Measuring oils accurately

[Coondogg]

Greetings all,

I am new to soaping (5 batches in) and have thus far been successful. One problem I'm having is something so simple I don't think it was ever covered in any of the books I read or sites I've visited. Simply put, how do you weigh your oils without overpouring?

I usually decide on a recipe and weigh them all one by one into my main pot, zeroing the scale after each. But I usually overpour at least a little on most, so I jot down the actual measurements and end up recalculating everything to come up with my final lye amount. Is this the way you guys do it, or is there a secret ninja pouring technique? I have gallon jugs of my main oils, and I'm usually off by 10 grams or more, which results in new lye measurements.

TIA for your input. I'm so glad this forum exists for noobs like me!

 

[IrishLass]

I know what you mean by over pouring! That's how I did things, too, when I first started out. The way I pour now is to use what I like to call the 2- bowl method, which consists of my main soaping pot and a separate bowl of appropriate size.

First, I weigh out my largest ingredient amount into the main soaping pot and set it aside. Then I tare my scale and weigh out the next ingredient in the separate bowl and add it to my main soaping pot (making sure to scrape out every last drop with a rubber spatula). Then I do the same for the rest of my ingredients one by one- i.e., weighing each one separately in the second bowl and then adding to the main pot.


IrishLass

 

[Obsidian]

I also measure out all my oils separately that way if I over pour, I can spoon out the extra. Makes for a few more bowls to clean but thats better then screwing up a recipe.

 

[lsg]

I measure mine separately also. That way it is easy to get the oil back into its container if you overpour.

 

[dixiedragon]

I am way too lazy for that. If I over pour, it's usually about 1/8 oz over. I'm not going to sweat that. If it's more than 1/8 ounce, then I usually just take it off of the next oil.

Aka: I pour 5.25 ounces of sunflower oil (instead of 5), then I'll pour 9.75 ounces of olive oil (instead of 10).

 

[houseofwool]

I measure out my solid oils and butters into my main soaping container, taring after each addition.

Then, in a separate bowl, I pour the liquid oils. I don't necessarily empty the bowl after each one. I only use 2 liquid oils, castor and olive. The castor is only 5% or so of the recipe, so I pour that first. Then, I carefully pour the olive oil. I slow way down as I get closer to the target amount, but occasionally there is a bit of overpour.

 

[lionprincess00]

I pour the same way. I ninja it slowly and have messed up only one time adding a half oz of castor. I didn't recalculate and said, meh, it's a tad higher superfat I suppose. But I do tiny batches of 18 and 25-28 oils depending on my loaf or slab mold. I just pour very very slowly. You could always do it by pouring the oil into container A to measure, pour into main pot B, and without cleaning pour the next oil into A to measure, pour into main pot B etc etc. Use a tablespoon to scoop out any over pour to put back.

 

[jules92207]

Depending on how mch I overpour sometimes I recalculate on soapcalc and sometimes I don't worry about it. extra superfatting. I have gotten a lot better about using a second bowl with oils I know don't pour well.

 

[shunt2011]

I generally measure out my hard oils in one pot then liquid in a separate bowl. I tare my scale after each addition. If I'm over it's only a gram or two.

 

[dixiedragon]

I feel like we need a poll to count the "2-bowl pourers" and the "meh, it's close enough" pourers.

 

[houseofwool]

I feel like we need a poll to count the "2-bowl pourers" and the "meh, it's close enough" pourers.

I'm in both categories. I use 2 bowls, but that is because I prefer to use thermal transfer to melt my oils.

The solids are pretty accurate. Within a gram or so ( in a batch of 4800 grams of oil). The liquid oils are also close, but if I end up with a smidge too much, I either leave or scoop some back.

 

[Nevada]

Use the back of a spoon for oils rather than a coffee stirrer http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=339382&postcount=5

 

[Susie]

I'm in both categories. I use 2 bowls, but that is because I prefer to use thermal transfer to melt my oils.

The solids are pretty accurate. Within a gram or so ( in a batch of 4800 grams of oil). The liquid oils are also close, but if I end up with a smidge too much, I either leave or scoop some back.

I use the heat transfer method also, so I weigh all the solid oils out first also, taring after each one. I weigh my liquid oils into the same container, I just use a very slow pour.

I transferred the large container liquid oils into smaller, labelled, containers that I could manage pouring from without a problem.

 

[CrisMaz]

I recently came across some plastic pipettes that I plan on using next time I'm measuring. My thought is that I can pour very close to the weight I need then fine tune it with a pipette. Hope it'll work, because being off by .5 grams really bothers me lol I literally will keep taking off and pouring back in till I'm right where I want to be, which sometimes can take foreeeever

 

[houseofwool]

I recently came across some plastic pipettes that I plan on using next time I'm measuring. My thought is that I can pour very close to the weight I need then fine tune it with a pipette. Hope it'll work, because being off by .5 grams really bothers me lol I literally will keep taking off and pouring back in till I'm right where I want to be, which sometimes can take foreeeever

What is your overall batch size? Because that seems like overkill, especially as SAP values are an average and the actual value can be slightly different for a variety of reasons.

If you are making 100 gram batches? Okay, then I understand. But if you are making 1000 gram batches, there is no need to be that concerned.

 

[CrisMaz]

What is your overall batch size? Because that seems like overkill, especially as SAP values are an average and the actual value can be slightly different for a variety of reasons.

If you are making 100 gram batches? Okay, then I understand. But if you are making 1000 gram batches, there is no need to be that concerned.

I figured it was overkill, but I'm extremely new to this so I want my measuring to be as accurate as possible. Also because I'm a newbie, I'm making very small 1 lb batches to test out formulas on my skin.

And my last batch was even smaller because I came up with a last minute tweak on an existing recipe but didn't have enough cocoa butter for it so had to reduce everything else in proportion so I ended up with a ridiculously small loaf *cough*

 

[KatsKreations]

I measure every oil in a bowl. Then transfer into big soap pot. I scrape and then zero out scale and go again. I scoop back the extra over pour back into my oil. I really do not want to recalculate once I get my recipe. I am of the measure twice cut once frame of mind

 

[Jaccart789]

I weigh all the hard oils/butters first. They are easy to spoon out if you over do it and then depending on the oil...I pour the one that is hardest to control (normally its my OO), because you can spoon out the extra without disrupting the amounts, and pour last something like Castor since its extra thick and I never over pour. The simple answer is I pour really slow, but if thats not the answer that will work for you, then I would pour in different bowls.

 

[holistichonnies]

Im new to soap making too

I use different bowls to measure my oils and butter, I also have a VERY precise set of scales, they are the type jewelers used and measure 0.01g increments so I can get stop on amounts. This is perfect for me at the mo as I only make VERY small amounts as Im still learning. I wont make a batch bigger that 500g so as you can imagine some oils and butters are very small amounts

 

[LBussy]

I have a bunch of dosage syringes ... these are generally given out free at pharmacies. I measure into a bowl but if I over-shoot I pull some back with the syringe and squirt it back in the container. I am an over-careful person too. I measure 4# batches to the tenth of a gram. Even the water.