# Soap.



## aceofspades (Dec 26, 2012)

We're wanting to try making goats milk soap but as not finding any really good recipes for a beginner and are also having trouble finding the lye that most recipes call for. 

How do you make you're soap? And were do you get the supply's ?


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

We bought our lye from an amish woman who had a supply of it but it is very hard to find. Go to _The Ponte Vedra Soap Shop._ Get on there main page and there is a thing that says recipe gallery click on that and it will get you to a lot of recipes. We made the recipe that says Goat Milk Soap. It was easy and great. I hope you can find lye/.


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## trmeyer (Mar 2, 2011)

If you have an Ace Hardware or a Menards store, they have lye. The Ace in my small town (3500 people) was cheaper than the Menards in the next town over with like 40,000 people. So you may be able to find it in a small hardware type store over a big box store. Lowes did not have it that I could find that it wasn't mixed with stuff. Good luck finding it. 

Tracy


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

that's interesting. Is it very expensive?


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## nubians2 (Feb 20, 2011)

U can buy the lye from most soap making suppliers such a bramble berries. I by mine from a local company that sells chemicals. U might want to see if u have one close to u.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

bramble berry is where I got mine as well. Im just starting out as well, I got a book soap making for dumbies, it helped. Once you jump into it youll find that its not as scary as you think, especially with the soap cal. What you need to do is just find a little rec. and kick, kids, cats, dogs, old people and your other half out the door and give it a try, after your first try youll say 'hey that was not so bad.'


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

I prefer cold process soap. It's easier and not as dangerous.


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## aceofspades (Dec 26, 2012)

All great info thanks. 

We tried ace, lowes and Home Depot with no luck we were told it was all taken off the shelf because idiots were making meth with it. 

What do you need to make cold press?


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## aceofspades (Dec 26, 2012)

Looks like I need to try brumble Barry's.


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## nubians2 (Feb 20, 2011)

I make cold process as well. It is a relatively simple process. You are mixing the milk, best frozen or slushy with lye till the milk melts. You mix the oils together, melt then cool till a certain temp that is similar to the milk mix and then mix the two batches together. Stir with a stick blender for ease, then pour on molds. Let sit 24 hours then put in freezer for two hours to get out of molds easier. This is a short version but that is the gest of it. It is about 45 min process from star to molds.


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## trmeyer (Mar 2, 2011)

Too bad you can't find it at Ace. I think I only paid like $3.75 for the normal size can, maybe a pound? I would have to look at it. Yeah, I had a hard time finding it too at first and me have a huge problem with meth production. I used to say that if people googled the meth capital of the United States it would have my home town on there. 

Tracy


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## Serenity Woods (Apr 2, 2012)

We've used Essential Depot for soap supplies, and have been very pleased with them:
http://www.essentialdepot.com/


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

aceofspades said:


> All great info thanks.
> 
> We tried ace, lowes and Home Depot with no luck we were told it was all taken off the shelf because idiots were making meth with it.
> 
> What do you need to make cold press?


cold process is jsut like making soap except the only hot thing is the lye.


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

nubians2 said:


> I make cold process as well. It is a relatively simple process. You are mixing the milk, best frozen or slushy with lye till the milk melts. You mix the oils together, melt then cool till a certain temp that is similar to the milk mix and then mix the two batches together. Stir with a stick blender for ease, then pour on molds. Let sit 24 hours then put in freezer for two hours to get out of molds easier. This is a short version but that is the gest of it. It is about 45 min process from star to molds.


I think it's great. We didn't put ours in the freezer but we didn't have a problem.


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## mlktrkdrvr (Dec 7, 2012)

We got our lye at Ace also. I asked them where it was and they told me they did not have it as well, but then i went and looked and they did. It the isle with the Draino. The one I have is 2 pounds and it is in a white and red plastic jar. I had a friend that was wanting to get some soap from me but her boy friend found out there was LYE in it and made her not get it because he had a very bad reaction to lye soap as a child. I have found that many people are scared of lye...


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## trmeyer (Mar 2, 2011)

Yeah, I have had several people also say they don't want it because it has lye in it. Um, if you look at the ingredients of a regular bar of soap if it says anything like sodium tallowate that is the lye and fat combination  My husband's bar of Irish Spring (he bought because I haven't gotten more soap made, ugh.) has the first ingredient listed as Soap (sodium tallowate (lye and animal fat), sodium cocoate (I believe lye and coconut oil), and or sodium pam kerelate (lye and palm oil) People just get scared. The reason you would have a reaction is if it was used on you before it cured all the way OR if there was something else in it that you reacted to that had nothing to do with the lye. But I know how hard it is to explain things to some people when they get something stuck in their heads. 

Tracy


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## aceofspades (Dec 26, 2012)

HELP 
found the lye in the drain cleaning section at Gibsons. First round not good it's very brittle/flaky and has a chemical smell. 
Can it be melted down and fixed? 
Any suggestions on how to save it?


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## enchantedgoats (Jun 2, 2013)

The availability of lye varies from state to state. Vermont yes, nh no. So if you are close to a state line try the other state! That's what we did.


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## mlktrkdrvr (Dec 7, 2012)

aceofspades said:


> HELP
> found the lye in the drain cleaning section at Gibsons. First round not good it's very brittle/flaky and has a chemical smell.
> Can it be melted down and fixed?
> Any suggestions on how to save it?


Sounds like it is Lye heavy. Recheck your recipe on soap calc. If it is lye heavy you can melt it down adding a little water and when it gets melted add the appropriate amount of oils/ this needs to be done in a double boiler or a slow cooker. There are all kinds of instructions for rebatching a lye heavy batch if you google it.


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## aceofspades (Dec 26, 2012)

Ok thanks ill google it


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