Goat Milk Soap Making

I am really interested in making goat milk soap but have been hesitant to start. Does anyone make goats milk soap and what is needed to start.

I have been reading and reading about this and everyone has a slightly different way of doing it. Looking for first hand practical knowledge on goat milk soap making.

Thank You,

bob

I make soap.

It's a little intimidating at first, when you are trying to figure out all the possible ingredients and proportions and recipes and methods, but once you get going, it's not too hard.

I use the cold-process method to make soap. I'll walk you through my basic recipe.

You will need:
Plastic container of some kind (I use a 1 gallon ice cream bucket) that you will devote to only soap making
Stirring Device, again devoted to soap (I use a wooden spoon)
Soap mold of some kind, enough for about 36 ounces (that's 12 "normal" size bars)--you can use a stainless steel square cake pan, a cardboard box lined with plastic wrap, plastic molds made for soap, cupcake pan, pretty much anything that isn't aluminum.
Lye--you can find it at some hardware stores in the drain cleaner section, or purchase it from a soap making supply. Make sure it is 100% lye. You CANNOT make soap without lye.
Oils--Soap can be made with any kind of oils, traditionally it is made from rendered cow or pig fat. I use olive, soybean, and coconut oil in mine.
Liquid--goat milk, other milk, water, tea, coffee, or beer all work.
Extras--things you can put into your soap include honey (a tablespoon or so per pound, but know that it will darken the color), oatmeal (about a quarter cup works well in this recipe, crush it up small), sugar (a tablespoon per pound adds a nice lather but doesn't make the soap gritty), herbs, and fragrance/essential oils for scent.
Thermometer, scale that measures ounces, and measuring cups

Put your milk in the freezer for a while to get it really cold, but not frozen solid. Slushy would be perfect. This is to prevent the milk from curdling and turning too orange/brown when you mix it with lye. There will be some color change and curdling, so don't worry a whole lot about it.

Put your lye in your plastic container. You can sit the plastic container in a dish of ice to speed up the cooling process and slow down the curdling if you want. You will need 5.5 ounces of lye. Then, carefully add the liquid, 10 ounces of it. NEVER pour the lye into the liquid, you might end up with a volcano if you do it that way. Also, don't get the lye on your skin, it burns. If you do by accident, wash the skin with vinegar to neutralize it. This will heat up and put off a nasty smell, so do it outside if you can. Avoid breathing the fumes.

When it has cooled to around 100-150 degrees, you can add the oils. For this recipe, use 15 ounces of coconut oil (it is a solid at room temperature, so melt it in the microwave first), 8 ounces of olive oil, and 15 ounces of soybean (vegetable) oil. You can't substitute different oils without a different recipe, as different kinds of oils require different amounts of lye for the reaction to work right and a good finished product. A lot of recipes require you to stir...and stir...and stir..now. You can speed things up by using a stick blender or hand mixer, or get lazy like I do, and let it sit, just stirring a few minutes every now and then (it will take several hours to reach the next stage if you do that, but you don't have to sit there with it all day). What you are looking for at this point is a stage called "trace", where the mixture gets really thick like pudding, and if you drip some off your spoon onto the top of what's in the container, it will sit on top. At this point, you stir in your "extras". If you are using a metal or glass kitchen pan to mold the soap, it helps to grease it with some Vaseline (not cooking oils, as the soap will just suck these up) for easier removal later. Pour your traced soap into your molds. Leave it alone until it is hard, then remove it, and cut it into pieces if your mold requires it. Let the bars sit to cure for at least two weeks before using.

Ariel301, do you have o warm the oils first before adding them?

bob

I use a very simple cold process soap when I make it with goats milk. I'll dig out the recipe and post it later today.

I melt the coconut oil in the microwave, but other than that, no, I don't warm up my oils.

Quick and Easy Goat Milk's Soap

11 cups (5 1/2lbs) of lard or vegetable shortening
3 pints goats milk
12 oz lye

Pour lye into water, heat fat until warm (a hot warm not a cool warm). Pour fat into lye mixture, stir until trace and pour into mold. If you use a stick blender it only takes a minute or two. Make sure you DO NOT use aluminum bowls or spoons.

MrsDieselEngineer wrote:Quick and Easy Goat Milk's Soap

11 cups (5 1/2lbs) of lard or vegetable shortening
3 pints goats milk
12 oz lye

Pour lye into water, heat fat until warm (a hot warm not a cool warm). Pour fat into lye mixture, stir until trace and pour into mold. If you use a stick blender it only takes a minute or two. Make sure you DO NOT use aluminum bowls or spoons.

That's the easiest recipe so far. If you add essential oils do you have to adjust the lye mixture?

Do you mean scents? Or are you talking about things adding actual oils to the mix? If you are talking about adding scents then you add it when the mixture reaches a very slight trace, then finish bringing it to trace.
If you wanted to add an actual oil you would have to figure out a new recipe as the lye reacts differently to each oil and you would have to adjust the amount of lye vrs oil.

Got that one ... Thanks

I found a drain cleaner with sodium hydroxide called zep. I read that you could use red devil drain cleaner. Does it matter about the brand?

bob

If it 100% PURE sodium hydroxide you can use it. But you have to make sure it does not have any other ingredients. Tractor Supply carries ROEBIC Crystal Drain Opener, it's 100% sodium hydroxide and that's what I've been using to make my soaps with.

MrsDieselEngineer wrote:If it 100% PURE sodium hydroxide you can use it. But you have to make sure it does not have any other ingredients. Tractor Supply carries ROEBIC Crystal Drain Opener, it's 100% sodium hydroxide and that's what I've been using to make my soaps with.

All it says for ZEP is that it contains sodium hydroxide and that's all it lists. So I guess it's OK to use. Thanks for the TSC suggestion I shop there all the time for my goat and chicken feed.

My wife bought me a lrge porcelan over steel kettle for the soap making and and hand held blender (stick type).

Have you ever used grape seed extract for a preservative? I havew grape seed oil and was wondering if that would work as a preservative.

bob

I just looked up the ingredients on ZEP and DON'T use it. It contains about 4 other ingredients. The problem with most of these products is that they are not required to list all the ingredients.

Great, thank you for looking that one up. I'll get the one at TSC. That was a big help. This is getting interesting.

stano40 wrote:

MrsDieselEngineer wrote:Quick and Easy Goat Milk's Soap

11 cups (5 1/2lbs) of lard or vegetable shortening
3 pints goats milk
12 oz lye

Pour lye into water, heat fat until warm (a hot warm not a cool warm). Pour fat into lye mixture, stir until trace and pour into mold. If you use a stick blender it only takes a minute or two. Make sure you DO NOT use aluminum bowls or spoons.

That's the easiest recipe so far. If you add essential oils do you have to adjust the lye mixture?

I noticed your recipe doesn't include water to first begin the lye. Is it necessary or just use the milk.

bob

You use the milk just like you would water. You can also use this recipe for making coffee soap. Just use VERY strong coffee in place of the milk or water.

If you use water in this recipe, it makes a plain decent sort of soap but it doesn't do anything special. Just cleans The milk soap is good for your skin and the coffee soap is excellent for removing smells (like buck oder).

Oh, and when using milk or coffee it does stink pretty bad when you add the lye. It turns all sorts of horrible colors and you'll think you did something wrong! Try not to breath the fumes and make the soap when you can have good air flow. Also keep apple cider vinegar on hand in case you accidentally get some lye mixture on your bare skin. Pour vinegar on it immediately as it neutralizes the lye so it won't burn you. Lye can be very dangerous to work with, avoid splashing and just be careful! LOL But remember to have fun and don't get distracted while soap making!

Ariel301 I also want to thank you for your help and instructions. I am putting together the ingredients for my first batch and I'll post it here before I start.

bob

I cant post the link but a great place to get lye is the Lye Depot. com. They also have a great calculator.
Products like Red Devil and others may include chemicals other than the. actual lye. Also you may want to determine if you want NaOH or KOH. They are not the same.

A great book for soap making is:
Scientific Soapmaking: The Chemistry of the Cold Process

by Kevin Dunn


Best soap book I ever read.


BTW--you can mix the lye crystals directly into the milk but BE CAREFUL
The mixture heats FAST. If you pour too quickly your milk will scorch or burn. Then you have a bowl of caustic waste. I use a thermometer and freeze my milk. I use it as a slush.