measurements

[Roslyn2803]

Hi, I'm trying to convert the measurements in Catherine Failure's liquid soap recipes from imperial to metric. The oils and water are both in ounces. I'm not sure if I should convert the oils to grams and the water to millilitres. My question is are the references to ounces volume or weight?

 

[dixiedragon]

I am assuming weight.

 

[shunt2011]

I would assume weight. I would also recommend reading our liquid soap threads. Much better and easier than her method.

 

[TeresaT]

Hi, I'm trying to convert the measurements in Catherine Failure's liquid soap recipes from imperial to metric. The oils and water are both in ounces. I'm not sure if I should convert the oils to grams and the water to millilitres. My question is are the references to ounces volume or weight?

I an not familiar with the book; however, we usually refer to volume in "cups and spoons" and weight in ounces. The exception to the rule is when using "fluid ounces" to measure volume. If the water is in ounces, but NOT fluid ounces, I would venture to say the weights of the ingredients were used. It is, IMO, a good idea to deal strictly with weights for everything (including your smaller and lighter ingredients) so it is easier to maintain accuracy, especially when changing batch sizes, and to duplicate the recipe.

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome Roslyn2803! :wave:

I have Catherine Failor's book on liquid soapmaking and she uses a scale to weigh all her ingredients, so all that you'll need to do is simply convert US ounce weights into gram weights, which is easy to do with an online ounce to gram weight converter such as this one: http://www.metric-conversions.org/weight/ounces-to-grams.htm


IrishLass

 

[topofmurrayhill]

Hi, I'm trying to convert the measurements in Catherine Failure's liquid soap recipes from imperial to metric. The oils and water are both in ounces. I'm not sure if I should convert the oils to grams and the water to millilitres. My question is are the references to ounces volume or weight?

Just as an aside, the neutralization steps in Failor aren't really needed, though they might contribute some mildness.

One of the few things in soaping that she didn't know is that KOH is generally only in the neighborhood of 90 percent pure. If you use her recipes you will be doing exactly what the people in the liquid soap section here do, making soap more or less exactly neutralized rather than lye heavy.

One useful current technique though is that you can replace half to 2/3 of your water with glycerin to make saponification much easier. You could just combine warm oils with water/glycerin lye, whisk or blend to a good emulsion, and wait for it to saponify off the heat.

 

[Dahila]

yeah I had not learned anything from that book, I already learned it from our smart people here, and it is as simple as 1,2,3 we even have tutorials for making soaps without the borax or CA mess
Converting the weight is as easy as google it

 

[Susie]

I would strongly suggest you avoid Catherine Failor's methods. I was not impressed with her recipes, either. And I made a LOT of them before IrishLass posted her recipe in post 8 of this thread:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=46114

 

[cmzaha]

This is also a great free conversion program https://joshmadison.com/convert-for-windows/
I to agree with not using Failor's methods.
I like the methods Sally uses in her book https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003PBXHMY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20