I bought the yogurt, goats milk, have the aloe juice.....

[earthsessencellc]

Okay, I know we have all talked about this before, and I am SO sorry for bringing this up again, however I do have a few questions.

I bought a HUGE tub of plain whole fat yogurt, I have goats milk on hand, aloe juice and a fresh cucumber all in the fridge. My question doe snot revolve around the mixing and how too. My question revolves around something else, mixing the lye/water/yogurt/aloe/cucumber/goats milk solution with the oils. At what temps are we looking at. I know when you add sodium hydroxide to milk you have a window and if it goes 'brown' then doesn't your soap turn a dark color too?

So I was thinking of using goats milk with the yogurt, now I was going to pour the sodium hydroxide into the GM then add the yogurt to that then mix it with the oils, now I do this prety quickly, right? because the milk goes from yellow to orange to brown, correct? I usually heat up the GM to the about 120deg before I add the NaOH to it, am I doing this right, Or am I going about this all wrong? I am SO itchen to get back in the kitchen to make some soap, but I don't want to make it and ruin it.......

Please, Please, oh Please let me know what temps you think I should heat the oils too, or what.....

Thank you,
Michele

 

[earthsessencellc]

oh! and isn't it true that you DON"T insulate milk soaps, like honey and beeswax soaps, you DO NOT insulate them? Or do i have it all confused? LOL

 

[Soapmaker Man]

I RTCP everything and use my KitchenAid stand mixer for mixing my rtcp soap batter.

Paul :wink:

 

[earthsessencellc]

What exactly does RTCP stand for?

Yeah, Yeah, I am a newbie, LOL!

 

[beachgurl]

I'm not as high speed as Paul, lol, I'm still mixing the normal old way. One day I'll have the backbone to try RTCP. DO NOT let the dairy product/lye solution get much above 85-90 or you will get a stinky orange mess .. don't ask how I know. I like to use the condensed goat's milk and cut it (1 part GM to 1 part liquid for whole milk) with either aloe juice or oat milk. I don't make that my whole solution though. If I'm going to use yogurt or heavy cream I freeze them in ice cube trays and go ahead and add to the other stuff. I've tried all three ways of mixing dairy products, and this to me is the easiest and quickest.

 

[earthsessencellc]

Does the freezing really keep that temp down, I know I will probably have to 'ice bath' it too, correct?

 

[beachgurl]

I freeze my GM/Oat milk mixture then make them into a slushy. After that's done I add the ice cubes of yogurt or heavy cream.

 

[earthsessencellc]

the picture I am getting is that I should have the oils already at the right temp when I start this process of adding the NaOH to the GM/yogurt solution, am I right here? This all is mised at lower temps, around 85-90 deg, correct?

 

[beachgurl]

I don't ever check the temp of my oils. I don't think it really matters unless you have them at some ridiculous temp. I just melt them on low and when they're done, pull them off of the glasstop. You can do like Paul and do room temperature cold process, but if you're not familiar with the method I wouldn't try making a milk soap AND initially attempting RTCP at the same time. Just melt your oils on low. The night before you make soap or earlier in the day, whatever, you freeze your goatsmilk solution in the container that you use to mix your lye (if you're using evaporated you have to cut the milk in half with any liquid of your choice). When your oils are melting, pull the frozen milk out of the freezer and crush it around a little bit to make a frozen slush. Gradually add your lye .. it's kind of tricky the first few time you do it. I then add my yogurt ice cubes. If you're going to do this, you need to discount your GM solution. Say you want to use 100 grams of yogurt, well then use 100g less GM solution. Again, your lye solution isn't going to get very hot so as soon as your oils are melted you'll be ready to roll. I don't let my dairy products rise over 85F otherwise it's UGLY.

 

[mysoapopera]

I dont know if this tip will help or not, I mix my lye and aloe juice in advance (maybe a day or night before) then when Im ready to make soap I just mix oils (i only slightly heat the soild fats/oils) then add liquid oils with out heating them. (they dont have to be cooked) then add GM room temp and mix with a stick blender. If the liquid portion of the recpie is 12oz then I will split it between aloe juice or water mix that portion with the lye, and the difference GM. I am a new soaper and this is how Ive made about 15 batches and they have come out really nice. I will say about the ins. part of the process....I first started out using all kinds of molds (really)!! I am using my friends 1lb mold untill mine come (ordered from soapmaker man) and they are nice heavy wood molds I do not cover and the soap does jell and stays nice and light. I really think that has been a great improvement in the way my soap sets up. the heavy wood mold and GM seem to work great together. kathleen