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Well great. I guess if I watched it I could figure out when it is set enough to cut. Thanks

I decided to add a sea salt brine to my recipe in hopes of getting a harder bar. Well it worked big time. I waited a day as usual to cut the loaf and it fractures when I try to run a knife through it. I assume I should have been checking it and cut it sooner? Now what. Warm it up help? Build a...

I just wanted to give a shout out to all of the active members on this forum and the help they provide for new soapers. My idea was to make a batch of soap late last year and hand it out to relatives for the holidays. My first batch was a YouTube recipe I copied and made. It seemed to be fine...

Thanks, I haven’t tried hot process yet. Future! I’ve tried the zap test on my cold process and it works. Thanks for the feedback.

I added two tsp of sodium lactate to a batch hoping to make the soap harder. It was a 33% lye concentration and 10% super fat. Batch size was 55oz, my mold size. It looked by the soap calc to be a hard recipe but it didn’t turn out hard. Too much super fat? What went wrong? Thanks

Thanks all!

So how do I include additional liquids into the soap calc formulas. The only liquid other then the oils is the water used to activate the lye, typically 50/50 so if I want to add other non fat products how do I know how much to add and how it will effect the final soap? Example beer, milk. Can...

I guess I’m looking for a bubbly smooth soap. Not to harsh.

I guess I’m trying to be in the mid to upper range for all of the categories. I seem to be able to get there in most of the catagories but not all. I wish I knew what changes I need to make to adjust the final product quality.

Is there a link anywhere on here on the different attributes or properties of each oil or fat? I plug in different mixtures and combinations of ingredients in hope to hit all the properties of a good soap. It’s a crap shoot because I don’t know what each is capable of doing. Same goes with...

Thanks

Well you guys were right! It’ll zap you!

That is too funny. I’ll try the zap test after a day or two and see if it’s safe. Thanks for the feedback!

Got it. Thanks

Sorry for being dumb, what is the zap test.

Now that I kinda understand the soap calculator and how to develop recipes and batch sizes I’d like to know how long to wait before I can test bars and see if I like them? I know typically a batch needs to dry or rest for 60 to 90 days but can I sample and test a bar sooner? Thanks for the help...

After reading all of the replies and doing some “soap” research and using the calculator some I have come to the following conclusions. Way too big a batch, especially for a new chemist and recipe! Lye water ratio off Lye to fat ratio off, prob no superfats at all, Conclusion, I’m throwing away...

Thanks for all of the replies. I downloaded a simple recipe with three ingredients that is a single mold, that will get me a better start. I have started watching calculator videos as well. Sure is more to it then I thought! Thanks

I’m going to have to understand the calculator better. Smaller batches would sure save materials and I can learn a lot. Thanks for all the help. I need to learn about super fat levels.

So the lye percentage should be 25 percent of the combined oil?