newbie question - checking recipes

[happyshopper]

I found a recipe in a book which I like the sound of. Everything I have read tells me to always run a recipe through a lye calculator to check it.

I can't get the amount of lye the recipe states to match in the calculator, I tried changing the SF as the recipe does not tell me what they used, however even changing the SF to 10% (i have read this is the highest you can go) the calculator still says to use more lye than the book.

What do I do in this situation go with the book or the calculator?

The recipe is: (apologies for the use of grams )

100g sodium hydroxide
268g water

235g coconut oil
200g palm oil
350g oilve oil
52g avocado oil
20 drops grapefruit seed extract
1 tbsp honey

Does the addition of fragrance/oils/additives effect the amount of lye? as this may have been where I was going wrong I didn't add the grapefruit or honey to the calculator (as couldn't see where to enter it).

Thanks

EDIT: think I have answered my own question, looking at other recipes in the book they all use the same amount of lye and water/liquid but different amounts of oils in varying quantities/types. I don't think this is right? I thought each oil needed a different amount of lye?

I would still appreciate an answer to the question in general, how do you check a recipe when you don't know the SF used? is it just a case of putting different SF into the calculator until you get a match? (or not in this case!). Or just go with a standard SF of 5 and use the amount of lye that suggests.

 

[Obsidian]

With that amount of lye, the SF would be 20% which is too much for that recipe. It has a lot of coconut which can make a drying soap so I would set the SF to 10% on soapcalc.
Always go with soapcalc and set the SF where you want it. additives like honey, scent, milks, etc do not affect the lye amount.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Do not trust the lye amounts in that book. In fact, be wary of anything when it does't alter the lye amounts for each recipe, but just uses one very high superfat to cover all bases. Blimey.

If I want to check a recipe, I enter the oils and calculate at 5% SF. If it is way off, I change the SF a lot - if it is not so far off, I change it a bit. I do this trial and error until I get the SF sorted.

 

[Susie]

^Obsidian is precisely correct. You always go with what the lye calculator says. This is exactly why everyone tells you to run the recipes for yourself. Typos happen. Editors are human, and, therefore, not perfect.

I would probably drop the CO to no more than 160-165 g, and add the remainder to the palm(remember to melt the whole thing, stir thoroughly, and then measure out what you need). That would be too much CO for my skin.

 

[happyshopper]

remember to melt the whole thing, stir thoroughly, and then measure out what you need

Does this method of weighing make much of a difference? I was planning on weighing all my solid oils whilst solid then melt?

I can melt and then weigh but this would mean the remainder of the oil in the tub being changed from solid to liquid alot, does this not effect it?

The only other way I can think off is to weight when solid then check the weight again once melted - but that seems a lot of faffing about :???:

 

[hmlove1218]

The stearic acid in the palm settles to the bottom, which is why it's recommended to melt, stir, then measure. If you dont, you can end up with stearic streaks and other complications.

As far as I know, palm is the only hard oil that needs to be melted before measuring.

 

[Susie]

^Exactly what hmlove1218 said. If it were me having to fool with palm often, I would melt, stir, then measure out 4 oz(by weight) tubs so that I would only have to do it once. Then I would be darn sure all my palm was used in 4 oz increments.

 

[hmlove1218]

^Exactly what hmlove1218 said. If it were me having to fool with palm often, I would melt, stir, then measure out 4 oz(by weight) tubs so that I would only have to do it once. Then I would be darn sure all my palm was used in 4 oz increments.

Exactly! This is one of the main reasons I don't use palm. It's too fussy lol

 

[Seawolfe]

^Exactly what hmlove1218 said. If it were me having to fool with palm often, I would melt, stir, then measure out 4 oz(by weight) tubs so that I would only have to do it once. Then I would be darn sure all my palm was used in 4 oz increments.

Thats what I do - well except they are 8-12 ounce tubs or jars, anything that fits easily in the microwave. No biggie to melt and then measure, same as my CO. Lard and cocoa are the only ones I'm happy to chunk and measure, then melt.

 

[Susie]

The only other way I can think off is to weight when solid then check the weight again once melted - but that seems a lot of faffing about :???:

Indeed it does seem a lot of faffing about. There are reasons I don't use palm, and the folks that do use coping strategies to avoid all excess faffing.