soap calc and lye

[dublon]

I apologize in advance if this has been asked before, but I just need a yes or no answer...

When putting Darwins basic recipe in the soap calc..

Now I just want to make sure for the lye amount..

When using the specified oils

I just need to in 2.34 ounces of lye to 6.08 ouces of water.. plus the oils???? That's it???

And I wasn't sure which coconut oil to put in either..so I put in Coconut 92° whatever that is...

I'm almost ready to take the plunge here, but I'm sooooooooooooooooooo scared of this lye bit!!!

[Crafty1_AJ]

Here in the U.S., most of us use the coconut oil that has the melt point of 76 degrees F. That's the one I use anyway!

Yes, if you put in all the amounts of your oils correctly, the amount of lye and water for a one-lb. batch should pop up when you hit the "calculate" button. The amounts you listed sound like a 1-lb. batch.

[dublon]

Thank you.... that's what I thought for the lye, but I realllllllllly needed to make sure! Out of 4 books I've got, all the recipes are calling for at least 12 oz of lye... and only 2 or 3 oils.... So I was just surprised at the little amount of lye used! A one pound recipe sounds perfect for me... especially for starting out, and trying to gain confidence here!!

And thank you for the explanation of the coconut oil. That does make sense!!

[CareBear]

to be triple sure, post the exact amounts you get of everything and we can double check.

Personally I always do a 2# batch cause if you go smaller then errors in measuring are magnified. How precise is your scale?

[dublon]

Ok.. so for this recipe!

10% Castor Oil

20% Coconut Oil

30% Palm Kernel Oil

20% Shea Butter

20% Grapeseed Oil

I get

Water at – 6.08 oz

Lye at – 2.34 oz

Then

Castor Oil - 1.6 oz.

Coconut (76°) - 3.2 oz

Palm Kernel - 4.8 oz

Grapeseed – 3.2 oz.

Shea butter - 3.2 oz.

And this is all for 1 pound of oils.

And I left the water % of oils and that Super Discount thingie (whatever that is at 5%)

So I figure for one pound I need 2.34 oz of lye... right???

So if I want to do 2 pounds... I would double everything.. right??

Sorry if I'm being a total PITA here, but I really do want to learn this the proper way, and do it right.

And thank you so much for your patience!!!

[Carrie]

If you want to double everything, double your ingredients and run it back thru the soap calc.

Always run it back thru the soap calc at least twice. It's like measure twice cut once. You don't wanna screw this up. Lye is dangerous when used incorrectly. Always double check, please.

Don't forget gloves, goggles and long sleeves, even in summer.

[dublon]

Ohhhh ok.. I didn't know about that one... running it through a couple of times...Will do!!

The recipe example I gave was Darwin's, and was using it just to see how this calculator worked.

Now I've found a recipe in one of my books that looks interesting, and I think I'll try it it!

I'll put it through the Soap Calc again, and post it here with my lye findings... just to be checked!!

And no... I definately don't want to screw up!! It's taken me close to a year to convince myself that I can do this! :tiptoe:

I'll post back in the morning!!

And again.. thank you so much everyone, by getting me on right track here!! Much appreciated!!

[Crafty1_AJ]

Actually on soapcalc, if you want to change your batch size, just go to the top and find where it says "1 lb." and change the 1 to a 2 to make it show the amounts for a 2 lb. batch. Then click "Calculate." It automatically doubles all your ingredients, including the lye amount. No need to manually enter all the ingredients again, assuming you already have the recipe in percentages.

hth!