I usually like to keep mine set at 2:1 the most important thing to remember is when making your lye solution you have to have at least equal amount of liquid as lye in order to dissolve the lye. So if you're making a recipe the calculator will tell you how much lye you need to saponify your oils, you need to have at least the same amount of liquid to dissolve your lye. The rest is extra liquid. This is how I think of it anyway, so say you need 3 ounces( I use grams) but anyway, say you have 3 ounces of lye needed for your recipe, then you have to have at least 3 ounces of liquid to dissolve your lye. This could be water, milk, beer, whatever. But you have to have at least 3 ounces the same as or more than the lye amount. Then on top of that you can add more liquid to your recipe this is usually the additive like milk, cream, aloe beer, whatever. I will usually not go over the same say 3 ounces. So say I need 3 ounces of lye. I would use 3 ounces of lye and dissolve it with 3 ounces of water and then add 3 ounces of milk to my oils. That equals the 2:1 ratio. This seems like a very long explanation LOL hope it helped