Soap Makers Help!

[Renee']

Thanks for the replies everybody. I'm going to pick up my first five gallons on the 24th. Hopefully I'll have all of my other supplies by then.

 

[savingdogs]

We are really hooked on the goats milk soap for personal use now, I would highly recommend it, high cost of goat milk or no.

 

[mothergoose]

Well, I unmolded my first batch of goat milk soap and cut it. Now, just the 4-6 wk wait! I am going to try another batch hopefully this weekend. I am waiting for an order to arrive! Here is a photo, does it look right? I did let it gel. It is a pretty color, I think. Just natural, no colorants added. I did add a small amount of Vanilla fragrance oil. It seems to have a faint vanilla smell sort of.

Christie

 

[savingdogs]

It looks great! You are gonna love it.

 

[mothergoose]

Thank you so much savingdogs! I needed a little reasurance.

I am going to try a lavender goat milk soap or a orange citrus goat milk soap next I think.

Might try not geling this time. Do you put it straight into the fridge as soon as it is in the mold to avoid the gel phase? do you still put a lid on it even in the fridge?
Thanks for any and all help with this too!
Christie

 

[mothergoose]

Well, I could'nt wait. I made my 2nd batch of goat milk soap. This time I changed up the oils a bit, did a little bigger batch, and used Lavender E.O. and Lavender buds. I went ahead and thought I would try this batch with skipping the gel phase and put it in the fridge. I guess we will see if it works. I am curious to see the differences in the 2 batches.
I want to try a batch with sweet almond oil and honey almond fragrance oil, Should I add honey to it as well or leave the real honey out and just use the F.O.?

I have been using the sap & frag. calculators on Brambelberry's website. Is that a good calculator to use? It was the easiest one for me to figure out!!!

Thanks for the input,
Christie

 

[Sooner]

Just a small word of advice, when I use honey almond it sets up extermly fast in a recipe that takes a while to trace so beware.

I would love to see pictures when you un-mold!

 

[mothergoose]

Sooner,
Thanks for the tip. I will post pictures as soon as I unmold.

Christie

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Hey gals! After a looooong sabatical from BYC, I'm back!

Quote:
When MMS put up the first lye calculator, the 'full water' % to oils was 37%. For first time soapmakers, I feel this is still a good %. As you become more comfortable with your soapmaking abilities, you can gradually decrease your %.

When using the lye ratio of water to lye, you need to be careful of a number of things such as which type of oils you are using in your recipe. A soap recipe that uses a lot of liquid oils can tolerate a higher lye ratio (stronger solution). If you are using milk as your liquid, a weaker solution is recommended. Always make sure you never go above 49% of lye to water. Water is fully saturated with lye at a 50% solution.

Quote:
I use 100% organic Jersey cow milk for my soap (higher cream content). I do gel my soaps by wrapping them in wool blankets. Since saponification is exothermic (produces heat), I prefer to encourage the heat to ensure a full gel to the outer edges of my slab molds. To retard the gel of saponification slows it down from turning the oils/lye solution into soap. I have a milk soap pictorial on my web site. It includes soap recipes I started with.

$5/gallon is a terrific price for goat's milk. Around here (very rural) folks are getting $10/gallon for GM

Quote:
Thanks for the recommendation Morgaine!

 

[MSDeb]

Welcome back Cyndi, I have been to your site many, many times. You have been a big help to many beginning soapers!