# Goat Milk VS Water



## Tmattie (Oct 27, 2011)

So many of the recipes say to add your 'goat milk to the water lye solution'....I dont use any water, only goat milk in place of any water the recipe may call for....I've made a couple of batch's of soap (I'm new at this) both they seem to be A ok...do you HAVE to use water? I cool my milk before I add the lye, then add the oils...it traces fine...cures good...is it wrong?


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## tmfinley (Feb 21, 2008)

Nope, you don't have to use water. You can really use any liquid you want be it milk, juice, or who know what.


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

tmfinley said:


> Nope, you don't have to use water. You can really use any liquid you want be it milk, juice, or who know what.


Do NOT add lye to fruit juice! Even frozen. It volcanos. Ask me how I know. :/ Thank goodness it was in a stainless steel bowl IN the sink!

I would use water or frozen milk to add the lye to, then if you want to add juice, etc., add it to the lye mix after it's cooled a bit or at emulsion.


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

Tmattie said:


> So many of the recipes say to add your 'goat milk to the water lye solution'....I dont use any water, only goat milk in place of any water the recipe may call for....I've made a couple of batch's of soap (I'm new at this) both they seem to be A ok...do you HAVE to use water? I cool my milk before I add the lye, then add the oils...it traces fine...cures good...is it wrong?


 nope- you don't have to use any water... have fun soaping!


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

I use all milk (in most recipes), but I use frozen cubes. This slows down the reaction so it doesn't get too hot and your milk sugars won't burn. This would be especially important if you are wanting a white or almost white bar. Colored solution (dark yellow) also affects color if using natural colorants.


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## tmfinley (Feb 21, 2008)

[email protected] said:


> tmfinley said:
> 
> 
> > Nope, you don't have to use water. You can really use any liquid you want be it milk, juice, or who know what.
> ...


I have used carrot and apple juice many times with no problem. It may depend on the juice and the temps you are using.


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

tmfinley said:


> [email protected] said:
> 
> 
> > tmfinley said:
> ...


Temps? It was frozen. Solid-not in cubes. I tried one that was a berry mix that absolutely foamed right over the bowl (large bowl at that) and a vege puree that wasn't quite as bad, but foamed up and stunk (burnt). I would love to do a 100% juice.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I have added lye to carrot juice with no problems. But I did a beer soap once and I guess I hadn't gotten the beer all the way flat because it volcanoed in my sink. Had done it in the past without issue so I wasn't expecting it. I always add my lye to the liquids in my sink *just in case*.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Denise, if you added all of your lye at once to a frozen block of juice (rather than cubes) that is probably the issue. Too much lye for what was available to react with it. You only have the surface area of that block to work with. So you could either use cubes (more surface area), or add a bit of lye at a time, wait for things to melt some, add some more, etc...


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I use odd things to make soap also. Add the lye very slowly and like others I mix lye and whatever in my soap kitchen sink. Have been very lucky so far since I have never had anything want to boil over.

Favorites other than milk or mixed with milk:
coconut milk
beer
carrots
pumpkin (does get very hot in the mold)
cucumber
avocado
eggs

About time to make more coconut milk and beer soap since I sold out.


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## Tmattie (Oct 27, 2011)

Wow, thanks so much for all the info. Great stuff!


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## LynninTX (Oct 25, 2007)

I dissolve the lye into cold coffee instead of water for my coffee soap.


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