Help with recipe please!!

kitterz · Aug 9, 2014

I have been playing around on soapcalc trying to formulate a LS recipe and this is what I have come up with:

Olive Oil 16oz
Sunflower Oil 12.8 oz
Coconut Oil 5.6 oz
Castor Oil 2.8 oz
Tallow 2.8oz

KOH 8.58 oz
water 15.2 oz

Using a 3% SF

I know that it is said that using tallow could cause a cloudy soap, but this is not really an issue for me. It is just for my use and maybe one day a little further down the line I will start worrying about clarity

Any suggestions on changing anything?

I also did one without the castor oil and changed amounts a little as follows:

olive oil 12oz
sunflower 12.8oz
coconut 9.6oz
Canola 2.8 oz
Tallow 2.8 oz

KOH 8.88 oz
Water 15.2 oz

again with a 3% SF

Any suggestions on changing either one or will I be good to go?

Meganmischke · Aug 9, 2014

I don't think you will see clouding with that small amount of tallow. Personally I would use the castor. Maybe even up it a tad. Are you using the glycerin method?

kitterz · Aug 9, 2014

No, I will not be using the glycerine method for this one. Did not use it for my first batch either. I actually have to research that method a little more.

Meganmischke · Aug 9, 2014

Just curious. I can't decide if I like it or not.

FGOriold · Aug 9, 2014

Either way you go, you might want to start with a smaller batch. Those formulas will create quite a bit of finished soap..... and if you find you don't care for it, well thats a lot of soap to deal with. Whenever I create a new formulation or use a new technique, I always stick with about 20 ounces oils.

Susie · Aug 9, 2014

I usually do only 16oz of oil at the time on a tester recipe. And, honestly, if I could find a smaller SS bain marie, I would make 8oz batches. But I can't, so that's that.

When I made liquid soap with lard at 10%, there was a distinct cloudiness. I don't know if yours will or not.

Glycerin method is not difficult if you use half of the water amount to dissolve your KOH, then use the other amount as glycerin once the KOH is dissolved.
That eliminates the need to heat the glycerin. And it speeds trace by quite a lot.

kitterz · Aug 10, 2014

Thanks for the input. I will scale the recipe down to a smaller batch to try. And thanks for the clarification on the glycerine method. Only trouble is, glycerine is very expensive here in Zimbabwe, not sure about the rest of the world. I might give it a try though and see what I think.

Susie · Aug 10, 2014

You don't have to use glycerin. If you have some hand made soap(not commercial synthetic detergent bars), you can also grate up 14 g per pound of oil to speed trace. It works just as well. Just be careful about what is in your bar soap, as tallow and lard may cloud your soap a bit.