Making Goats Milk Soap

[stano40]

I would like to find a kit or supplies for making goats milk soap. I've never made soap before and would love to try this out.

Is there a good supplier that sells a basic kit for beginners?

bob

 

[Ms Thistle]

I would like to find a kit or supplies for making goats milk soap. I've never made soap before and would love to try this out.

Is there a good supplier that sells a basic kit for beginners?

bob

Hi bob,

Lavender Lane use to, years back online, have wonderful starter kits for making soap with everything you need. I can imagine you could use a recipe for 'milk' soap and use goat's milk.

Regards,
Ms Thistle

 

[Ms Thistle]

I would like to find a kit or supplies for making goats milk soap. I've never made soap before and would love to try this out.

Is there a good supplier that sells a basic kit for beginners?

bob

Bob,
Here is a site with a recipe and articles to read. For supplies, much of these oils you can get at your local Health Food Store in bulk (much cheaper, especially if you bring your own container.). Lavender Lane if they are stillaround also sells these oils and supplies online.

Regards,
Ms Thistle

 

[stano40]

Thanks Ms Thistle,

I'll check it out. Ever since I seen the episode on goats milk soap on "Dirty Jobs" I've wanted to try it. I know they didn't show a few steps in making the soap but it still looked fairly easy, just time consuming.

bob

 

[freemotion]

In the home kitchen, it is neither messy nor time consuming, really! Well, maybe the first time, since you might read and re-read the directions fourteen times like I did!

You really don't need all the items in most soap recipes. You need fat, lye, and goat's milk. All you need to do is weigh, stir, and pour.

Tallow makes a nice, hard soap. You render suet and strain it to make tallow. I render it in the winter and freeze it, and make soap later when I feel like it.

Summerbee has a calculater so you can use up whatever fats/oils you happen to have. I put a little chicken fat in a batch a couple of times, using the calculater.

 

[glenolam]

I made soap for the first time this weekend!!

It was so much easier than I thought it would be. I know my recipe wasn't at all complex, but it was great for a first timer! I bought all my oils from wholesalesupplies.com and the lye from Essential Depot.com.

The recipe I used calls for coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil, goats milk, lye and what ever fragrance oil you want. PM me if you want specific directions or a full list of what I used (including equipment).

I was very nervous, but after I made one batch of lavendar sage, I ended up making another of honey almond because I was so impressed with the outcome!

Good luck, after you make it for the first time the hardest point will be letting it cure enough to use! I know I've already marked the calendar for when I can use mine!

 

[stano40]

Thanks Ms Thistle, free and glenolam for the info.

I thought you needed lye to make soap? Even though there is an ancient account of using sodium hydroxide and a vegetable oil to make soap.

I also read another post somewhere that the person used drain cleaner as a lye base. Isn't that the wrong type of lye to use?

But I was watching a you tube video where the person didn't use lye in her recipe but only used a glycerin vegetable oil base melted it down and added a few extra's to it as her base soap. Cured it for about 8 weeks then remelted the soap base to add her special fragrances and the ncast into molds.

bob

 

[glenolam]

I am a newbie at this, but I've read that not using lye is the exception, not the norm. Lye is/was a main ingredient in drain cleaner, and is not common to find on hardware shelves any more. I, for one, can't find lye anywhere but on the internet. This is what I bought (Sodium Hydroxide, technical grade). It was extremely easy to use and pour.

Some people don't use lye because they don't want the harsh chemical. But used appropriately, the lye is a cleanser for your skin and breaks down enough after curing that it's harmless. It's when you're using it in the original form (crystals, flakes or beads) that it will burn your skin when making soap. But dabbing a little white vinegar on the spot where the lye touched you helps with the burn and leaves little or no marks.

When it was time for me to add the lye to my frozen goats milk, I made sure everything was cleaned up and out of the way. I had the scale on a paper towel, then a paper towel on the scale with my measuring cup set to zero. I then put on rubber gloves and got out the lye bottle and SLOWLY poured it into the cup until I reached the amount of lye I needed. Then I just put the bottle of lye off to the side where I wouldn't hit it (on another paper towel, mind you) and began stirring the milk/lye mix in my stainless steel pot that I stole from my kitchen items in my kitchen sink which was filled with ice.

You just have to be sure that you start stirring the lye with the milk immedately after you pour it in, or even while pouring the lye in or the milk will burn and you will end up with bright orange chunks of bad milk (which I just scooped out during my 2nd batch). In my 2nd batch I tried putting the lye away and taking my gloves off before I began stirring the lye/milk mix, which took all of 30 seconds to do, and I ended up burning the milk. In my first batch, I put the bottle to the side, kept the gloves on and there was no burning at all.

My son got curious during this process, but I told him he wasn't allowed in the kitchen during that point, just in case I spilled the lye. Better safe than sorry.

 

[WallTenters]

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