be sure that the temperature stays this low. And if it does stay low, I'd strain the lye solution and silk into another container first, in case you do find undissolved crystals - so that you don't waste all of your oils ......


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[neeners]

I do my raw goat milk in chunks, and doesn't really get any warmer than 70F (give or take). I stir for a VERY long time b/c I don't want any undissolved lye, and have to make SURE all the lye crystals are gone. I use RT oils.

 

[houseofwool]

When I soap with milk, my milk rarely gets over 80*F, and is often closer to 70*, but I don't use silk.