Are my ingredients correct

[Thomas Ancona]

I have made a couple of batches of soap with ingredient ratios I gathered from several sites and videos. I’d like confirmation they are correct. My recipe is;
29 oz coconut oil
51 os olive oil
12 oz of 100 percent lye crystals dissolved in 30 oz of distilled water.
1.6 oz of citric acid dissolved into mix.
Mix when both reach 125 deg
If I add scent it’s 3-4 oz
It sets fast and I have a hard time keeping it warm enough to not crack on top.
Feedback please.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Please put your measurements in percentages so it's easier to figure out. I can see at a glance that you have way too much coconut oil which is why your soap is cracking - because it is getting too hot.
Do you know how to use a soap calculator and do you know about the different fatty acids in soap? This would be a good starting point for a learner.
Have a look at some websites such as this: https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/blog/secret-to-the-best-soap-recipe/

 

[Thomas Ancona]

I haven’t been able to understand the calculators to use them. Not sure what percentage you want. Total liquids to oil type?

 

[artemis]

I haven’t been able to understand the calculators to use them. Not sure what percentage you want. Total liquids to oil type?

Lye calculators are tools. You have to practice with any tool.

 

[AliOop]

The other suggestion I would make is to use a much smaller recipe. That is a whole lot of soap when you are just starting out, and don't know if you will even like that recipe.

Soap calculators allow you to put in percentages of each oil, as well as your lye concentration (water:lye ratio). Then once you set the size of batch you want, and it will automatically tell you how much of each ingredient you need. Here is a good video that will teach you how to use one of them.

 

[Thomas Ancona]

I’ll have to stay with it. See if I can learn to use them.

 

[AliOop]

Definitely keep playing with it - it will eventually "click" and then you will be off to the races.

I wanted to mention as well that many scents can cause the soap to thicken (trace) quickly, as well as overheat. Make sure you are using a scent that is safe for cold process soap, that doesn't contain any alcohol, and that has user reviews showing that it behaves well.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I think you might be using a high water percentage as well, which can cause overheating. Sorry - I just don;t understand imperial measurements at all.

I need to see something like this:
CO 35%
OO 65%
Lye concentration 25%

That way it is much easier to understand.

 

[Thomas Ancona]

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

 

[dmcgee5034]

I agree that this is a super large batch of soap to start with, and a lot of water. Yours is also an excessively cleansing recipe. No matter where you get a recipe, you should still use a calculator. An easy calculator to start with is the one on Brambleberry’s website. That’s where I started. It will help you adjust your water content, to start.
If you really only want to use these oils, try something closer to 13oz Olive and 4oz Coconut to be less cleansing (think striping, drying) than what you posted, but again, please go pop those amounts in the BB calc.

 

[AliOop]

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

No, the amount of lye is related to the specific oils that are used. Each type of oil needs a different percentage of lye to make soap. That's why a soap calculator is so important.

Once you know the amount of lye needed for your specific recipe, then it must be diluted in water or other liquid. The default lye setting is normally 38% "water as percent of oils," so be sure to change that to either "lye concentration" or "water-lye ratio." A good starting point is 33% lye concentration for cold process, and 25-28% lye concentration for hot process. But again, that's the ratio of lye to water. The amount of lye to oils will change with each recipe.

It's not as hard as it sounds, I promise! Watch a few YouTube videos and that will probably help.

 

[Thomas Ancona]

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.

 

[Nona'sFarm]

"A superfat is an excess of butters and oils in a finished bar of soap that have not been saponified and turned into soap."
from www.thesoapery.co.uk/blogs

Most reference materials recommend 5%. I generally soap anywhere from 0% to 5%.

A couple of blog entries that might be helpful: https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/blog/secret-to-the-best-soap-recipe

https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/blog/soapcalcs-soap-quality-numbers

Use the lookup feature on this site as well to help answer some of your questions.

 

[linne1gi]

I have made a couple of batches of soap with ingredient ratios I gathered from several sites and videos. I’d like confirmation they are correct. My recipe is;
29 oz coconut oil
51 os olive oil
12 oz of 100 percent lye crystals dissolved in 30 oz of distilled water.
1.6 oz of citric acid dissolved into mix.
Mix when both reach 125 deg
If I add scent it’s 3-4 oz
It sets fast and I have a hard time keeping it warm enough to not crack on top.
Feedback please.

First, why such a big batch? When you’re new, you should make small one to two pound batches. Here’s your recipe in SoapCalc. It’s for over 7 pounds of soap. I have a video to help with SoapCalc. I’ll post it.

First, why such a big batch? When you’re new, you should make small one to two pound batches. Here’s your recipe in SoapCalc. It’s for over 7 pounds of soap. I have a video to help with SoapCalc. I’ll post it.

The other things I want to point out are: Your Coconut is high, almost 64%. In soap, Coconut is split into mostly Lauric & Myristic acids, which are very drying in soap. Look at the cleansing number, it’s 24. Think of the cleansing number as stripping all the oils from the skin. It’s not the same as cleaning. All soap cleans, even with a “0” cleansing number. Also, the super fat in this recipe is 2%. One way to counteract the high cleansing number is to increase the superfat. A rule of thumb is to have the superfat at 1/2 the cleansing number, so increase the superfat to 12.

 

[pellidon]

Soapcalc, oils listed in percentage, weight in grams and lye concentration in percentage of water/lye makes things easier to work out. Even for us imperial measurement people. My mold is just right for 1000 grams of oil so percentage is even easier for me. Just review the sources listed above and remember the people here are very helpful.

I keep my coconut oil under 20% in any formulation. That would be 200 grams for my mold. And Mr. Engineer here didn't even have to use his calculator.

 

[Thomas Ancona]

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

 

[melinda48]

Lye calculators are tools. You have to practice with any tool.

The directions for use are in a link at the top of the page.

 

[melinda48]

I have made a couple of batches of soap with ingredient ratios I gathered from several sites and videos. I’d like confirmation they are correct. My recipe is;
29 oz coconut oil
51 os olive oil
12 oz of 100 percent lye crystals dissolved in 30 oz of distilled water.
1.6 oz of citric acid dissolved into mix.
Mix when both reach 125 deg
If I add scent it’s 3-4 oz
It sets fast and I have a hard time keeping it warm enough to not crack on top.
Feedback please.

Rule of thumb - Never ever use a recipe until you have run it through a soap calculator. 125F is way too hot to begin with. Your water is 2.5:1. It should be around 1.8:1. Go to Soapcalc.net and use the link at the top of the page for directions for use. Or go to ModernSoapmaking for tips. You simply must learn to use the tools necessary to make your batches. Make far smaller batches until you start getting the hang of it.

 

[artemis]

The directions for use are in a link at the top of the page.

Did you mean to quote me with this? It doesn't seem to apply to my statement?

 

[melinda48]

Did you mean to quote me with this? It doesn't seem to apply to my statement?

Nope - sorry