INS

[davidsoaps]

I've read that an ideal INS value is 160. how important is this number?

 

[danahuff]

I have learned to think of it as a guide, but there are nice soaps that are not close to that INS. For example, castille or bastille soaps. It is a pretty good guide. I try to shoot for 150-160, but I don't fret too much about it.

 

[davidsoaps]

So if my Gardner's soap comes out to 173 I shouldn't worry?

 

[danahuff]

I think it depends. What is the iodine level according to SoapCalc? What oils are you using? Hazel is better at this stuff than I am. I hope she chimes in.

 

[danahuff]

This might interest you, but they don't discuss what happens if you go higher than ideal for the INS: http://www.kangarooblue.com/soaplab/cat ... ap-safety/.

 

[davidsoaps]

Iodine level is 42. I'm using 75% palm & 25% coconut.

 

[danahuff]

Well, that is within the recommended iodine level range. I ran the recipe through SoapCalc. More experienced folks can (and I hope will) chime in here, but my hunch is that you have a high INS because your soap will likely trace really fast. Your soap is 100% hard oils, and I know palm speeds up trace. INS is partly a prediction of how easy/hard a soap will be to trace.

 

[Hazel]

Hazel is better at this stuff than I am.

No, I'm not. There are also many more people who know more about soapmaking than I ever will.

I'll confess I ignore the INS number. I pay more attention to the iodine value and try to keep it 70 or lower. Generally, the iodine value for the batches I make for myself are closer to 70 because I prefer a more conditioning soap. Also, several people have mentioned preferring to keep the linoleic value at 15 or less. It might have been keep linoleic and linolenic low. You could search for linoleic and it will bring up discussions about it.

I wouldn't worry about a 173 INS number. I don't know about it tracing faster but supposedly the higher the number, the harder the bar is supposed to turn out. However, you have to take some of the values with a grain of salt. 100% olive soap has an iodine value of 85 and an INS of 105. :wink:

 

[davidsoaps]

This might interest you, but they don't discuss what happens if you go higher than ideal for the INS: http://www.kangarooblue.com/soaplab/cat ... ap-safety/.

Thanks for posting this.