Soap Calc question

[Hales]

This might sound like a no-brainer, but ....

whatever oils I use to superfat with (adding after trace) I haven't included them in the Soap Recipe section of the Soap Calc 9WP, but just add them as a side note in the additives section. Am I doing that all wrong? If I am wanting to add Wheatgerm oil or jojoba oil after trace, should I place it in the soap recipe section? And if so, do I give it whatever percentage the superfat'discount% is set at?

 

[KnitchyFingers]

Hi Hales,
I'll see if I can answer this correctly!
Some people may think differently, but imho, the lye isn't picky about what it saponifies when. Saponification isn't finished at trace, so adding the oils at or after trace isn't necessarily going to guarantee that they will be "held back" for super fatting.

Now, if you're using SoapCalc, it defaults to a SF value of 5%, so if you're NOT accounting for the extra oils in your recipe and leaving that value of 5%, you're actually superfatting more than 5%. Superfat is just the amount of oils that are not saponified.

I would recommend that you try including those oils in your SoapCalc recipe computations. If you want to, you can adjust the SF percentage to be a bit larger, but, being the newb that I am, I wouldn't SF more than, say 8%.

I'll bet you won't notice much of a difference either way. Your way isn't wrong, it just might account for a way higher SF than you're actually allowing for.

I hope that all made sense.

Happy soaping!

 

[ChrissyB]

Ditto Ditto Ditto to everything Lauren has said. Also if you leave too many unsaponified oils in your soap you run the risk of developing DOS or our your oils going rancid down the track.
Always include all of your oils in your soap calculation, adjust the superfat a little bit if you want to, but not too much because of the abovementioned problems that can occur. And BTW, you won't know if these problems are going to occur straight away, the soap will be fine, but in weeks or even months down the track you may have problems with it.

 

[Hales]

Thanks so much! I don't know why I didn't think I needed to include the oils added after trace in my recipe calculations. :?

 

[AshleyR]

So when using soap calc, you can't control WHAT oil gets superfatted, right? Some people like to use a particular oil to superfat with, but when soap calc is defaulted to 5%, it just discounts the lye, am I right?

I'm a little confused about superfatting with soap calc too!

 

[ChrissyB]

When you put your oils and the amounts in Soapcalc, it works out the individual SAP values for the oils that you are using, and then adds them all together. This would be 100% of the lye that you need to saponify your oils. Then they get that amount, multiply by 0.95, then subtract that 0.5% off the 100%, what you are left with is 95% of the lye that would be needed to saponifty those oils, there by leaving 5% unsaponified, so that is your 5% superfat.

 

[carebear]

So when using soap calc, you can't control WHAT oil gets superfatted, right? Some people like to use a particular oil to superfat with, but when soap calc is defaulted to 5%, it just discounts the lye, am I right?

I'm a little confused about superfatting with soap calc too!

it's not the calculator that does that - it's the nature of lye. the only way to know what oil is "extra" is to HP and add it after the cook. if its in the mix then the lye will go after whatever oil is there, no matter in what order you added them.

some people add a particular oil at trace, but in my experience and from what I've read and my knowledge of chemistry they are just kidding themselves.

 

[ChrissyB]

I agree with you Carebear. I think the only way to control what your "superfat oil" is, is to add it after cooking HP. And that is just a big pain in the butt as far as I am concerned. If you use a lye/soap calculator accurately, you will still get a nice soap with moisturising properties. I just don't think you need to waste a heap of money buying fancy oils to superfat with when it doesn't make any difference to the lye.