Need your help!

[Schatzi1]

Hi folks! Kind of a newbie here. I had a soap business years ago but shut it down when my husband got sick and ultimately died. Now, I just want to make small batches for personal use. I found a recipe that calls for (among other things) lard or veg shortening. Their SAP values are 139 and 136 respectively. I have tallow, SAP value, 141. Since the SV of lard and shortening are a few points apart...would the few points between lard and tallow make much of a difference? Thanks for any insights.

 

[lenarenee]

Not knowing how long ago it was when you made soap so I ask if you know what. lye calculator is? It has a list of many types of oils and fats, with their SAP values so all you have to do it start with how much oil/fats work in your mold, what water amount you want - done as either percentage of water to oils, or lye to water ratio and it calculates the amount of lye you need for the entire recipe.

But, yes especially with veg shortening at 136, and tallow at 141, and depending on superset, size of batch, etc, it can make quite a difference. And if the information on the veg shortening is also from your previous soap making time, then chances are good that it's formula is different today.

Does that help?

 

[Schatzi1]

Thanks so much. I closed up shop 15 yrs ago and used tried and true recipes that I had converted to the required "ounces"...and now, cant find my recipes. I am familiar with the soap calculator but damn if I could ever figure it out. NUMBERS have always been my enemy, and forget math. I know my recipes aare here somewhere...they just have to be. Then, there will be no issue. Thanks again!

 

[dibbles]

Learning to use a soap calculator is not as hard as it seems. Here is a link for a tutorial using soapcalc.net
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/how-to-use-soap-calc-tutorial.49627/
You can then create a recipe using the fats you have available to you. No math required!
ETA: the tutorial suggests leaving the water as is. I would suggest setting the lye concentration to 30-33% instead.

 

[Zing]

Yeah! Let the computer do all the math!

 

[Schatzi1]

Learning to use a soap calculator is not as hard as it seems. Here is a link for a tutorial using soapcalc.net
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/how-to-use-soap-calc-tutorial.49627/
You can then create a recipe using the fats you have available to you. No math required!
ETA: the tutorial suggests leaving the water as is. I would suggest setting the lye concentration to 30-33% instead.

Thanks for the link. I will give it a go and see what happens. I appreciate this!