# newbie GM soaper



## redskygal (Dec 30, 2007)

Hello All,

I am new to this site. This is my first posting, however I have been lurking, reading, and learning very much. I live in Boulder County,CO and have a small herd of goats. When I soap I make a vegetable oil soap, it sells best here.

My question is how do you prepare the GM to go into the soap. I have been making soap for a couple of years and have attempted GM soap, but always ended up with a stinky pile of orange goo.

I understand you have to freeze the milk, and then add the lye. Do you use just straight GM or do you dissolve some of the lye with water and then add the GM. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I have a new shipment of oils and butters coming in, and do not want an exotic pile of stinky orange goo.

Thanks,
Kelly


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## Truly (Oct 26, 2007)

Welcome Kelly to the forum.

I'm a newbie soaper too. But I found a way to not get orange goo with the GM that has worked consistantly for me.

I disolve the lye in water, equal parts. ie, 8oz lye, 8oz water. I then place it in a dish of ice water to cool it down.

I then go about mixing my oils etc. When the lye water is down to about 80 or so, I add my fresh GM. The container is still in the ice water. The GM stirs right in without getting too hot, so no orange goo. About that time, I'm ready to mix my lye and oils.

Hope that makes sense and works for you.


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## kidsngarden (Oct 28, 2007)

Freeze your GM in cubes if you want 100% GM soap. I just weigh out the GM and dump the lye on it and stir, stir, stir!

If you are not making 100% GM, mix the lye with equal it's weight in water to dissolve, cool to RT. Then add the lye mix to RT oils. mix, then add RT GM. Works well

Welcome!

Bethany


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## redskygal (Dec 30, 2007)

Okay, that helps. I have some GM frozen flat right now, I'll just wack it into smaller pieces, and put the container in ice water. My oils arrive next week I will let you know how they turned out. My next experiment will be some variation of HP. I love making soap, makes me feel like a mad scientist. 

Kelly


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## kidsngarden (Oct 28, 2007)

Kelly, if you add the lye to frozen solid cubes and room temp oils you do not have to use and ice bath, trust me...save yourself a step!

Bethany


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## redskygal (Dec 30, 2007)

Bethany, 
Thanks, anything to cut out steps.
Kelly


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## Halo-M Nubians (Oct 26, 2007)

another thing about the 100% GM. Do expect color change(very yellow) and thickening and some smell even with the frozen milk..at times it doesn't look very appetizing but works fine.


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## Nigilover (Oct 29, 2007)

I have always used pre-measured frozen gm --- wacked the bag to break up the gm, add the lye crystals, stir and stir until melted, and my milk is always white or sl off white. I always thought that was the advantage of using frozen milk.


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## Guest (Jan 19, 2008)

Welcome and I hope that you are soon off to a great start in GM soaping.. 
I freeze my goat milk and add lye to it frozen.. Since I make only 100% pure goat milk soap unless I am making beer soap or aloe soap,, speciality soaps that is..
Freezing it will prevent the orange goo you get, or if you cannot add lye to frozen milk, an ice bath and adding the lye very very slowly will get you the results that you want.. 
Barbara


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## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

question??? What if you froze some GM last year and it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/2 gallon not exact you know. How do you measure out frozen milk so you know you have the right amount?

Sheryl


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

If I have it frozen in a baggie (as opposed to cubes) I'll whack it a few times with a hammer to break it up. Then just weigh it as I would cubes.


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## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

okay, do frozen pieces weight the same as liquid :???

thanks

Sheryl


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Yes.


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## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

cool :yeahthat I didn't know that. woo hoo! I have some close to a gallon frozen, and some somewhere around 1/2 gallon. So now I can just wack them with a hammer and weigh the pieces. All right!


Thanks

Sheryl


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## GallopingGoats (Oct 28, 2007)

I premeasure mine and freeze it flat in gallon ziplocks. It makes it easier to smash into pieces after it's frozen. It sures is a lot faster to make when you just dump the lye onto the frozen milk. My soap is nice and light, almost white. Shannon


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