Follow the recipe or Soap Calc?

[AmyW]

Looking at the Favorite Castile Recipe II on the millersoap.com page, it lists this for the amounts:

24-28 oz. cold water (depending on how firm you want the bars in 24 hours)
12 oz. lye crystals
55 oz. olive oil
16 oz. palm oil
16 oz. coconut oil

As recommended, I plugged in the oil amounts into Soap Calc and it said to use 12.026oz of lye and 33.075oz of water - I'm guessing the amount for the lye is close enough, but the water amount seems quite a bit different. Which one should I follow for best chance at success?

 

[GardenGirl]

Hi Amy,

For generalities, I would recommend using the highest amount of water if you are unsure about your soaping skills.

Once you've gained lots of soaping confidence, you'll find that there are lots of benefits to using less water (but that always comes with a few risks.)

For a first-timer, I'd go with anywhere from 28-33 oz of water with that recipe.

HTH

 

[TessC]

A lot of people use a stronger lye solution for castile and other recipes really high in olive oil, which means less water. SoapCalc, by default, uses the "Water as % of Oils" checkbox to determine the water amount, which confused me to no end when I first started using it. People would suggest using a certain % lye solution and I just didn't get it because I was so used to looking at SoapCalc's default amount.

It's easier in the long run if you start using the "Lye Concentration" instead, as in "I used a 40% lye solution in my castile" or "I soap most batches with a 33% lye solution" or so on. One of the reasons is that it makes it easier for everyone to be on the same page since not everyone uses SoapCalc as their lye calculator, and it makes it a lot easier for someone to troubleshoot a recipe or give advice if you're "speaking the same language".

 

[Bubbles Galore]

You can use the lesser amount of water if you want to, especially if you're not adding fragrance oils that may speed up trace.

You may want to begin with a smaller batch size than that recipe though, especially if you are still learning and experimenting. Most of my batches are only about 2.5 pounds. :wink:

How many batches have you already made Amy?

 

[newbie]

As long as the lye is correct, you're in good shape. Using the full amount of water gives you more time to play with the soap if you're using colors or want to do swirls or patterns, but it will increase the time it takes for the bars to dry/cure. Less water decreases that cure time but the soap will trace faster and give you less working time. If you're making a non-colored soap or just a one color soap, I would use the smaller amount of water, personally. If you want to try swirls or some pattern, I would use closer to the larger amount given in soapcalc.

Good luck!


I see three of us were answering at the same time. Sorry for the repetition!

 

[AmyW]

So more water = more time to trace and then takes longer to harden, if I'm understanding correctly.

Jenny, I've never made soap before, I'm a total noob here. I'm reading and researching and obsessing as much as I can in hopes of minimizing massive failures during my first try (which will be next week if all the supplies I order get here in time).

I know for sure I want to add oatmeal (I bought oat flour instead of grinding it myself, I saw it suggested somewhere) to my first batch, so maybe some of that extra water would be good to make sure I have time to get it in there?

 

[newbie]

For your first batch, I would use the larger amount of water so you have time to stir and look for trace more easily, rather than risk having it come up on you more quickly. I don't know about the oat flour vs grinding up oats- will leave that one for someone else.

 

[dubnica]

So more water = more time to trace and then takes longer to harden, if I'm understanding correctly.

Jenny, I've never made soap before, I'm a total noob here. I'm reading and researching and obsessing as much as I can in hopes of minimizing massive failures during my first try (which will be next week if all the supplies I order get here in time).

I know for sure I want to add oatmeal (I bought oat flour instead of grinding it myself, I saw it suggested somewhere) to my first batch, so maybe some of that extra water would be good to make sure I have time to get it in there?

I am sorry, this has nothing to do with your question but...where did you buy oat flour? I have some food recipes using this flour and I could not find it at my local stores.

 

[AmyW]

Do you have Winco in San Diego? The brand I bought is Bob's Red Mill, I got mine from Roth's because I was already there but I've seen it at Winco.