Newbie + Milk in cp soap question

[TheBobbiesRSurly]

Hi folks!

I'm new to this forum, but only sort of new to soapmaking. I did a few batches years and years ago, only I was trying to do it with my goat milk only and it wasn't entirely successful. Kind of lost the itch because of it, but my interest has renewed!

I'd love to do cold process. My question is - when it comes to using milk powders, will the mixture heat up once lye is added? Will the milk curdle or brown?

Back when I was using goat milk, it was fresh and frozen from my own stock. Could not for the life of me get it to keep from turning a weird orange shade or burn, even going straight from frozen and in an ice bath, adding a little lye at a time.

Oh! Another question - Has anyone used rapeseed oil in their soaps? Does it make a nice hard bar - if not, what else is it good for?

I'm going to be dipping into bath bombs soon too, but I'll save those questions for the proper thread Thanks in advance for info!

 

[lsg]

You might use cream as part of the liquid and add it at thin trace. I pop my soap in the freezer right after pouring and leave it there for at least two days to prevent gel.

 

[snappyllama]

Most the time I use milk powders (so much easier to use and store than the fresh stuff).

I normally pull a portion of water out of my recipe and mix up a double strong milk solution (per powder directions) so I end up with a "Full milk" replacement. All my additives go into that solution (e.g. EDTA, colloidal oatmeal, clay, whatever) which is blended up with my oils before adding my lye water. I don't notice any color change doing it this way and only get a little extra heat.

Just make sure that the water you're pulling out of your lye solution still leaves at least as much water as lye so that the lye can fully dissolve. For example, my recipe calls for 355gm water and 152gm lye. For my lye solution, I'd use 155gm water and reserve 200gms to make my additive solution.

I've gelled it (even CPOPed it), but I like the way ungelled soap feels so normally just chunk it into the frig overnight.

ETA: Welcome to the forum!

 

[TheBobbiesRSurly]

Thanks so much, both of you! I'm hoping to try out the powdered milk this time in hopes it'll behave better. Great advice

 

[snappyllama]

Thinking on the rapeseed question. I haven't used it but think it's pretty much the same as canola. SoapCalc lists its fatty acids as:

Oleic 17
Linoleic 13
Linolenic 9

So this would make a softer bar that's prone to DOS if used in too high an ratio (or with similar oils). I keep with the rule: "Linoleic + Linolenic should be less than 15 in a recipe to keep DOS monsters away". Other folks laugh in the face of that rule and have DOS free bars, but my rebellious days are long gone.

So it should be fine when used in moderation in a recipe. Feel free to list your planned recipe for feedback before you make it.

 

[TheBobbiesRSurly]

Thanks so much on the rapeseed input! I've been very curious about that oil.

I'll post the recipe I plan to use once I get it figured out. I'm probably trying to do way too much at once for diving back into soaping, I just have all these grand ideas and I'm so eager to do them, lol. I'd love to figure out how to incorporate silk powder(?), colloidal oatmeal, aloe vera, and either oat milk or goat milk. I feel like it'd be a very skin-soothing bar. I need to refresh myself on the rules and do more research through before I set myself up for failure

 

[cherrycoke216]

If you have your own goat milk, maybe you can try your hands on the way snappy llama said, only with half the water portion as your fresh or frozen goat milk.

 

[shunt2011]

I do the same as Snappy. I also use canned goat milk sometimes and just use enough water to dissolve my lye and then use the rest of the amount as the canned GM and add the milk to my oils. I gel all my soaps and I get a nice creamy ivory color. You could also add a bit of TD to make it a bit lighter which I sometimes do. I don't bother freezing it.

 

[Dahila]

I do like Snappy too

 

[lovinglife]

All I use is goat milk, frozen in ice cube trays, only had it turn orange one time. This is from last weekend, aside from a little soda ash and unmolding it too soon, I am pleased with it.

 

[dixiedragon]

@ Lovinglife - what a pretty bar!

TheBobbies - I used canned milk. I think it has a higher fat content than the powdered. What I do is raise my "water as percent of oils" from 38% to 40% in soap calc. I use half of that as water to dissolve my lye. So if my recipe calls for 10 oz water, I dissolve my lye in 5 oz water. I add the rest of it as canned milk. I add the canned milk to my oils just before I pour in my room-temp lye water.

 

[TheBobbiesRSurly]

Thanks so much again for the input everyone I'm definitely going to try Snappy's idea when I manage to get my supplies all together (it's slow-going).

@lovinglife - that looks great!! Mine always ended up turning brown or some weird shade of orange, but I was a lot younger then and maybe I wasn't patient enough adding the lye and letting the milk cool with each addition.