Liquid Discount for Citric Acid?

[MellonFriend]

Ugh my brain either isn't comprehending this right or this is honestly confusing. I use the dissolve the citric acid in water and add it to the oils method and I can't figure out if and how I need to discount that water from my batch total. The thing that is confusing me is in Soapmaking Friend it doesn't seem to add the right amount of water to the total recipe when citric acid is included. Without the 11 g citric acid in the recipe, it says I should have 152g of liquid. If it's in the recipe without checking the "Liquid discount" box it says 161g and with the box checked it says 155g. What is with that discrepancy of 152 vs 155 and 161g is not double the citric acid amount? I thought you were supposed to dissolve citric acid in twice its weight. So I'm adding 11g of Citric acid that's 22g of water. Shouldn't I subtract 22 grams from 152g of liquid to get the correct discount? Or am I not understanding something somewhere.

 

[AliOop]

Ugh my brain either isn't comprehending this right or this is honestly confusing. I use the dissolve the citric acid in water and add it to the oils method and I can't figure out if and how I need to discount that water from my batch total. The thing that is confusing me is in Soapmaking Friend it doesn't seem to add the right amount of water to the total recipe when citric acid is included. Without the 11 g citric acid in the recipe, it says I should have 152g of liquid. If it's in the recipe without checking the "Liquid discount" box it says 161g and with the box checked it says 155g. What is with that discrepancy of 152 vs 155 and 161g is not double the citric acid amount? I thought you were supposed to dissolve citric acid in twice its weight. So I'm adding 11g of Citric acid that's 22g of water. Shouldn't I subtract 22 grams from 152g of liquid to get the correct discount? Or am I not understanding something somewhere.

It's because citric acid requires a lye adjustment. It's not very intuitive, but you have to click the Liquid Adjustment box to make that happen. This will make your lye increase to compensate for the CA, which in turn, requires more water to stay at the same lye concentration that you have selected.

Hopefully I'm making sense in the way I'm explaining it.

Also, you don't need to dissolve CA in twice its weight. I use very little water to dissolve my CA, not even 1:1, but I do warm it up. The heat helps it dissolve much faster.

EDIT: I just tried this in SoapmakingFriend, and it appears that the CA adjustment feature is not working! It did not change my lye at all, and it changed the water in the weird way that you experienced, @MellonFriend! I would report it to those admins over on their forum.

 

[MellonFriend]

It's because citric acid requires a lye adjustment. It's not very intuitive, but you have to click the Liquid Adjustment box to make that happen. This will make your lye increase to compensate for the CA, which in turn, requires more water to stay at the same lye concentration that you have selected.

Hopefully I'm making sense in the way I'm explaining it.

Also, you don't need to dissolve CA in twice its weight. I use very little water to dissolve my CA, not even 1:1, but I do warm it up. The heat helps it dissolve much faster.

EDIT: I just tried this in SoapmakingFriend, and it appears that the CA adjustment feature is not working! It did not change my lye at all, and it changed the water in the weird way that you experienced, @MellonFriend! I would report it to those admins over on their forum.

Ahh the lye adjustment! I knew that happened with CA, but I forgot to consider that would adjust the liquid amounts too. Good to know I can use less water for dissolving.

I'll be sure to tell them over there of the glitch. In the meantime, how do I calculate my liquid then? Since I'm only adding 11 grams to dissolve the CA, should I just not worry about discounting that amount?

 

[AliOop]

Ahh the lye adjustment! I knew that happened with CA, but I forgot to consider that would adjust the liquid amounts too. Good to know I can use less water for dissolving.

I'll be sure to tell them over there of the glitch. In the meantime, how do I calculate my liquid then? Since I'm only adding 11 grams to dissolve the CA, should I just not worry about discounting that amount?

I always take the liquid out of my batch water, but I guess it depends on how you feel about different amounts of water. I'm a low-water soaper by choice - 40% lye concentration, usually - because for me, it prevents ash and helps the soap firm up sooner, so I can unmold sooner. Other keep water low to prevent or minimize glycerin rivers, or low-temp gelling. But you can certainly play with it and see what you think.

 

[MellonFriend]

I always take the liquid out of my batch water, but I guess it depends on how you feel about different amounts of water. I'm a low-water soaper by choice - 40% lye concentration, usually - because for me, it prevents ash and helps the soap firm up sooner, so I can unmold sooner. Other keep water low to prevent or minimize glycerin rivers, or low-temp gelling. But you can certainly play with it and see what you think.

Alright, that makes sense. Thanks for your help, AliOop!

 

[melinda48]

It's because citric acid requires a lye adjustment. It's not very intuitive, but you have to click the Liquid Adjustment box to make that happen. This will make your lye increase to compensate for the CA, which in turn, requires more water to stay at the same lye concentration that you have selected.

Hopefully I'm making sense in the way I'm explaining it.

Also, you don't need to dissolve CA in twice its weight. I use very little water to dissolve my CA, not even 1:1, but I do warm it up. The heat helps it dissolve much faster.

EDIT: I just tried this in SoapmakingFriend, and it appears that the CA adjustment feature is not working! It did not change my lye at all, and it changed the water in the weird way that you experienced, @MellonFriend! I would report it to those admins over on their forum.

Oh! I hope that is not the case. I have re-done several of my recipes using citric acid and Soapmaking Friend did adjust both my water and lye amounts. When did you use it last. I used it three days ago and it did adjust.

 

[AliOop]

Oh! I hope that is not the case. I have re-done several of my recipes using citric acid and Soapmaking Friend did adjust both my water and lye amounts. When did you use it last. I used it three days ago and it did adjust.

It was so weird because it didn’t work for me just that one time when I wrote the above response. It had worked before (as long as I want using MB lye solution), so maybe it was a temporary glitch? I’ll try again and see!