How to Make Goat’s Milk Soap From Grocery Store Items

This recipe uses common oils and canned goat’s milk from the grocery store to make a wonderfully creamy soap that costs around $1.50 per bar to make! (See below for the full price breakdown.)

I most often buy lye from my local Tractor Supply Store, but you can also order some HERE from Amazon.

All measurements are by weight. You must use a digital scale to make soap at home. If you’ve not made milk soap before, be sure to read through my tutorial HERE on How to Make Milk Soap From Scratch first.

You may also enjoy my ebook: Natural Soap Making, Cold Process Basics & Recipes:

Goat’s Milk Soap

22 oz (623 g) olive oil
8 oz (226 g) coconut oil
5 oz (141 g) chilled water
5 oz (141 g) canned goat’s milk
4.2 oz (119 g) lye (sodium hydroxide)

Step 1

At least a day before you plan on making soap, weigh out 5 ounces of canned goat’s milk, pour into an ice cube tray and freeze. Because canned goat’s milk is usually evaporated and double strength, we’ll end up diluting it later with an equal amount of water.

Step 2

When you’re ready to make your soap, place the frozen cubes of canned goat’s milk into a heat proof plastic or stainless steel pitcher. Pour 5 ounces of chilled water on top of the cubes.

Wearing proper safety gear – gloves, goggles and long sleeves, slowly sprinkle a bit of lye in at a time, stirring well after each addition. This will take several minutes. Make sure that the lye is fully dissolved before you proceed.

The mixture may turn orange or yellow and smell weird – like ammonia – but that’s all perfectly normal. Avoid directly breathing in the fumes. I like to work in my kitchen sink, with the window open for fresh air.

At this point, your lye mixture will probably be around 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius). It’s okay if it’s a little higher or lower.

Step 3

Set the lye mixture aside for a few minutes.

Heat the coconut oil in a small saucepan – first until melted, and then an extra three or four minutes until it’s hot. Pour it into the container you’ll mix your soap in and add the olive oil. The combined oils should be around 100 degrees F (37 degrees C), but it’s okay if it’s higher or lower by ten degrees or so.

Line your mold. For this batch, I used a glass 8.5 inch x 4.5 inch loaf pan (a 9″ x 5″ will work too) lined with a super cheap, unscented trash bag. You can also use parchment or freezer paper. (Wax paper is too flimsy and tends to tear and stick, so don’t use that.)

Step 4

Now, it’s time to mix everything together!

Carefully (wearing gloves, goggles & long sleeves), pour the lye solution into the soap mixture.

Using a stick (immersion) blender, like THIS ONE, stir the oils and lye together. Since this soap is high in olive oil, it will probably take a while longer to reach trace – perhaps up to ten minutes. Trace is when the soap batter is thick enough to leave a faint impression when you drizzle a bit over the top of itself. (If you hand stir it will take a long, long time – possibly hours to reach trace. I don’t recommend a hand mixer either.)

Step 5

Pour the soap batter into the prepared mold. If you’d like to aim for a lighter colored soap, you can put the mold in the refrigerator overnight. (See my How to Make Milk Soap From Scratch tutorial HERE for more information.) I just left this batch uncovered at room temperature.

Above, is what the soap looked like after three hours. You can see that it’s turning darker in the middle, as it goes through gel phase. That’s perfectly normal and okay. (“Gel Phase” is when cold process soap heats up in the mold and develops a darker, jelly like look to it in places.)

If you see a crack developing though, that means it’s overheating, so move it to a cooler place.

Step 6

Let the soap stay in the mold for 24 hours.

The next day, you’re ready to unmold and slice into bars. Using the 8.5″ x 4.5″ loaf pan, this batch made 7 full bars, plus two ends that we’ll still use – they just aren’t as pretty for gifting.

Let the soap cure in the open air for at least four to six weeks. Since this soap is pretty high in olive oil, it may take longer to firm up. High olive oil soaps have a long shelf life and improve with age.

Cost Breakdown:

Using oils and canned goat’s milk from Wal-Mart and lye from Amazon, this batch cost:

Olive oil (.21 ¢/oz x 22 oz) = $4.62
Coconut oil (.25 ¢/oz x 8 oz) = $2.00
Goat’s Milk, 1/2 can = $1.49
Lye (.56 ¢/oz x 4.2 oz) = $2.35

Total Ingredients for 1 Batch = $10.46

7 Giftable Bars Cost $1.49 each

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Jan