Goats Milk Soap Recipe with a lot of blather on the subject

I used one of the recipes from Humblebee and Me's blog site, (see link to the right somewhere- the original recipe is titled- Lemongrass, Ginger, Coconut Milk and Oolong Soap), made a few changes (recipe below), to make a goats milk soap. I bought canned goats milk because I was not sure when I was going to get to it. I did not want it rotting in the fridge.

Remember!  Always run recipes, no matter who gave them to you- expert, online, grandmother - through an online lye calculator! I use grams (g) for all ingredients except the water. I use fluid ounces for liquids I add to the lye.

This soap has a 5% superfat. I use animal fat. I do not use any palm oils or GMO oils (especially soy and canola). Your skin is your biggest organ. I do not do the GMO stuff nor want it in my personal products. You can recalculate a recipe to use whatever you want to use if you do not have a problem using these oils on your skin.

This recipe makes about 2-1/2 pounds of soap. This size if perfect to learn on. You can try a lot of recipes, paired with keeping some and giving some away, where you do not end up with a 100-year supply of soaps. I am not selling soap to get rid of it. I did not add any scents or other additives to it. One can do what they prefer. I will not be dyeing soaps, either. I found some of the ones I bought leach onto my bath cloth. Ick.

My basic recipe worked out to be-


Goats Milk Soap


12 oz. goats milk, frozen to slushy stage
155.09g lye
385g olive oil (35%)
330g beef tallow (30%)
275g coconut oil (25%)
55g castor oil (5%)
55g shea butter (5%)

Proceed as one normally does to make CP (cold process) soap. Look to your favorite books or online. Again! Check through a lye calculator!

I had the milk frozen (so as to not burn/scald the milk when adding the lye), everything laid out, measured, etc., as one should before making soap. What I forgot was to don my long-sleeved flannel before starting. (Do you see where this is going?) I slowly added the lye in bits to the frozen goats milk to keep it from scalding the milk. The lye melts the milk when it hits it. Once done, I gently warmed the solid fats, took them off the stove and added the liquid fats. All good so far, yes?

Once they were both about 90°F to 100°F or so, I slowly started adding the lye/milk mixture to the fats mixture. This was where I learned a couple of lessons all at once. (I never do anything halfway...) The lye/milk was strangely thick and glopped into the fats, splashing. No long-sleeved shirt to protect me, though I had on my apron and goggles over my glasses. Of course the globs hit my (unprotected) arm... and chin... and goggles. I had vinegar and soapy water ready. I called for Himself to help me neutralize and remove the splooshes, while I stirred the mixture with a whisk. The recommended procedures worked, no burns or marks at all. Lessons learned- wear the bloody over-shirt. The other one is that the canned milk may of been evaporated, why else was it so thick?, meaning it should of been diluted in half? It looked the normal texture for milk when I measured it into a freezer container. I measure amounts out, lift from the scale, replace, repeat a couple of more times, look at the recipe (and had the original lye recalculation on my computer screen, being overly careful). Right amount of liquid. The can was already down in its proper recycle bin at the dump. So... the soap may be heavy in milk solids? No clue. It is not testing lye-heavy, so I am guessing it is fine.


I finished making the soap, bringing it to trace. I used a commercial cutlery tray, greasing but not lining because the woman who showed hers said it pops right out. (It looks like pudding, no?) For the second time, I was stupid and used "their" procedure. I had to freeze the soap, then bring it out to sweat before I could get it to release. The shape of the tray makes half-rounds if one fills halfway. I wen ta little over and got big "U"-shaped soaps. No biggie. I will properly line my molds from now on.

Here is the soap sliced into 1" slices. After I took the photo, I ended up cutting the bars in half. They were too big for my hands. I put the slices on an old cake cooling rack and it is curing in my linen closet along with my remaining shampoo bars. The goats milk soap has been curing for over a week so far. I cannot wait to try it and have to be patient.


The garden is ready for the first seedlings to be planted when they are ready, and the plants that get direct seeding. We still have not rented the rototiller to expand one of the beds and get the new spot for the potatoes ready. The weather has been a bit off the last few days.

Sally loved going outside, zooming all over the place. She was limping for a bit. Nothing in her paws. After a couple of days, she was not getting much better. Himself went over her paws while I went online. Himself found she cracked some of her toenails on the gravel driveway. they should not be that brittle, though it can happen after being inside on carpet all winter. I found out my homemade dog food was NOT complete, even with the supplement she was getting. After hours of reading, I found a better recipe online that is balanced and uses supplements I have on hand. the most important thing missing was I was not making powdered eggshells for calcium intake. Major oops. I made corrections with the food I had already made for now. The next batch, I am going to use this person's recipe (no grain version)- Ottawa Valley Dog Whisperer  She has tons of great information to read through.

Did you all know that the agency that determines pet food safety, nutrition and safety levels is NOT a gummit agency? AAFCO, I think? It is self-governing, no checks and balances, with people from the various corporations having a hand in the organization. Great. (that said sarcastically)

Sally is already doing much better, only limping after getting out from under the couch from her nap for a moment or two. Her nails look to be healing quite nicely. If there is no more improvement, I will take her to the vet. I know they need to make a living, but I will not compromise Sally's health with unneeded drugs when there are other, safer, methods to use first. I am not rich, I cannot afford to have unnecessary tests, either. Sally is due for shots, but not until her nails are healed enough for me to not worry about cooties at the vet's. I do not allow more than one type at a time, with a week in-between. It is more expensive, but I do not allow the flu shot that is added into most versions of the distemper shot. I will getting her the test to be sure she even needs the shots. Over-vaccination of pets is a major health issue.

I have yet to finish the last few inches on the bully gloves. I think I will while watching old movies.

Deb

I am a bit ecclectic. This blog is whimsical musings about my various interests and sharing things I am learning. If anything, it will be a good sleeping pill, no?

3 comments:

  1. What a beautiful soap! I love the creamy colour and the big, generous slices :) I'm really interested to see that you make your own dog food! I've got a pooch of my own, and once you've got your recipe down I'd be thrilled if you shared :)

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  2. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BRING THE SOAP TO trace, thank you.

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    1. Reaching trace means it is the consistency of very soft pudding. You can see this online on many free teaching videos for soap making.

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