Is non-fat powdered milk good enough?

[dixiedragon]

I also get the baby vomit smell. Since I started using canned milk, it is gone, or only very very faint.

 

[DeeAnna]

Evaporated milk is about twice as concentrated as regular fluid milk, so there's going to be about double the fat (and butyric acid). That may be enough to make a difference.

 

[not_ally]

D, that is the exact smell, cheesy rather than baby vomit. I just checked again, it really is is pretty faint after a couple month cure. Does it eventually cure out completely, do you know?

 

[DeeAnna]

I don't remember. It's been a couple of years since I made that batch of butter soap. I don't remember the butyric odor as being particularly strong or obvious after cure, but I did use a spearmint EO in the batch.

I knew before I made this soap that some people said butter soap smells bad, but I wanted to try it anyway. I remember thinking after making the soap that the smell wasn't any worse than my beer soap. Just different -- cheesy rather than hoppy.

I thought the combination of the butyric odor + spearmint turned out decent, at least to my particular nose. Hubby, friends, and family didn't say anything either, but I realize that doesn't mean no one thought it smelled "off". But I didn't see any instant nose-wrinkling reactions either.

 

[not_ally]

I suspect that in part we smell everything in the soap more than other people do, just b/c we are so obsessed w/it! No one else has said "yuck, cheese" when smelling that soap.

 

[IrishLass]

It could also definitely be the difference in our individual scent receptors. As I'm often fond of saying, one person's Jasmine is another person's cat pee. :razz: lol

I've never used powdered cows milk or evaporated cow's milk, but I've used heavy cream and also whole milk (both cow), and it made my lily of the valley soap and my rose soap smell quite sour/pukey. I ended up giving those to Clean the World to be recycled.

Goat milk and coconut have never done that to my soap and I've used canned, powdered and fresh of each. When first unmolded they might emit a slight ammonia smell, but it completely goes away after a few days.

In comparison, my cow milk/cream soaps smelled sour/pukey for a long time. I kept them for about a year before finally giving up hope and sending them away to be recycled. They were good soaps- no DOS or anything, but my nose just couldn't take the sour smell.


IrishLass

 

[dillsandwitch]

I have used cow milk in several batches. Fresh the UHT kind and powdered. I have never detected any off smells coming from my soaps. Maybe my sniffer is broken. hahahaha. DH hasn't said anything about any odd smells either an he's pretty picky when it comes to his soap smells.

 

[not_ally]

Dill, for me I think it has been the combo b/w cow's milk and high butterfat. I only get the smell w/heavy cream, not yogurt or buttermilk, and I made the heavy cream with 1/2 milk and the other two w/full milk, so the differences are even more pronounced.

 

[Saponomancer]

I have actually gotten the sour smell off of the nonfat milk powder /but/ it was very concentrated because I miss measured the water to powder ratio

 

[dillsandwitch]

Hmmm maybe I have just lucked out then or the my FO just out-ways any smells? I do like to have my FO on the strong side

 

[shunt2011]

I'm another one who doesn't notice any off smell from milks. I use buttermilk, cream, 1/2 & 1/2, goat and coconut. (liquid & powder) I think IL may be that some folks smell sensors are very sensitive to different things.

 

[Arthur Dent]

I took the plunge today and made a sample batch of my favorite lard recipe with Carnation non-fat milk powder added (mixed into the oils), we'll see how it goes.

 

[Arthur Dent]

I unmolded and cut the soap tonight. There is no "vomit" smell at all, there is a very slight hint of ammonia, which I understand should disappear as it cures. There is another odd smell though, which is impossible to describe. I assume it is milk related, as I have never gotten this smell from this recipe before (without the milk of course). I didn't use any scent in this batch, which might have been a mistake, but I wanted to be positive about the vomit smell. Does anyone know if this odd smell will go away as it cures, or is this something that needs to be masked with scent?

ETA:

It's kind of a "cooked milk" smell I guess. Wife says she doesn't smell it, so I have hopes that it will fade.
I did not refrigerate anything to discourage gell, nor did I insulate to encourage it, so the bars are light brownish but not the "burnt orange" that one often sees.

 

[Arthur Dent]

I was worried about nothing, the odd smell is mostly gone already. It is a nice pleasant light tan color, nowhere near the orange one often sees, so I am happy with this so far. I'll let it cure a few weeks and we'll see what it's like.

 

[not_ally]

V. nice, smooth, looking texture, Arthur.

 

[not_ally]

I just tried that cream soap, was at my mom's house and she had a bag of my soaps in her bathroom which of course I had to sniff. In part to see how they did when you kept a bunch of different scented ones in a bag She had a couple of the cream ones in there and I sniffed one, got the cheesy smell, and was about to throw them both out when I figured out I would try one first. I kind of loved it, v. moisturizing, big loose creamy bubbles, just really nice. Also did not smell bad in use.

I just looked at the recipe and there was a lot of fat in it (not just butterfat) - 24 oz of oils and 2 oz cream/1.5 oz avocado puree/half oz of gm powder. It did have some cucumber puree in it, which adds some astringency - I must have been in a very "additive-y" mood that day - and was SF'd at 5%, lower than my normal 7-8% b/c of all the fat. But it was a really nice soap except for the faint odor when dry. I might try and figure out a way to get around it somehow.

 

[Arthur Dent]

Interesting N_A.
I sliced one of my bars into sample sizes a couple of days ago, and though the whole bars did not smell, the "cheesy" smell was pretty strong from the cuts. :Kitten Love:
Obviously this is one that demands a full cure.
I hope it's worth the wait.

 

[not_ally]

The cure on this one was about three mos., I think. So maybe it would cure out completely after 6 mos and take care of the problem, I think it would be worth the wait for me. I did pretty much forget about it for the first three, though I would put it at the v. back of the rack and have a fit of absent-mindedness.

 

[Arthur Dent]

Update:
At 5+ months old this is a really good soap. Nice and hard, with good lather and bubbles. No detectable "off smell".
I'll make this one again.