Hi everyone,

I have made goat milk soap one time before, and have never doen it again.

The reason behinde this is that as the soap I made started to cure, it formed this horrible white crystalized mold type of thing all over it. After the 4 weeks curing time was up, I washed it all off, and as the soap dried on the soap dish, that same white stuff started to form again and again!!!

I don't think that it is supposed to be like this, and I would like to make soap again. Can anyone tell me a recipe that doesn't do this.

The ingredients that I used were : 2% goat milk (had to by the milk at the store-didn't own goats yet) lard, lye, oatmeal. The recipe didn't call for any borax.

Could this have happened because of the 2% milk I used? Also I did not use any vasiline to coat the molds, maybe that had something to do with it.

Any suggestions are welcome,

Thank you,

Betty Jo

-- Betty Jo (amaroq@bmts.com), March 14, 2002

Answers

if you used a lye for it,, its just lye that didnt cure yet,,I never made milk soap though

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), March 14, 2002.

lick the bar of soap. You will know right away if it lye!! Could it be that nasty ash all over the place. I have had to lose money on ash which seems to be caused by air. When my soap, which always does now cures slowly and I use sarah wrap on the top before putting my wooded cover on top of log mold I haven't seen the ash. Although, I have more problems with goat milk than with other types of soap. You see goat milk is hot, in fact if your going to see a volcano this is the one you'll see it. I use frozen goat milk and add a dash at a time to my mixture of lye and distilled water. Or if your doing all goat milk add a tablespoon at a time of lye to the frozen goat milk, that works too. Then make sure everything is down into the 90s temp wise whereas in my other soaps I like to mix at the low 100s. Do not use honey unless your experience with goatmilk and do not add any texture items like oatmeal, dried leaves, etc., if you add essential oil and I wouldn't add fragrances because they can cause a seize will quick, add the essential oil at a very and I mean very light trace. After you pour you must watch the installation, too much will ruin it and too little will ruin it. It a science. I love making goat millk but its not a top seller of mine and the extra problems can cause you substantial money loss in not being able to sell perfectly great bars because it has ash or something cosmectic to it. BUT!!!make sure it is not lye first.

-- debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), March 14, 2002.

If it is a white powdery stuff that you can cut off, it's just ash. If it is thicker and harder than ash, it is a problem with the lye calculation, and you'll probably have to throw out your soap. It may be lye heavy and very harsh. There are lye calculators on the web, do a search. Punch in your recipe, and you'll see where you were off. Mary

-- Mary Fraley (kmfraley@orwell.net), March 14, 2002.

Mary is correct. If it can be cut off, I use a potatoe scraper, it is ash. If it goes all the way through the soap it is possible a lye problem.

-- debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), March 14, 2002.

Thank you very much everyone,

I found a lye calculator on the web, and my findings are very interesting.

I origionally got the recipe from the web, and it called for the following:

6 cups goat milk 4 cups lard 8 oz red devil lye 2 cups oatmeal half a cup honey

The lye calculator said that this recipe should only take between 4.22 - 4.00 oz. of lye.

That's half of the amount that I put in. Does this sound right to anyone?

I am getting a little confussed, but am happy that I am getting this problem worked out.

Thanks,

Betty Jo

-- Betty Jo (amaroq@bmts.com), March 14, 2002.

Betty, unless your experience do not mess with honey and goatmilk to begin with, infact I wouldn't have messed with the oatmeal too. It takes experience to with this kind of soap. Goatmilk is an over insulator (meaning hot), honey is double the trouble, do you have a separation or partical separation on you hand, if dump it and not down the sink. Do you mix by hand or do you use a blender. What were your temps. Debbie P.S. There is a wonderful forum just on soapmaking called Lathering, plug in Sugar Plum Sundries, they are a soap company in Tenn. and they run the forum. Debbie again

-- debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), March 15, 2002.