First batch of soap - did I screw up the calculations?

[Homeslice]

Just made my first ever soap, pictures below. 100% canola oil to keep my first soap making lesson cheap.

I used the calculator from this site:

Lye Calculator and Fragrance Calculator

Lye Calculator and Fragrance Calculator Bramble Berry Inc.

www.brambleberry.com

Mainly because the one on this site had a bunch of questions I did not understand haha.

So it says to use 16 oz canola oil, 2.07oz lye, 4.63 oz water. I converted those to ml, which are 473.18, 61.21 and 136.93 respectively.

Now, I thought it was weird because the lye is in solid form. I didn't see the option to go to "grams" on that site at the bottom. When I do they don't quite match up with the ml I calculated above. Which makes sense since weight is not volume.

But did I goof using those numbers? The purity of my lye is supposedly 99.9%. It seems to me to make sure I get it right (and make it easy) I need a calculator where you insert the purity of the lye, and how much oil (in volume, since that is how I will be measuring it) I want to use and it spits out the water (in volume since that is how I will be measuring it) and lye (in grams, since that is how I will be measuring it since it is a solid). Or maybe I tell it final product desired amount in volume and it spits out all those amounts, oil and water in volume and lye in grams.

My "soap" feels pretty soft after I let it sit overnight, figuring I missed it up.

Thanks!!!

 

[Yooper]

For lye, it’s a solid. So you can’t use ml- you use grams. But it’s still pretty close- about 59 grams. It should be solid soap. Maybe you didn’t stir it enough, until you got a medium trace?

I’ve never used canola oil, so not sure if that’s the issue or not.

 

[Homeslice]

Hiyas Yooper! How did you come up with the 59 grams? I am trying to find a calculator that goes by volume of oil, volume of water and weight of lye (since that is how I will be measuring each logically, given that oil and water are liquids and lye is a solid at 99.99% purity). Not seeing one online that shows it by these units.

I definitely stirred it a ton - I use a stick blender and blended it over and over and over again, I got as thick a trace and one can get (I think).

 

[Yooper]

1 ounce by weight = 28.35 grams. I wouldn't worry about the 99.99% purity- that's pretty meaningless.

Remember that in soapmaking, it's ALL by weight, never volume. So no mls at all- only grams.

 

[Yooper]

I think it's soft because it's 100% canola oil. I saw this: Pure Canola Oil Soap

 

[Homeslice]

Thanks Yooper! Yes, I came across that thread too when I was googling trying to find the right amounts of the various ingredients. That person did not list the amounts and what not, but I think we had similar results, mine has a nice smell like what he or she is describing.

Ah, I had no idea about everything in soap making being by weight! So, let's say I go to this site here:

Lye Calculator and Fragrance Calculator

Lye Calculator and Fragrance Calculator Bramble Berry Inc.

www.brambleberry.com

I put in "solid" (NaOH)

Then I put in "grams" (weight), instead of ounces (which I think is generally volume, but maybe they mean it by weight here?)

Then I put in 2% superfat.

Next screen I selection canola oil, high olelic, and type in 473.2 for that many grams.

That is what I before, but I think using ounces, and basically got the same numbers in grams:

Lye 61.2 grams

"Liquid", which I assume is water, is 136.88 grams

Oil is what I put in, the 473.2.


So see if this is right.

For the lye, I just measure out 61.2 grams on my kitchen scale.

For the water, I think 136.88 grams is exactly equal to 136.88 ml. So that is easy.

For the oil, I could measure out those weights on my kitchen scale (being sure to zero out the container they are going in first). OR since it looks like 1 ml of canola weighs .909 grams, I could divide the 473.2 by the .909. getting 520.57 ml.

Does that sound about right?

Thanks Yooper!

 

[Yooper]

In the US, ounces can be either by volume or by weight, but in soaping, it’s always by weight.

so yes, it sounds right. It sounds like it’s simply that the recipe makes a very very soft soft.

I would really suggest using soapmakingfriend as it’s much easier to use and understand than the one you linked to!

 

[Homeslice]

Got it! I'm checking out the soapmakingfriend one now, a little more complicated.

So for masterbatch I think I select "no" - that looks like huge productions or what not.

For amount of liquid is recipe, I assume this is water. What is typical here? I select % liquid as a percent of oil, and leave it at the default of 38.

Superfat I put to 2%, like the other one.

Oil I put in either canola or canola, high oleic (it doesn't seem to make a difference), 473.2 grams.

Nothing for fragrance or additives.

It gives me lye of 61.48 grams, almost exactly the other one. But for the liquid (again, I assume this means water), it gives me 179.82 grams. That is a good bit more than the other site gave me, which was 136.88 grams.

What could the difference be? It looks like maybe the water in the recipe can vary a good bit, its mostly about the lye to oil ratio, correct? What does more or less water in the recipe do to a soap generally?

Thanks!!!

 

[Yooper]

Got it! I'm checking out the soapmakingfriend one now, a little more complicated.

So for masterbatch I think I select "no" - that looks like huge productions or what not.

For amount of liquid is recipe, I assume this is water. What is typical here? I select % liquid as a percent of oil, and leave it at the default of 38.

Superfat I put to 2%, like the other one.

Oil I put in either canola or canola, high oleic (it doesn't seem to make a difference), 473.2 grams.

Nothing for fragrance or additives.

It gives me lye of 61.48 grams, almost exactly the other one. But for the liquid (again, I assume this means water), it gives me 179.82 grams. That is a good bit more than the other site gave me, which was 136.88 grams.

What could the difference be? It looks like maybe the water in the recipe can vary a good bit, its mostly about the lye to oil ratio, correct? What does more or less water in the recipe do to a soap generally?

Thanks!!!

Masterbatching is when you make a batch of pre-mixed lye and water to have on hand. If you’re not doing that, then “no” is correct.

For water, you can set it up to have a ratio, like 2:1 and that helps to not have too much water to work with. I’d suggest started with 2.5:1 so that you have time to work with the batter but not have so much water that it takes a long time to trace or harden. Liquid as a % of oil is a bad way to do it.

There really isn’t a lye to oil ratio to consider. What is important is to have the proper amount of lye to saponify the oils into soap. Each oil has a set amount of lye it takes to do that, and those are the SAP values. You want to superfat, that is use more oil than is actually needed to make the soap so that it’s gentler on the skin. You can read more on that, but generally 5% superfat is a good place to be to make sure that you don’t have excess lye due to errors in calculation, measuring, or differences in oils, as well as not too much superfat to have a problem with setting up, or going rancid.

 

[Homeslice]

Got it Yooper, I think I follow all that! Thanks!

 

[Dolly]

100% canola oil will not give you a hard soap, it'll not lather , rather give you a little creamy lather, it'll turn out mushy too. And will develop DOS in no time, check your Linos, Canola oil is among some soft oils that cannot be used at large quantity for soaping, only as little as 5 to 10% , to prevent DOS. You might have measured well but the oil you used won't help. You could use 100% coconut oil and SF 20 to 30% and get a nice bar soap. Learn about oils, and the fatty acids as well as SF. Also read about DOS.

 

[Homeslice]

Thank you Dolly. Yes, I was just using the canola oil as a trial run since its so cheap. Still, I rather like the result! Its not hard, but not too soft either, kind of nice firmness actually. Lathers a good bit actually. And a nice natural sweet smell. It is not to bad for a trial run. Thanks!

 

[smcarroll2020]

.Hi. i converted your numbers to grams and go numbers similar to yours, but i think you used the fluid oz to ml conversion number and should have used the oz to g conversion number of 28.34 vs 29.57.

I recommend you formulate with weight, not volume. pick one method for the entire process to get best results and don't use weight for one ingredient and volume for another. I think u r making it too difficult to try and do specific gravity measure to convert ml to g.

So here's my conversion homework

1 fl. oz is 29.57 ml. 1 oz is 28.34 g. I am going to weigh stuff, so will use 28.34 for conversion.

conversion from oz to grams 16 oz canola oil, 2.07oz lye, 4.63 oz
16 oz soft oil 16*28.34=454.44 g yours is 473.2 did use 29.57?
2.07 oz lye: 2.07oz *28.34 = 57.96 g yours is 61.98....did you use 29.57?
4.63 oz water: 4.63*28.34=131.21 g yours is higher...did you use 29.57?

 

[Coco]

Just made my first ever soap, pictures below. 100% canola oil to keep my first soap making lesson cheap.

I used the calculator from this site:

Lye Calculator and Fragrance Calculator

Lye Calculator and Fragrance Calculator Bramble Berry Inc.

www.brambleberry.com

Mainly because the one on this site had a bunch of questions I did not understand haha.

So it says to use 16 oz canola oil, 2.07oz lye, 4.63 oz water. I converted those to ml, which are 473.18, 61.21 and 136.93 respectively.

Now, I thought it was weird because the lye is in solid form. I didn't see the option to go to "grams" on that site at the bottom. When I do they don't quite match up with the ml I calculated above. Which makes sense since weight is not volume.

But did I goof using those numbers? The purity of my lye is supposedly 99.9%. It seems to me to make sure I get it right (and make it easy) I need a calculator where you insert the purity of the lye, and how much oil (in volume, since that is how I will be measuring it) I want to use and it spits out the water (in volume since that is how I will be measuring it) and lye (in grams, since that is how I will be measuring it since it is a solid). Or maybe I tell it final product desired amount in volume and it spits out all those amounts, oil and water in volume and lye in grams.

My "soap" feels pretty soft after I let it sit overnight, figuring I missed it up.

Thanks!!!

Hi I'm pretty new to soaping too, Sorry I haven't the time to run your calculations above through the soap calc but to make sure you make a solid bar you also need to make sure your using the right type of lye (sodium hydroxide/NaOH) and that you have enough hard oils or butters combined at at least 45-50%(unless your making a castile soap) . Have you tried running your basic recipe through the soapmaking friend calculator ....that might help you figure things out.

So I ran canola Oil through the calc as a single oil soap and the hardness comes up as a mere 6 and longevity 6 too....coconut oil or shea/cocoa butter will definitely help with this if you can afford to expand your oil base.