salt bar question

[Bex1982]

I haven't made salt bars in a few years and was about to make up a batch.
Do I subtract the weight of the salt from the oils. If I used my 5 lb mold and used 2.5 lb salt , would I make a batch of soap weighing 2.5 lb then mix them to equal 5 lb?

 

[heartsong]

it's been too long since I've made them to answer competently, so i'll keep you company until one of the experts here answers...I used to know the formula...?

 

[Bex1982]

Someone will awnser soon

I bought some dead sea salt to use and then read that you can't use it in soap, passing it on. I guess I'll just be using it for bath soaks.

 

[Obsidian]

I make a ton of salt bars but have no idea what the formula is. When I make a 2lb batch, I add between 75% to 100% salt and will have enough batter left over to fill around 4, 5oz cavity molds.

 

[jenneelk]

I'm no expert and my recipes are now set for all my molds in terms of weights but I don't believe I did 1\2 since the salt wouldn't take up the same volume as oil/water. I want to say I did 2\3 but I'm on vacation so can't check my old notes. Curious to see the answer and if my thinking is correct. Lol

 

[Bex1982]

Mostly wondering if you would deduct whatever amount of salt from your weight of oils. Since you said salt takes up the same volume as oils, my guess would be I would deduct unless I want extra soap. I'd like to keep it all in my 5 lb mold.

Edit: or sorry, I thought you said "would" but it was wouldn't take up as much. Lol. I did find an old recipe but it's for 2 lb mold. I used 30 oz oils and 1lb salt.

 

[Relle]

The answer to your question is in a previous thread on the forum
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=8524

 

[Bex1982]

The answer to your question is in a previous thread on the forum
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=8524

Cool, thanks. I did a search but couldn’t find anything!

I just read that. It's not the answer. I don't want to know salt to oil ratio. I want to know how to keep it all in my mold. If I add 2 lb of salt to a 5 pound batch it would leave me with extra soap which I dont want. So I would have to subtract some oil amount in order to make up for the volume that the salt would add.
I'm wondering if there is some sort of formula to figure out the volume of medium coarse sea salt.

 

[CraftyRedhead]

I understand the question, and I'd really like to know, too! I made a salt bar batch for the first time last month, and totally did NOT account for salt! I filled my mold and had a ton left. Luckily I asked the hubby and he grabbed an empty margarine bucket and threw some parchment paper in it for me! I figured out pretty quick that I should have added the salt somewhere, but I haven't seen any formulas for it. Hopefully someone knows

 

[Bex1982]

I understand the question, and I'd really like to know, too! I made a salt bar batch for the first time last month, and totally did NOT account for salt! I filled my mold and had a ton left. Luckily I asked the hubby and he grabbed an empty margarine bucket and threw some parchment paper in it for me! I figured out pretty quick that I should have added the salt somewhere, but I haven't seen any formulas for it. Hopefully someone knows

Exactly! I don't want to have too much but also not enough to where it doesn't fill my mold nicely. I'm trying to make a recipe that fits in the mold so that I can conserve on oil. If I want a few bars for myself I usually just cut them from the loaf anyway.

 

[Relle]

See of this link helps - scroll down to Soapmaker Man's response
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=3520 or
in the search engine type in - volume of a salt bar in mold and see what comes up , the answer is here in SMF if you type in the correct wording, I haven't got time atm to do this for you.

 

[Bex1982]

So his formula is subtract 20% from your normal oil weight, seems simple enough.
It's hard to know the exact wording to type in to find the answer, I did do a search though. At least others here wanted to know too, so the redundancy is not completely in vain.

For Craftyredhead, here is this guys formula:

I only use 80% weight of my oils as salt. A rule you can follow is this;

If your mold holds, say for easy figuring, 50 ounces of oils regularly; take 50 X .80 = 40. So you would use only 40 ounces of oils, not the 50 since the salt does, as mentioned, adds volume. I then take that 40 X .80 = 32. I would use 32 ounces of salt in this batch. These numbers will fill your mold up to where the usual 50 ounces did.

It took me a lot of trial and error to get these numbers! :roll:

Paul :wink:

 

[cmzaha]

I normally use 64 oz oils in my molds, when making salt bars @100% salt I use 50 oz of oils. Sorry to lazy to do the math! This is with full water/liquids which is recommended for salt bars. Have a small extra mold in case you have over-pour. Dead sea salt will work if mixed in a small percentage, but you will feel a little difference in the bar. I use a dead sea salt mix in some of my salt bars with no sweating. I also up my eo or fo's when using 100% salt

 

[Bex1982]

Cmzaha, what sort of difference does the dead sea salt make? About how much do you use give or take? Thanks!

 

[cmzaha]

Dead sea salt in to high an amount will cause severe sweating and the bar will feel very waxy and 0 lather. If you would like a bar of the higher DS bar, which is over a year old, I can send you one if you are in the US. Just PM me. I will say they leave the skin feeling very soft and I do use the latherless sticky bars, but when I forget and leave it in the shower the hubby throws them away :evil:

Cool, thanks. I did a search but couldn’t find anything!

I just read that. It's not the answer. I don't want to know salt to oil ratio. I want to know how to keep it all in my mold. If I add 2 lb of salt to a 5 pound batch it would leave me with extra soap which I dont want. So I would have to subtract some oil amount in order to make up for the volume that the salt would add.
I'm wondering if there is some sort of formula to figure out the volume of medium coarse sea salt.

Just my suggestion but you really do not want med coarse sea salt in a salt bar, it is just to scratchy

 

[Obsidian]

I agree with not using coarse salt. I've been scratched pretty badly with it before, nearly enough to cause bleeding. I use plain old canning salt most of the time, its cheap and has a fine grain.

 

[Bex1982]

I was using a mix of fine with some coarse more for looks.