Questions about first soap batch

[Psalm 23]

I made my first batch of milk soap last Saturday (CP), and I have a couple questions about it...it is really, really hard, it was rock hard after just a couple hours. I tried to shave off some edges, but it didn't really come off in curls, it chipped. Is that normal or not? The other thing is I read that you are supposed to try to keep milk soaps down to around 80 degrees. I haven't been able to keep it below 90 in the 3 batches that I have done. Is there a trick to that? I thought I was pouring the lye in slowly, but maybe not slow enough?
The recipe was really simple:

9oz Coconut oil
21oz Olive oil
9oz milk(sheep's)
4.1oz lye
(I put some sweet orange EO in it at trace)
It traced a lot quicker than I was expecting. I was surprised at the fast tracing, and franticly started pouring some in I learned the hard way that it is muuuuch easier to mix the scent in with all the other oils first :wink: I don't think I used too much, but rather not quite enough.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

It's not normal for this recipe to be so hard after a couple of hours.

You've got 30% Coconut & 70% Olive and you're using milk. You've got an 8% lye discount (according to my soap calc) and your water is discounted a bit. (I'm talking to myself and thinking).

Any that I've made have been turned out of moulds no sooner than 24 hours later and cut another day or two later and they still weren't as hard as you describe. Heck, I could pull out a year old bar and it probably would not be that hard.

You've got me stumped. I don't know why it was so hard.

 

[honor435]

What temps were you oils and lye/water? I guess im wondering whay your soap is hard SO fast, esp with all that oo. how does it look today?

 

[Psalm 23]

The first two pictures are the hard bars of soap I made last Sat. Honor, I think the temp. was between 96-100.
The next pictures are of a diferent recipe I did yesterday. The color is very un-even. It's a creamy yellow ion top and edges, and pinkish orange in the middle. The other thing is both recipes turned out with little air pockets or somthing in them. What caused that?
This was the second recipe I did. (it was a tiny tester batch)
(I'm not sure th pics. even worked. We'll see I guess )
6oz Crisco
2.3oz Olive
2.5oz coconut
4oz milk

EDITED TO SAY:
Oh my goodness! Why is this so HUGE?!!!! That is just a picture of the hard soap.

(I edited it for you - Swifty)

 

[IanT]

what are you using to upload your images?? you may want to resize them using imageshack.com or something similar before posting them

 

[RedHorse]

Hello, I'm new here, haven't been sure about how to jump in till now. I just want to say to Psalm 23, how neat, my sheep have brought me to soap too, although it will be a while before I incorporate their milk in the soap. We decided soap was easier than a dairy. :roll:

Anyway I do wonder if the properties of the sheep milk haven't cause the hardness in the soap. I don't know about your sheep but ours' milk changes, sometimes tasting like sugar and sometimes like salt, that combined with the high amounts of solids may be to blame. If it was a high salt milk, perhaps the soap is acting like a salt bar??? I'm just guessing here. I haven't made soap yet but I have researched it as much as I have sheep milk and that is a lot, ask my family.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

If everything else is as it is, then the sheep's milk will definitely fall under suspicion.

Does anyone else use sheep's milk?

Redhorse dear, you're going to have to hurry up and make it so we can compare. LOL. Just kidding around. :wink:

Psalm 23, you can shrink your photos in "Paint" before you upload. Ask me if you want me to post instructions. :wink:

 

[Psalm 23]

WOW IanT! I was very surprised that you didn't used a single "lol" in that entire sentance!

Red horse, that is so awesome that you have sheep too! What breed? I just love sheep. I bought mine from some friends that have a sheep dairy and make cheese. Pretty cool, but that was just not for me.

Bubbles, I would LOVE for you to give me some instructions on posting pictures. I tried to follow the instructions from someone else, but I was going in circles somehow... I don't think the pictures do you much good when they are sooooo humungious! (Is that correct spelling?lol )

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I used Ian's LOL seeing as he didn't.

How to shrink your photos before uploading:

Everyone who has Windows (regardless of which version) has Paint. It's a simple paint program with very basic functions.

Go to START menu -> ALL PROGRAMS -> ACCESSORIES -> PAINT

Open the file you need to downsize (File -> Open or Ctrl+O)

Go to File -> Image -> Stretch/Skew (or Ctrl+W)


In the stretch box, enter 20% (or more) in the horizontal and vertical boxes and OK. If you don't like the size you can merely go to EDIT & UNDO and try again.

IMPORTANT

Once you are happy with the new size of the photo - Straight after the above, IMMEDIATELY go to File -> Save as... and save your file under a new name. If you press Ctrl+S or just Save, you will lose the original size of the photo forever (unless you have backed up on a CD).


Tip: To save confusion as to which file is the original size and which is the smaller size, I always add sm at the end of the file name e.g. 1150.jpg becomes 1150sm.jpg.

You can now upload your smaller photo to your photo host or directly onto the forum.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Hehe, I see you figured it out while I was typing. :wink:

 

[Psalm 23]

Thanks for the instructions. That is too weird...I didn't chage that picture! Is it possable for a moderator to do it or something? Funny! Looks a lot better now that it's small. I''ll try to post some other pictures soon

 

[Bubbles Galore]

If you reduced it in Photobucket, then it would show here as smaller.

 

[Psalm 23]

I didn't do anything!
(Ooooh. I just realized. Swifty did it for me!) Swifty?

 

[Paula58]

Off hand it sounds like a case of accelerated trace due to the sugars in the milk and the orange essential oil.

When making milk soaps some people dissolve the lye in water then add the milk just as the lye and oils start to trace. Keep in mind you do not want a water/lye concentration higher than 50% which is equal parts lye to water.

Another method is to make sure the milk is frozen to at least a slushy consistency and stir the lye in gradually making sure it is all well incorporated.

Some other things to remember when making milk soap.

Keep the lye and oil temps at about 85F even then when you combine the two the temperature will rise because of the chemical reaction.

Adding milk does speed trace so you can ease up on the stick blender and do a lot of the stirring by hand to give yourself more time.

Prechilling the mold will help keep the soap from getting too hot in the mold.

You can safely put the mold in the freezer than move it to the fridge to prevent gel.

If you want the soap to gel but worry about overheating keep an eye on it and elevate the mold so air can fully circulate around it.

A slab mold will allow the heat to dissapate better than a log mold will.

And last it never hurts to check your scale. 5 US quarters equals 1 ounce.

 

[Psalm 23]

Thanks Paula. Those are some great ideas...I think I'll trya batch today or tomorrow :wink: Wish me luck!