# A few questions :-)



## hailinguk (Oct 18, 2010)

Hello,

I'm a complete newbie and am looking to make some soap for xmas pressies.

I just had a couple questions I hope you can help me with if possible.

1. When a recipe is in oz, is that the normal oz you find on a cooking scale?

2. I found this recipe but I'm not sure how much fragrance oil I'm allowed to add. Any ideas?

295g caustic soda
615g coconut oil 
800ml sunflower oil
800ml olive oil
900ml water

Thanks so much


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## cwarren (Oct 18, 2010)

Those measurements are wrong .. 1 is weight, 1 is volume

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_grams_are_in_1_ml


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## hailinguk (Oct 18, 2010)

Hi,

I think it's because on the tutorial, the olive oil and sunflower oil are liquids and the other 2 are weighed in solid form before she melts them?

Does that sound right? She adds essential oils but I want to use fragrance oil as I read on this forum that essential oils don't hold the smell as well but I'm not sure how much fragrance oil is safe to add? They are sold by the ml here.

Do you think 25ml would be enough or too much?

Thanks


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## PrairieCraft (Oct 18, 2010)

The best I can figure you need about 74ml of FO.  Everything should be measured in weight though so, 31g.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, numbers are not my strong point.  If it weren't for soapcalc I would not be making soap.


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## cwarren (Oct 18, 2010)

hailinguk said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> I think it's because on the tutorial, the olive oil and sunflower oil are liquids and the other 2 are weighed in solid form before she melts them?
> 
> ...


is this on internet ? van you post a link ?


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## Healinya (Oct 18, 2010)

I'm not very good with the metric system, but this is pretty close to the recipe.

28% coconut
36% olive
36% sunflower
'
total oil weight 4.8lbs, 78oz, 2215grams

superfat is 10% and lye concentration is 24.8%

To get the fo amount, a tried .5 ounce per pound of oil, that's about 2.5 ounces.. when I changed it to 30 grams per kilo (I think that's pretty close) it suugested 66 grams.. done on soapcalc.com

I don't care for the recipe myself.. I've never used that much sunflower, I'd expect it to go turn rancid (which you would notice in the form of 'Dreaded Orange Spots'. Also, that's a lot of water to me. What I would do is lower the sunflower to 10-15% (actually, I wouldn't use it at all, but you may like it more than me) add between 20-25% lard or palm oil. 

One tip that I think is almost unanimous with all sapmakers is to think in terms of percents % and measure everything by weight, not volume.


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## hailinguk (Oct 18, 2010)

Hi,

Thanks for your replies, much appreciated.

It was on Kistrys Homemade Christmas last year - the link to the recipe is here: 

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/design-s ... 2_p_1.html

I just want to get a good basic recipe that I can just adapt with different fragrance oils etc.

I've found lots of recipes online, the only problem is that when they call for olive oil or fragrance oil in grams I have no idea what the equivalent is in mls because the online store I'm buying my supplies from only sells them in mls. 

Someone referred me to this website earlier (http://www.onlineconversion.com/weight_ ... ooking.htm) for converting but I just want to check this is right. It says 500 grams of olive oil is 617ml. Does that sound right?

Thanks for everyones help on this 

Could I swap the sunflower oil for castor oil?

If you have a good basic soap recipe you would like to share, please let me know


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## Healinya (Oct 18, 2010)

Castor oil is wonderful, but too much creates a slimy feeling to the bar when wet.. 3-10% is common. Do you have access to any butters (shea, cocoa, mango etc)? I know cocoa butter can be bought in one ounce tubes in most drugstores. 

You can make a very basic recipe using 30% olive oil, 30% coconut oil, 30% lard (or palm) and 10% any oil you want.. if you want to add additional oils then reduce the coconut and lard to 25%.

Another recipe that I have tried based off of another soapers suggestion was 75% olive, 25% coconut.. 

Most oils have different weights but the same volume, which is why you are best buying more than you need and weighing it when you get it. You could try asking the company you are buying from if they know  the correct weight.. I know there is a web site somewhere listing how much volume is in each different oil weight, but I can't find it... maybe someone else has it bookmarked?


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## hailinguk (Oct 18, 2010)

Thanks for this recipe ratio.

I just put it into soapcalc and got this:

total oil weight	1000
Water as percent of oil weight	38 %
Super Fat/Discount	5 %
Lye Concentration	27.407 %
Water : Lye Ratio	2.649:1
Sat : Unsat Ratio	46 : 54
Iodine	53
INS	162
Fragrance Ratio	0
Fragrance Weight	 0 Gm


Ingredient	      Pounds	    Ounces	  Grams
Water	       0.838	           13.404	       380
Lye - NaOH        0.316	       5.061           143.465

Hardness	29 - 54	44
Cleansing	12 - 22	20
Conditioning 44 - 69	52
Bubbly	14 - 46	29
Creamy	16 - 48	32
Iodine	41 - 70	53
INS	136 - 165	162

Does that look about right?

Thanks


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## Healinya (Oct 18, 2010)

It looks fine, but I don't know what recipe you put in.. but the lye and water amounts are much better than your first recipe


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## hailinguk (Oct 18, 2010)

I put in:


10% any oil you want (castor for bubbles)
30% palm oil
30% coconut oil
30% olive oil


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