# Does this recipe sound good?



## SubLowe (May 7, 2012)

this will be my 1st attempt at making soap, im super motivated and excided but want to make sure i do this right.

also i will be cutting the recipe in half, this is supposed to make 5 lbs. im only looking to make 2-2.5 lbs.   

 Olive Oil = 26.5 Ounces (50% of total oils)
    Coconut Oil (76 Degree) = 10.6 Ounces (20% of total oils)
    Sweet Almond Oil = 6.4 Ounces (12% of total oils)
    Avocado Oil = 5.3 Ounces (10% of total oils)
    Castor Oil = 4.3 ounces (8% of total oils)
    Honey = 2.5 ounces
    Almond Milk = 6 ounces
    Whole Oats = 2 ounces
    Orange, sweet essential oil = 45 grams
    Clove Bud essential oil = 30 grams
    Distilled Water = 12 ounces
    lye = 7.281 ounces (206 grams)

*This recipe has a 5% super-fat. 


i am considering taking the water and almond milk out and substituting with Goats milk, and possibly taking out the orange sweet essential oil and substituting with honey oatmeal fragrance oil. .. would these substitudes be a good idea or no?

also as far as curing goes, there was no directions on the curing process on the website i found this on.  not sure if i should let it gel or not? if not how long do i put in freezer? and then do i put in fridge?  

sorry for all the questions, but have noone to ask. 




Semper Fi!


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## Suisan2 (May 7, 2012)

For your very first batch, I'd suggest staying away from milks and sugars. They need a bit more temperature control and can make your soap run pretty hot while in the mold. 

Have you looked at the "recipes" sticky at the top of this forum? There are some good recipes there. I'd try for something that has fewer ingredients, personally. 

Also, I prefer to measure in grams whenever possible. The difference between 0.1 ounce and 0.1 gram is HUGE. And a measuring error can throw off your results. 

Good luck!


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## SubLowe (May 7, 2012)

I have already purchased all the ingredience and am determined to make an oatmeal soap. Hoaw bout I take out the honey and instead just use the honey oatmeal. Fragrance?  I really want to use goats milk, from my understanding it the temperature its curing in that matters. And to not let it gel. I have space in my freezer and fridge and my house stays nice and cool and airy, I think I could prevent it from gelling. But I'm a total newb so I could be totally wrong haha.
I am trying to figure out the soap calculator and when I do I want to follow this recipe in grams but I'm just confused with the soapcal atm. 
Can you suggest a way to simplify the soap recipe for a beginner but still keep the same ingredience . It sounds like the ingredience will make a good soap


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## judymoody (May 7, 2012)

Hi and welcome.

I agree with the other poster that you should convert your entire recipe to grams.  It's pretty easy on www.soapcalc.net.  If you input your oils (click on the + sign to populate the recipe field) in ounces or in % as you have, after you hit the button to calculate the recipe, you then hit a second button that says view or print recipe.  It will give you the total recipe in grams, ounces, and percentages.  It will also calculate the lye and water for you.  The additives like honey and oatmeal are not part of the soap calc formula.  You can also specify what % of fragrance you want to put in.

Speaking of, I'd not use goat's milk AND honey AND clove bud oil, especially the last.  Clove will cause your soap to accelerate (speed up trace and thicken) and it will cause your soap to heat up.  Even if you put it in the freezer, milk + honey +clove EO will be hard to manage.

Let us know how it turns out.


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## IrishLass (May 7, 2012)

Hello and welcome!   

Can you give a link to the recipe site?

I ran the recipe through SoapCalc, and the lye and water amounts look good. Yay!   You'd be surprised at how many online recipes are just awful. It's nice to see a good one for a change.

Whoever wrote the recipe did it in such a way that the entire recipe _including everything _weighs out to 5 lbs. There's nothing wong with that, but if you are typing your recipe into SoapCalc, just keep in mind that only the oil amounts are figured into the weight in order to get the proper lye/water amounts and the fragrance amounts. 

I scaled down your recipe to a 2.5 Lb batch (the 2.5 lbs being based on the the entire weight of everything- oils/liquid amount/lye/ plus all the additives), and this is what I come up with:

-Olive oil 13.25 oz or 375.631 grams
-Coconut oil 5.3 oz or 150.252 grams
-Sweet Almond oil 3.2 oz or 90.718 grams
-Castor oil 2.65 oz or 75.126 grams
-Avocado oil 2.15 oz or 60.951 grams
-Water 6 oz or 170 grams
-Milk (whether goat milk or almond milk) 3 oz or 85 grams
-Lye 3.645 oz or 103.321 grams

[Additives]:
-Honey 1.25 oz or 35 grams
-Whole oats- 1 oz or 28 grams
-Sweet Orange EO .8 oz or 22.5 grams
-Clove EO .5 oz or 15 grams

[By the way, SoapCalc looks at this as being a 1.6 lb batch, minus all the additives.]

As I've been typing away here, I noticed that suisan2 and judymoody have chimed in. 

I must say that I agree with judy on the clove oil. That's an ornery, troublesome EO to work with, even for seasoned soapers. Also- you'll find that the Orange EO will fade very quickly from your soap unless you add an anchoring agent to it. If it were me, I would sub with the honey oatmeal fragrance oil instead.

Honey and goatmilk are wonderful additives to soap, but they can be tricky to work with, especially if using milk in place of all of your water amount. If you are still determined to use milk in this soap as you seem to be (and I can't fault you for that), I would suggest using the 'split method' of milk soaping (just do a search on 'split method on this forum to see how it's done), but basically, it's using part water/part milk. The lye gets dissolved in an equal amount of water in weight, and the remainder of your liquid amount gets added as milk (added to your oils instead of directly with the lye). This method eliminates the hassle and potential problems that come part & parcel with dissolving lye directly into milk. 

As for an easier way to add honey (there are a few different ways), I would first advise you to use the 'split method' with the milk. Then I would advise you to add the honey into your milk portion and get it thoroughly dissloved/mixed in. Then thoroughly stickblend the milk/honey into your oils before adding the lye/water. This, to me, would be the easiest, most hassle-free way.

After you get your lye/water mixed into your oils/milk/honey well, then you can stir in your fragrance (or you could actually add it into your oils before adding the lye/water). And once the batter has come to trace (or the pudding stage) you can add your oats, stir well, and pour into your mold.

Then put your mold right into the freezer or fridge to prevent gel. I'm not a non-geller, but I've read of people keeping in the freezer for up to 48 hours.

Re: curing- All soap benefits from a good cure, and non-gelled soap needs to cure for longer than gelled soap (usually 6 weeks as opposed to 4 weeks). When your soap is unmolded and cut, place it on a non-reactive rack of some sort to cure in a well-ventilated area with good air ciculation.

I wish you success!

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.


IrishLass


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## SubLowe (May 7, 2012)

i got the recipe from this website : http://www.soap-making-resource.com/hon ... ecipe.html , which is where i found this forum 


.. ok i will take the clove out and the orange . i was a little skeptical about having those 2 in there, with what i am trying to reach, but this recipe sounded interesting i guess.  since i am taking those two out, how much of the honey oatmeal fragrance should i use? Do i substitute for both the other fragrances or just use less?
since this is my 1st batch, how big should i make it? what would be a good amount to make as a beginner? 

i will use the split method with the milk and water. adding the water to lye and the other half of liquids as milk to the oils. thank you for telling me about this. 


Thank you all for helping me out! i really really appreciate all the input!


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## kharmon320 (May 7, 2012)

A general rule of thumb for the Fragrance Oils is 0.7oz per pound of OIL (not entire batch weight).  However, if it's a lighter fragrance oil, you may choose to bump up to 1oz PPO.  If it's a super duper strong FO, you may decrease it to 0.5oz PPO.  

If it were me, I'd probably go with the 0.7oz PPO.  The milk, honey, and oats will add a natural fragrance which I can smell in the finished soap.  I like an oatmeal honey fragrance to complement the natural fragrance, but not overpower.  If you want it strong, go with 1oz PPO.

I would take both EOs out of that recipe, but that's just me.  If you go by the recipe EO amount (total 1.3oz) you're running about 0.8 oz PPO, not a bad place to start.  Hope this helps.


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## SubLowe (May 8, 2012)

k i think i have the soap cal figured out, now i just have to study the oils better. 

How much would .7oz ppo be in gm - kg measurement? - for the fragrance?

also do you think this is too much? and do these mixes of oils and butters make good soap? any suggestions very welcome.

 Olive Oil	31%	0.581	9.295	263.5
2		Coconut Oil, 76 deg	18%	0.337	5.397	153
3		Almond Oil, sweet	8%	0.15	2.399	68
4		Castor Oil	6%	0.112	1.799	51
5		Hemp Oil	8%	0.15	2.399	68
6		Avocado Oil	6%	0.112	1.799	51
7		Palm Kernel Oil	5%	0.094	1.499	42.5
8		Shea Butter	8%	0.15	2.399	68
9		Cocoa Butter	10%	0.187	2.998	85
 	 	Totals	100	1.874	29.983	850
Soap Bar Quality 	Suggested Range 	Your Recipe
Hardness 	29 - 54 	(35)
Cleansing 	12 - 22 	(15)
Conditioning 	44 - 69 	(61)
Bubbly 	14 - 46 	(21)
Creamy 	16 - 48 	(26)
Iodine 	41 - 70 	(69)
INS 	136 - 165 	(138)

Lauric 	11
Myristic 	4
Palmitic 	12
Stearic 	8
Ricinoleic 	5
Oleic 	41
Linoleic 	12
Linolenic 	2


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## carebear (May 8, 2012)

SubLowe said:
			
		

> How much would .7oz ppo be in gm - kg measurement? - for the fragrance?



take the units out of the equation - so to speak.  that's about 4.5%


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## SubLowe (May 8, 2012)

im so sorry i am asking so many questions ... can someone also suggest to me how much water/milk i should use with my recipe? the soapcal said 38% .. should i stick to this?


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