Over the last few years, I have learned some tricks to make soap making a little easier when it comes to adding goat milk to soap. When I first started out, everything I read said to pasteurize and freeze the milk, which I faithfully did. However, after a while I decided to skip the time consuming pasteurization process (I use fresh goat's milk from our own animals). I noticed no ill effects (no loss of milk stabilization) to the soap making process, so have continued to use frozen raw milk since that time.
The other point of frustration was getting frozen milk out of containers, and keeping it at the correct temperature when adding the lye to it (~80 degrees). Usually I had to wait for my 3 lbs of milk to mostly thaw. Then I had to prepare an ice bath to place the pot in to keep the milk from getting too hot (something you most definitely want to avoid!) Things got worse when our ice maker broke, and I had to plan ahead to have enough ice from trays for my ice tray.
One day I discovered a new process: measuring out the exact amount of milk ahead of time and freezing the milk in ice cube trays. With this method, the milk can be added to the soap pot when it is frozen. Because the milk is so much colder, the ice bath can usually be eliminated altogether, and the lye can be added to the milk a little faster, cutting down on the soap making time. This is the best method for adding milk to soap that I have found!
It is good to have a small amount of liquid milk in the bottom of the soap making pot - this helps the lye dissolve better when you first add it to the milk. A sufficient amount of melted milk can be obtained by putting the ice cube milk in its pot first before measuring out all the other ingredients. Also, you do not want to add too much lye at once, as this will burn the milk, neither do you want to add too little, as this will cause the lye to start to saponify with the milk before you have mixed it with the oils!
A few things to watch for:
Thick milk/lye - add lye a little faster
Thin milk/lye, white to yellow in color - good!
Thin milk/lye, orange in color - too hot, cool it down quickly, or it will be unusable!
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. I would love to help you on your goat milk soap making venture!
The other point of frustration was getting frozen milk out of containers, and keeping it at the correct temperature when adding the lye to it (~80 degrees). Usually I had to wait for my 3 lbs of milk to mostly thaw. Then I had to prepare an ice bath to place the pot in to keep the milk from getting too hot (something you most definitely want to avoid!) Things got worse when our ice maker broke, and I had to plan ahead to have enough ice from trays for my ice tray.
One day I discovered a new process: measuring out the exact amount of milk ahead of time and freezing the milk in ice cube trays. With this method, the milk can be added to the soap pot when it is frozen. Because the milk is so much colder, the ice bath can usually be eliminated altogether, and the lye can be added to the milk a little faster, cutting down on the soap making time. This is the best method for adding milk to soap that I have found! It is good to have a small amount of liquid milk in the bottom of the soap making pot - this helps the lye dissolve better when you first add it to the milk. A sufficient amount of melted milk can be obtained by putting the ice cube milk in its pot first before measuring out all the other ingredients. Also, you do not want to add too much lye at once, as this will burn the milk, neither do you want to add too little, as this will cause the lye to start to saponify with the milk before you have mixed it with the oils! A few things to watch for:
Thick milk/lye - add lye a little faster
Thin milk/lye, white to yellow in color - good!
Thin milk/lye, orange in color - too hot, cool it down quickly, or it will be unusable!
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. I would love to help you on your goat milk soap making venture!
