# Adding goat milk at trace



## 2Sticks

Do you find that if you add room temp goat milk at light trace instead of frozen milk mixed with the lye that it causes acceleration?


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## hsmomof4

I'm no help. I put my milk in with the oils. I used to put it in at emulsion, but then one time I forgot and there it was, sitting there mocking me after the soap was in the mold. Now, THERE was a batch that accelerated!! (Due to only having 1/2 the liquid.)


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## NubianSoaps.com

Not at all. I started with warmed milk, then it is room temp milk as morning milking just sits in a bucket on the soap room table waiting to be soaped that night, but I have even dumped in cold from the fridge milk.

But it is no where near trace that I add my milk. There is a decidedly apparent point after adding your lye/liquid to your butters and oils that it has emulsified, you can see it with your stick blender, the lye has married with the butters and oils and is protected from burning the sugars in your milk, or aloe, or fruit juices etc.....Then I stick blend to near trace and add scent etc....Vicki


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## Lynn_Theesfeld

yes and no.... it's really a false trace and this is how I usually soap. 
my lye is pre-mixed I add the oils(slightly warmed) , blend and usually have a trace once all is blended then add my milk whether it's been sitting out on the counter fresh from the source or straight from the fridge I always have to blend the false trace out. It only takes a couple seconds with my stick blender on low.


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## 2Sticks

Thanks so much for the info, I'm sick of milk cubes, it just akes tooooooo much time. I'll try again


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## NubianSoaps.com

Tamera this time of year I have to up the amount of time my hard butters and oils (coconut is soild if a heat strip isn't on the container) I melt things...butter and oils have to be warm, even at soap class I melt the lard completely to liquid oil. I can room temp easily during most of the year, but (well other than today I have the air conditoning on and I am back in capri's) during the winter I have to melt my butters and oils before adding my room temp lye (50/50) and whatever temp milk then is no biggy. If lard is not nearly completely melted in my soap room in the winter, scent and milk both cause me so many problems!


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## MF-Alpines

2Sticks said:


> Thanks so much for the info, I'm sick of milk cubes, it just akes tooooooo much time. I'll try again


Have you tried silicone ice cube trays? I picked some up at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. They are fabulous!!! They hold more than the traditional trays, take up less space and the cubes pop right out.

If you or anyone gets them and you're stacking in the freezer, leave about 1/8" of head space for expansion so it's easy to pry the trays apart. Let them sit on the counter for a few minutes (or 5) and they literally pop right out! I love them.


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## 2Sticks

Thank you Vicki, your tips help so much!

No Cindy, I didn't even know there was such a thing as silicon ice trays!


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## MF-Alpines

2Sticks said:


> I didn't even know there was such a thing as silicon ice trays!


Me, neither! But they are awesome! So much so, that I don't even mind making milk ice anymore.


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## tlcnubians

I add the milk to my lye-water solution that's floating in an ice water bath. My milk is refrigerated, not frozen, and I just pour it into the lye water without any problems. When it's all cooled down to 80-90 degrees, then I pour it through a strainer into the 110-120 degree oils. If you try different ways of adding your milk, you'll find one that suits you. Caroline


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## Tim Pruitt

Caroline,
Why do you strain your milk/lye solution? To strain out any lumps of lye that didn't melt?


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## tlcnubians

Hi Tim - just now sitting down at my computer and trying to catch up a bit! I'm off work this week but keeping busy at home. To answer your question about straining my liquids . . . it's just something that I've always done. For me, it seems to keep the mixture cleaner . . . the lye is totally dissolved in the liquids but there are times when bits of debris that may have been in the lye are strained out, or other stuff that somehow end up in the solution. Caroline


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