September 27, 2010

My First Cold Process Soap

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I made my first cold process goat milk soap a couple of days ago. It's a recipe of my own so I get to name it. I am calling it Grandma's Kitchen because the ingredients remind so much of being in my grandmothers kitchen helping her cook.

I used a lye calculator that lets you put in whole ounces for your fats and it measures the amount of lye and liquid you need. Here's the recipe I used:

Grandma's Kitchen Goat Milk Soap
8 ounces almond oil
10 ounces coconut oil
17 ounces lard
10 ounces olive oil
6.226 ounces lye
14.85 ounces goat milk
1 cup ground oatmeal
1/2 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbs. honey
Vanilla beans scrapings from 1 vanilla bean (not sure what it's called. You cut the bean lengthwise and scrape the insides of a vanilla bean and add the tiny black seeds to the soap mix.)

You can add vanilla fragrance but I liked the smell the soap already had. A natural sugary vanilla smell.

I melted my oils together and removed it from the heat to let cool. I put on my gloves and goggles and headed to the front porch to mix my lye and icy slush goat's milk. Pour the lye into the frozen milk about a tsp at a time, mixing after each addition. Add your lye over about a ten minute period. The slower you go the less "yellow" your milk will turn. Set the container with lye into a larger container with ice to help cool it. When the oils and the lye mixture both reach the 90 to 110 degree range, they can be mixed.

Using a stick blender, mix until trace. Trace is when you can draw a line across the top of the soap mixture with you stick blender and it remains for a few seconds. It should be like a thick gravy or pudding. Add the remaining ingredients and mix just until blended. Pour soap into molds and wrap with towels. Let sit for 12 - 18 hours and unwrap. Make sure you use your gloves for this process until you have checked the pH of your soap and know that it is safe to touch. Wet a tiny spot on your soap, rub a bit and put your test strip in it. The reading on your pH strip should be between 7 and 10. Cut your soap and place it on a wire rack to dry/cure for about 4 weeks. I can't wait to try this one.
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I purchased a soap cutter on eBay and it's fun and easy to use. I love my pretty soap bars! This recipe made 20 1-inch bars.

So now I can't decide if I like cold process or hot process better. Cold process makes a prettier soap but hot process is usable as soon as you make it and seemed to take a little less time to trace but only a few minutes difference. It's going to be hard to wait 4 weeks to try this one! For those of you making soap, which do you prefer??

11 comments:

Julie Harward said...

You sure are getting good at this...are you going to sell it? Awesome thing to know how to make! :D

Patricialynn said...

I'm fascinated by the soap making you are doing, and plan to try it myself at some point this winter. My only concern is that all the soap recipes I have seen are scented femininely...so I could make some great soap for myself, and maybe to give away as gifts, but what about for my fiance' and my three sons?

Is there any way to make soap that either smells plain, or better yet, smells masculine? This would be particularly helpful for my fiance' as he shaves with old-fashioned shaving soap.

Anonymous said...

Now that is so cool. You know years ago before we all got spoiled with modern technology that we all made do with what we had.

Nice job!

Whitetail Woods Blog / Blackpowder Shooting

Kentucky Farm Girl said...

Patricia, that's one of the nice things about making your own soap. You can pick out the fragrance or essential oils you like or not use any at all. I didn't use any in this batch and it has a nice faint sugary smell and I really like it. Brambleberry has a list of masculine scents they have available.

Here's a link that might give you some ideas.
Brambleberry Masculine Fragrance Oils

Patricialynn said...

I've bookmarked that site, thank you very much! I think homemade shaving soap will be a great Christmas gift for my fiance' this season.

Sunny said...

Your soap looks great! I love goat milk soap and I am just about out of my stash. The unscented kind is great for a skin condition called rosacea. I prefer the cold-pressed soaps. Great job!

Kirk Mantay said...

CP all the way, and your soap looks fantastic. I used to do it a lot, but now it's strictly big batches for gifts and whenever an old customer requests some more.

Kirk Mantay said...

And ah yes, you've found Brambleberry. Definitely my #1 supplier over the years.

Nancy said...

I want to try CP, but the lye part kinda scares me. I know, I need to get over that. Love the finished product. You must be so proud of yourself! I know I would be. :)

Kentucky Farm Girl said...

Nancy, the lye is not so scary after the first time of mixing it. Just wear your goggles and gloves, be careful and keep some vinegar handy to neutralize the lye if some gets spilled. I mix mine on the front porch, keep the kids far away and make sure not to breath the fumes. It's not nearly as scary as I thought it would be. Go for it and come back and let us know how it goes!

Anonymous said...

I don't yet which one I like better, the HP or CP.
I like that with the CP you can pour the soap in cute molds. But..I'm with you on getting to use the HP soap sooner. I don't have a lot of patience.
I love the way your goat milk soap looks. It is so pretty. I can't wait to try it.
have a great day.
Pam

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