Is soapcalc or soapmaker more accurate for calculating lye?

[sudbubblez]

I always used soapcalc untill I got soapmaker professional. They give me slightly different amounts of lye for the same recipes. Anyone know which of these is more accurate?

 

[IrishLass]

Actually, neither one is more accurate/inaccurate than the other. Both are trustworthy.

To explain- just about every lye calculator will have slight differences between them when it comes to lye amount. That's because there's no such thing as a 100% specific, set-in-stone SAP # for each oil/fat. Instead, there are acceptable ranges of SAP values for each oil. The reason for this is because oils/fats will differ slightly due to the differing growing conditions of the regions they are sourced (if it's a vegetable fat), or differing dietary conditions (if it's an animal fat), which results in slightly differing SAP #'s, which then results in different recommended lye amounts.

Some calculators choose to base their lye calculations on the higher range of the acceptable SAP values, while others base them on the lower end of the acceptable values (or anywhere in between). That's why most calculators set their default superfat level at 5%- in order to provide for an extra cushion of fat in order to prevent the possibility of our soaps from ever turning out lye-heavy.

HTH!
IrishLass

 

[sudbubblez]

Oh, I see. Very informative, that helps a lot!