...I feel like a beginner...

[Chefmom]

I'm posting this in the beginners forum because I made so many first time techniques with this soap that I certainly FEEL like a complete Newbie.

I have always been a hot process girl. From the beginning of my soap making journey (about 14 years), early on I just gravitated towards the hot process because I liked the speed and outcome, easy clean up etc.

I have come back to cold process recently as I started coming back to forums and wanting to play with different techniques.

Milk soaps have been my evil nemesis. Except for adding reconstituted goats milk powder in the end after the cook, I have never successfully made a full out goats milk soap. Back when I first started trying, there weren't the videos and tutorials that are around today.

Okay....this was my first batch of real milk soap. I wanted to try out the coconut milk soap that I have been reading so much about. And, I just can't help myself to try out a few other new techniques.

I tried out the salt in the lye water technique, not sure that I will be doing THAT again. I will most likely in the future dissolve the salt in one part of the water, and the lye in another. I think it would just go smoother.

I split the total water amount into 50% water and 50% canned coconut milk for the 32 ounces oil recipe I made.

The next new thing I did, was instead of trying to keep the milk cold, I added it, at room temperature into the oils before the lye. It looked weird, and didn't mix, so I hit it with the stick blender and made it smooth before adding the salt and lye mix.

I also have been reading about adding the fragrances into the oils before the lye, so I also tried that technique.

So.....lots of new things, and I'm glad that I have read about the issues, acceleration and ricing and separation that people have while doing cold process, because it ALL came in handy to know.

I had everything in the oil, salty lye water and ready to mix. I watched the milk oil mix go from liquid to thick mashed potatoes in.......I mean.....a blink of an eye. Instantly thick wall paper paste and looking like it was going to separate. I stopped with the stick blender and stirred with the spatula, but then went back to the stick blender and hit the thick mixture and yep....it went smooth. Still thick, but smooth thick.

It was still pourable, like freshly made, very thick pudding, more plop plop pourable, but it went into the mold. I didn't plan on any kind of color, so I didn't have that issue thankfully. It was 32* outside, so I just took it outside to keep it cool instead of the fridge. It spent about 4 hours outside and the sides and bottom felt cool, so I brought it inside after that.

Whew. What an experience!! I made it in the afternoon, around 2 pm and was able to unmold and cut the next morning around 9am. The color is beautiful and it was firm, not soft. I am thinking that the salt water helped with the firm bars from the get go.

In the photos, the first is the freshly poured soap in the mold and the second is the fresh cut bars.

I am NOT sure what made it thick so fast, being a milk soap or the fragrance. I used Peak's Almond Pastries. My house smells like homemade Spritz almond cookies. To the point that I'm making almond cookies today because everyone is asking "where are the cookies?" when they walk into the kitchen. LOLOlzzzzzzz

Now for the long wait to cure......something I'm not used to with hot process. I know I could test one of the little trimmings, but I want to test it first after a couple of weeks. It's been a great learning experience, even for this seasoned soap maker!!!

 

[OliveOil2]

Beautiful soap! Wish that I could smell it too. Milk does make the soap heat up and get thick quicker that normal, and I find that coconut milk is faster than goat milk.buttermilk, or yogurt. I love using the 50% method, and I like using milk that isn't ice cold for this method. If you want to use colors you can just reduce the amount of milk and even do multiple color swirls and still have milk in the soap; 20-25% doesn't really heat things up all that much, but adds a nice feel to the soap.

 

[Susie]

Gorgeous soap!

I have got to commend you on your bravery at trying all those new techniques at once! Maybe not your common sense, but certainly your bravery.

 

[shunt2011]

Those turned out beautiful. You used all the techniques I use except for a bunch of salt in the water. I RTCP so ususally don't have a problem with quick trace unless I have a quirky fragrance. Congratulations!!!

 

[DWinMadison]

Beautiful soap, and kudos on walking on the cold process side of the street. On salt, I haven't used it in my soaping, but I wonder if it wouldn't make sense to force it into solution by adding it to boiling water in 1 step then letting is cool before adding the lye in step 2. In fact, that salt solution would have a significantly lower freezing temp, so you could bring it down below 32f in the freezer and still have it in a liquid state when you add the lye. Somebody tell me again what salt does for CP soap, and how much to you generally add PPO?

 

[Obsidian]

Looks great, I'm sure you will love to coconut milk. I think it was a combo of the milk and salt that thickened your soap so quickly. You can test it after a couple weeks, making HP doesn't speed up the curing process, only the speed of saponification. Technically you can use any soap once it passes the zap test.

Salt can help harden the soap. I generally use 1-2 tsp PPO.

 

[Susie]

Beautiful soap, and kudos on walking on the cold process side of the street. On salt, I haven't used it in my soaping, but I wonder if it wouldn't make sense to force it into solution by adding it to boiling water in 1 step then letting is cool before adding the lye in step 2. In fact, that salt solution would have a significantly lower freezing temp, so you could bring it down below 32f in the freezer and still have it in a liquid state when you add the lye. Somebody tell me again what salt does for CP soap, and how much to you generally add PPO?

Salt gives a harder bar. I think most people use a portion of the water as very hot water to dissolve the salt, then either let it cool, or add the NaOH to the cool portion of water.

 

[IrishLass]

Beautiful soap!

Somebody tell me again what salt does for CP soap, and how much to you generally add PPO?

Salt helps to harden soap. Although I myself don't add salt to soap except when making salt (spa) bars, I've read of other soapers using anywhere from a teaspoon to a tablespoon ppo for the sole purpose of hardening their bars. You'll have to experiment with how much to add to your formula since salt is a lather inhibitor.

IrishLass

 

[Chefmom]

Yes, I added the salt to boiling distilled water, dissolved it, then cooled it to room temperature. Then added the lye.

I have done months of reading on different techniques using salt. I never used it until recently I did an experiment where I pulled 18 ounces of cooked hot process batter and added a small amount of salt. It produced an interesting hard bar with very nice skin softening, but not like an oil feeling on my skin. Made the mad scientist in me spark and I had to try out different salt techniques. I have a small batch of 80% coconut oil with 20% superfat and 50% salt curing on the shelf just to see what it's all about.

Milk soaps were always a big stumbling block for me, so this is a BIG WIN in my book.

I used 2 Tbsp of sea salt in 32 ounces of oil. I'll be making goats milk soap in the same technique just to compare and I'll try lowering it to 2 tsp for that same oil and see what happens. I'm a major tester. I love to make different changes, side by side testing, etc.

I give two bars to people, one round and one square and then tell them to use them at the same time, then grill them on their thoughts. My cooking/baking background makes me a bit anal at times. :shock:

I really should work in a test kitchen, the kind that makes the same thing 50 different ways to find the "right" and "best" way.

And yes, all of my hot process soaps cure for a good 4-8 weeks, but I do love that scrape the crock pot and run to the bathroom sink to lather up instant gratification that hot process allows!! There is something about the granite/stone look of the finished bars that I love. Without any color at all they have a natural depth and life within the bar that my cold process ones lack. Personal preference I know.....

Next up....COLOR!!

I shared an order from TKB with my daughter and now have soap micas and pigments. I've never used any of these products before....more newbie research to do. This Country Girl is heading Uptown!!

 

[snappyllama]

Those came out great!

I also use salt and sugar dissolved into my distilled water for hardness (salt) and bubbles (sugar). A word of warning to everyone: Never microwave distilled water. It can become super heated during nuking and can explode.

For me, I just add in salt and sugar when I weigh out my water and stir it a bit. Then I weigh out my oils (coming back and restirring my room temperature sugar/salt water). It's pretty much completely dissolved by the time I get my lye into the water... no need to heat anything up ahead of time.

Here's a fun video demonstrating why micowaves and distilled water are a bad idea.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_OXM4mr_i0[/ame]