Newbie Q ( What is a typical % of lard

[tomatotim]

I just started making soap and realized I need to use lard to bring down my cost and harden my soap. What percent of lard is optimal?
I throw in the usual oils at around 5% -25%
Ow my base oil was olive oil at 40%. What should I bring that down to, to balance out the lard?

Any response or opinion is appreciated.
Respectfully/ Tomato Tim

 

[dagmar88]

What's the recipe you've been using?

 

[tomatotim]

My recipe is just something I concocted off the top of my head. I've made it 3 times with success however I've over cooked it twice. It seems to trace at about 27 min in my crock pot. It is to expensive and soft that's why I'm looking into lard.
almond oil 10%
castor oil 5%
coconut oil 25%
grape seed oil 5%
olive oil 35%
sunflower oil 10%
coco butter 10%

 

[DeeAnna]

Are you using a soap recipe calculator to evaluate your recipes? If not, you can learn a lot about designing a good soap recipe from any one of the calculators. Many people use soapcalc.net but there is a good calculator at the Majestic Mountain Sage (MMS) website and also at Brambleberry (BB).

There's no single right answer to your question. Lard can be anywhere from 0% to 100% of a recipe, depending on your goals for your soap. Laundry soap can be 100% lard. I'd say a typical range for a lard-based bath soap might be from 30% to 60%.

Lard adds creamy lather, skin conditioning, and hardness to a soap. It doesn't provide bubbly lather or strong cleansing.

To make a balanced soap for the bath, you may want to add coconut for more bubbly lather and slightly stronger cleansing; many recipes contain coconut at 30% or less. Monosaturated oils (olive, avocado) and/or a small percentage (10% or so) of polyunsaturated oils (sunflower, grapeseed, almond, etc) will add more conditioning. Castor adds bubbly lather; many recipes limit it to 5% or a bit more.

 

[Skatergirl46]

DeeAnna is so right about the lye calculator. I'm new at this, but I have been using soap calc. and after a while you start to understand what the numbers mean and what each oil does for your soap. It gets easier to enter your recipe and then tweak it to be what you're looking for with regard to the characteristics you want for your soap. It's also a lot easier to keep changing the numbers until you find that good recipe than to waste oils on trial and error. Happy soaping! :smile:

 

[tomatotim]

Yes I use soapcalc.
my water is 11.84oz
lye 4.29oz
sfd 9.%
water/oil ratio weight 37%

So the answer to my question is, up to 100% of lard is optimal with the recipe listed above

 

[chicklet]

Soapcalc is used for much more than just determining how much lye and water to use in your recipe. I use the soapcalc app and I can click on each oil and it will tell me the properties of that oil. The online version has a lot of info as well. There's other info on the internet about what commonly used oils lend to a batch of soap - here's one I Googled:

http://home.windstream.net/familyjeans/propertiesofoils.html

So your question was "What percent of lard is optimal?" The answer is whatever percent you want it to be to get the kind of soap you're wanting to make.

 

[DeeAnna]

water is 11.84oz
lye 4.29oz
sfd 9.%
water/oil ratio weight 37%

So the answer to my question is, up to 100% of lard is optimal with the recipe listed above

I am taking what you wrote literally, so my pardon if I am not really understanding the question you intended to ask.

The answer to your question as written is this -- No, you cannot use an arbitrary amount of lard up to 100% and have it make decent soap using 11.84 oz water and 4.29 oz lye.

If you change the kind or amount of the fats you want to use, you need to recalculate the recipe to find the correct lye and water amounts.

Start with 9% superfat and 37% water/oil ratio ... choose the fats you want in the recipe ... and then allow soapcalc to figure out the water and lye amounts for that specific recipe.

As far as "optimum" ... there is no specific optimum amount of lard. No one is evading or teasing you when we do not give you a specific answer to that question.

You are in charge of figuring out how much lard you want to use. What works best for you will be determined by the qualities you want in your soap and the amount of money you want to spend on the recipe.

I really hope this helps....

 

[tomatotim]

my wife believes I'm not getting a tangible answer because I'm asking the wrong question. so she will rephrase it. how much lard would you use in the recipe listed above. please don't go on about soapcalc.

 

[VanessaP]

almond oil 10%
castor oil 5%
coconut oil 25%
grape seed oil 5%
olive oil 35%
sunflower oil 10%
coco butter 10%



Personally, I'd drop the grapeseed, castor, almond and sunflower oil. That will free up 30%. I'd make all 30% lard.

That will give you

30% lard, 25% coconut oil, 35% olive oil and 10% cocoa butter. I've made something similar to this and it is a wonderful soap.

 

[dagmar88]

my wife believes I'm not getting a tangible answer because I'm asking the wrong question. so she will rephrase it. how much lard would you use in the recipe listed above. please don't go on about soapcalc.

I like oils/butters that are mainly there to give your soap substance (lard, tallow, palm) at around 20%.
I usually include 20 to 25% of coconut, palm kernal oil or babassu combined with 5 tot 8% of castor (for nice, stable lather and large bubbles) in every recipe.
For myself, I prefer not to use anything 'frilly' when it comes to oils and butters. Keeps the costs down too.

 

[DeeAnna]

Okay, now I understand what you want to know. This is the soap I might make:

castor oil -- 5%
coconut oil -- 15%
olive oil -- 35%
lard -- 45%

Options:
Choose sunflower OR almond. Substitute 10% of your chosen oil for 5% of the olive and 5% of the lard.
Substitute 10% cocoa butter for 10% of the lard.

 

[tomatotim]

I believe this will be my next recipe. I'll get the lye figures from soapcalc. Its simple and high % of cheap lard. If anyone is willing to guess, about how long until trace on low in a crock pot? Would a half hour be about right?