problem with milk soap

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lfr1110

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I tried making some oatmeal, milk and honey soap. The 3rd batch had a ring around the middle it. I added 1.5 oz milk and 2tsp of honey to the oil on room temperature (88 degrees) on a 2.75 lb batch. When I cut the soap, it looked fine but a few days later, that's when I noticed the ring. I read that milk and honey can cause soap to heat up. I never covered the soap because of this. Should I have put it in the freezer after I made it? Also, at the same time I made this batch, also made another milk soap with oatmeal and fragranced it with a brambleberry's black Amber and vanilla. When I cut the soap, I noticed white spots all over. The soap is brown due to vanilla content of fragrance oil. This is my 3rd batch for this and the 1st ones weren't like this. I used 7% Shea butter, equal parts soy and olive oil and ran it through soap calculator to make sure I have the right amount of lye and water. Should I have done a water discount because I added milk? Like I said, only put 1.5 oz of milk and 2tsp of honey to the oil.
 
Posting your recipes will help people give you better information.

Without pictures of your milk soap, I can't say with 100% certainly; but the ring around the middle you describe sounds like your soap simply started to gel (heat) in the middle, but gel didn't reach to the sides. There's nothing wrong with the gelled or ungelled soap.

Can you post pictures of the soap with white spots? Those could be stearic spots, or bits of oatmeal if the spots are throughout the soap. White spots on the outside often means ash (another harmless, but unwanted thing).
 
ImageUploadedBySoap Making1459668530.879733.jpg this is the plain oatmeal soap. Here's the 2nd oneImageUploadedBySoap Making1459668678.186389.jpg
With milk soaps, should I have left it alone for 2-3 days before cutting it or put it in the freezer immediately after I made it? What about the ones I already made that has this spot? Can it be salvage? Will it disappear after a few weeks? Like a said, these are the 3rd batch I made. The first 2 came out ok. Do u think that because I covered the top with a bunch of oatmeal flakes that it trapped the heat in the soap?
 
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Simple answer for the first soap it went into a partial gel,because the gel did not reach the outside of the mold. You would probably have avoided it by putting it in the freezer since it only partial gelled. Sometimes even putting in a freezer will not deter partial gel in a high heater upper. The spotty one could simply be fragrance oil that has not darkened the soap yet and /or did not get mixed in evenly. When do you add in your fo? The spots are really quite large to be stearic specks. If it does not zap it is fine.

High or full liquid/water soap batter will gel hotter and faster than low liquid/water soap batter. This is why I stopped gelling soap several years when I first started due to much problems with seperation due to using full water at the time. I was not in any forums at the time and always had to figure it out myself. I have since returned to gelling my soaps most of the time
 
What are the dark specs in the 2nd soap (the one with the white spots)? If it's an additive that had water in it, the white spots could be from that. So an herb or seed that either wasn't dried thoroughly or you soaked in water before adding to the batch. The halos look like they're mostly around the dark specs so leaching liquid might cause the lighter areas.
 
The efficacious gentleman, I used around 6% Shea, and the rest are soy and cocoa butter. I mixed in the room temp milk to the room temp oil and then the honey. Afterwards, I added the lye water and last, the grounded oatmeal and the fragrance oil. I used about 1.5 oz milk, 2 tsp honey, 4 tsp oatmeal and 6 tsp fragrance oil. I set aside a 1 cup and put 1tsp cocoa powder and slathered it on top as a decoration and then sprinkled oatmeal flakes on top of it and sprayed rubbing alcohol to prevent ash.
On the 2nd question, the one with the black Amber and lavender, I added the fragrance oil last also in room temperature. I've been reading about milk soaps and people always say that milk and honey can over heat the soap so only use 1tsp per lb of honey and I added the milk to oil in room temp. I will try your suggestion and subtract the milk liquid from the water added to lye or just do a water discount. How much % should I do a water discount.
Correction, 6% Shea and the rest are soy and olive oil.
Forgot to add that I did this with 5% superfat.
 
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I use 100% milk (50/50) GM and GM powder and 1 tsp honey ppo and wrap and put it in the oven at 100* F and turn it off to get complete gel. Or use a higher lye concentration. I use 30% but still put it in the oven to get full gel.

I find with Shea butter I have to heat the butter and soap at about 110 or so to make sure the oils stay clear. I Stickblend the Shea and oils really well before adding the lye. This avoids the white spots.

If you are using powdered milk you have to dissolve it thoroughly in some of your reserved water.

Did you add salt?
Did you mix your oatmeal (in the second soap) with milk or water?

Are you saying that your milk liquid was extra over and above the correct amount of liquid for the recipe that you added to your lye?
 
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I diluted the goats milk powder with water and it added about 1.5 oz extra to the liquid required for the batch. I didn't add a salt or sodium lactate to the batch. I probably need to subtract the 1.5 oz milk to the amount of water required for the lye water mix or should I just do a certain % of water discount in general? I made another batch 2 days ago and it seems to be ok so far. Didn't see any round spot in the middle. What I did differently is that I added the goat milk, honey and fragrance oil to the oil first and stick blended it for a few minutes. I added the lye water last and I stick blended it some more for a few minutes. I just cut the loaf early today and didn't notice any round spots in the middle nor little white spots. I didn't cover it and just let it sit out.
 
Lrr1110
The latest method you used works for me.
The milk forms part of the water. So if your recipe says 100g water then the lye water, milk and water you use to mix colours or dissolve salt all add up to 100g. So save a bit of the water to mix colours and subtract the amount of milk you use from the water. Mix the remaining water with the lye.

Some people start with a lye concentration around 30%.
The lye concentration in soap calc can be adjusted a bit depending on your recipe and depending on how quickly you want it to trace and a few other things it is useful for.
 
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