# Anyone ever used Costco Mediterranean oil?



## elizmar2006 (Mar 25, 2013)

So I have a big bottle of Costco Mediterranean oil my sister gave me. So my first thought is why don't I make soap? It has Canola, Grapeseed and olive oil. Anyone ever used this to make soap?

I'm still too new to figure out how to calculate the lye with a blend. Any suggestion on how I might do this?

Thanks in advance.


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## Badger (Mar 25, 2013)

It might be hard to calculate the amount of lye to use without knowing the makeup of how much of each oil is in it.  I could be wrong on that, and hope someone will correct me if I am   (I am new to this also, but I read the forum like a fiend)


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## soapsydaisy (Mar 25, 2013)

I agree, it is too difficult to figure out the percentage of each oil in the blend. Personally, I wouldn't do it.


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## melstan775 (Mar 25, 2013)

You can probably find the percentages. The Pompeiian med oil mix has the % on that. Look it up online.  Or just take an educated guess and see how it works out.


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## elizmar2006 (Mar 25, 2013)

Thanks for the thoughts! I found the percentage of the oils Canola oil (50%), Extra virgin olive oil (20%), Refined olive oil (20%), Grape seed oil (10%)
Now I need to figure out what this means in soap terms. I really think I want to try and make soap by adding coconut oil. This is going to take math. Here is hoping I don't screw up.


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## 100%Natural (Mar 25, 2013)

elizmar2006 said:


> Thanks for the thoughts! I found the percentage of the oils Canola oil (50%), Extra virgin olive oil (20%), Refined olive oil (20%), Grape seed oil (10%)
> Now I need to figure out what this means in soap terms. I really think I want to try and make soap by adding coconut oil. This is going to take math. Here is hoping I don't screw up.



Pop those percentages into a calculator and see what pops up for info.  You could easily formulate a recipe with coconut oil.  I think it would be a fun experiment and could end up being fabulous.


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## new12soap (Mar 26, 2013)

If you do have the percentages and you know how to do the math, you could try it, but I personally would not recommend it. That sounds to me like even if you do get it right and do not end up with a lye-heavy soap, best case scenario is you will have soap that is prone to DOS.  You should not even attempt it without knowing the exact percentages, guessing at SAP is never a good idea IMO.


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## deanawat7 (Jun 4, 2013)

Forgive the ignorance, I'm a soap newbie. What is
DOS?
SAP?
IMO?


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## Hazel (Jun 4, 2013)

Don't worry about it. Almost all of us had problems with some of the acronyms.

DOS - dreaded orange spots (this is a sign of rancid oil in soap)
SAP - acronym for saponification values (the amount of lye needed to convert oils to soap)
IMO - in my opinion

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f16/acronym-abbreviation-definition-thread-3789/


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## deanawat7 (Jun 10, 2013)

Thanks Hazel!
Have you followed this thread? If so, I've also got this oil and would like to use it for soap as I've switched to organic foods.
I tried using www.soapcalc.com but couldnt' figure out how to input the oil into percentages.....and I'm known for doing well with math---Ha!
Would love some really specific help with this.
Thanks for your time and any help someone can offer.


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## Hazel (Jun 11, 2013)

deanawat7 said:


> Have you followed this thread? If so, I've also got this oil and would  like to use it for soap as I've switched to organic foods.
> I tried using www.soapcalc.com but couldnt' figure out how to input the oil into percentages.....and I'm known for doing well with math---Ha!
> Would love some really specific help with this.
> Thanks for your time and any help someone can offer. :smile:



No, I hadn't been following the thread. I was browsing the other day and basically skimming posts as a way to keep an eye on forum activity. I noticed your question and since it was an easy answer, I decided to reply.  But I read it since you asked.

You could do as elizmar2006 suggested and use those percentages to figure out how much lye would be needed for the amount of Costco oil you want to add. For example, calculate the amount needed for each percentage if you wanted to use 16 ounces of this oil in a batch.

Canola oil (50%) = 8 ounces
Extra virgin olive oil (20%) = 3.2 ounces
Refined olive oil (20%) = 3.2 ounces
Grape seed oil (10%) = 1.6 ounces

Then just enter the above info into SoapCalc. Actually, you'd enter 6.4 ounces for the olive oil selection since SC only has olive oil and olive pomace. However, I agree with new12soap there is a strong possibility of DOS. But if you use the soap up quickly, you may not have a problem. Also, you can still use soap even if it is starting to go rancid. A few orange spots here and there on a bar isn't going to be an issue when you're washing with it. Now, it would be a big issue if the whole bar becomes mottled with orange spots, is slimy and smells bad. Then I'd toss the soap.

Another way to do it is to go to http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/OilList.asp and compare the SAP of the different oils. Saponification values are just an average milligram amount of how much lye is needed to convert 1 g of fat. The same oils will have a different SAP number on different lye calculators. I checked canola (SAP .133), olive (SAP .135) and grapeseed (SAP .129). These are close enough (.006 difference between olive and grapeseed) that if I was making a batch with this oil, I wouldn't worry about figuring the separate oils. I'd just use olive oil for calculation since it's the higher value but I use a greater lye discount than other soapers. If you only want to use 5% lye discount/superfat, then you might want to enter grapeseed for the total amount.

Does this help?


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