A good beginner recipe? Please?!

[ChristinaB]

Hi, I was hoping someone would share a good beginner recipe with me that will still offer some nice softening benefits. I don't have PO, only lard. I will HP this soap, and also want to superfat. What would be a good beginner recipe for me to start with?
On hand I have: OO
CO
Grapeseed oil
sunflower (but it's expellar pressed; I don't know if that makes a difference or not?)
only about 2 oz Almond Oil
6 oz Jojoba Oil
Lard

I also wanted to ask about glycerin; is there any benefit/reason to add glycerin?

Thank you! Christina

 

[judymoody]

Go to www.millersoap.com Lots of reliable easy recipes there but run through a lye calculator (www.soapcalc.net) just to be sure.

A good recipe with what you have on hand would be:

OO - 60%
Lard - 25%
CO - 15%

7% superfat

Grapeseed oil oxidizes relatively quickly so if you use it, keep the % small.

 

[ChristinaB]

Thank you. So in Soapcalc I put in those %'s for 2 lb. and here is what it came up with:

OO 19 oz.
CO 4.8 oz
Lard 8 oz.

I'm still unsure of superfatting; that oil is over and above the other ingredients? I put 7% in the top section for superfatting. Can the superfatted oil be any choice for me then, and I don't have to list in the recipe what I will be using? Could I use Castor Oil as the superfat, and then will that also help improve lather?

 

[judymoody]

Superfatting (also called lye discount) refers to the amount that you diminish your lye so that there is some fat left over that did not saponify. 5% is a good cushion in case of tiny mismeasurements, especially in a small batch. If you plugged the 7% into soap calc based on those oil amounts, it has already calculated the superfat. If you added additional oils on top of that, it would result in an even higher superfat

No need to separate out any of your oils to add at the end - just combine them all together and then add your lye mixture, fragrance, additives, etc. The lye does not discriminate - it will take what's available. If you're doing CP, that is. If you're doing HP, you can add a special oil at the end of the cook (saponification) and preserve more of its particular properties.

ETA to clarify soapcalc's procedures.

 

[ChristinaB]

So the superfatted oil needs to be listed in the ingredients on Soapcalc, but I can either add all the oils in the beginning, or keep the 5-7% that I wanted to superfat with out and add with the rest of the additives....is that correct? LOL I'm so confused!

Because at the top of Soapcalc I listed 7%, whatever I put in the ingredients list (as long as it adds up to 100%) will still be superfatted at the 7% ratio? I tried to work it so it was 107% and it wouldn't let me.

I'm sorry for my confusion, I feel like I'm starting to understand a bit better, but still need to have some things clarified for me. Thank you again!

 

[judymoody]

So the superfatted oil needs to be listed in the ingredients on Soapcalc, but I can either add all the oils in the beginning, or keep the 5-7% that I wanted to superfat with out and add with the rest of the additives....is that correct? LOL I'm so confused!

Yes, that's it.

There's a book called the Idiot's Guide to Soapmaking that explains in detail how soapcalc works as well as many other useful tips and procedures. You can get it on Amazon for around ten bucks.

Alicia Grosso's The Everything Soap Book is also a very good resource.

 

[Healinya]

You may like this link if you are thinking of buying the everthing soapmaking book... It's free on scribd, with the expection of the last 27 pages.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17616695/The- ... king-Book-