Soap Calc questions

[Kat]

That Soap calc intimidates me to no end. Obviously I'm not doing something right. What if I have a recipe that is 2lbs, and I want to use the same oils in the 2 lb recipe, but make it a 3lb batch. Can I just put in the oils I want to use (using the +/-) and click the oil over to the soap recipe, then click compute recipe? It always asks me for the percentage......I do not know the PERCENTAGE!!!!! :evil: What am I doing wrong?
I have a recipe I think I'm going to use this weekend. I found it somewhere, and thank goodness the person ADDED the percentages besides the ounces of oils to use. It also was a 3 pounder, which is what I want to use. So I used the soap calc USING the (+/-) of oils, and inputing the % of the oils. The recipe came out spot on. So I need help on the question above.
I haven't soaped for about 3 weeks and I'm itchin' to make soap this weekend....Ginger Souffle will be at the top of thie list :wink:

 

[NEASoapWorks]

SoapCalc9

You can always adjust the pounds/ounces, by changing the number in the box. So, I've just told SoapCalc, I want to compute a recipe, with 3lbs of oils.

Soap Calc won't create a recipe. It will only compute a recipe. You have to create it. SoapCalc doesn't know what qualities you want your soap to have, which is based on the percentage of each oil.

So, to help you learn how it works, use a recipe that's already been created. Your total percentage must be 100. So, if you just play with it, and enter percentages, and hit "Compute Recipe", SoapCalc will tell you if you've gone over, or under 100%, with your oil percentages. You adjust accordingly. Then, you check your soap qualities to the left.

If you need more help, just ask. We'll help you, till you get it.

 

[PhillipJ]

I tried the soap calc 9 and it is confusing to me also.

I like to use this one.

http://recipes.herbalsoapsbyrj.com/calc ... -calc1.php

It will let me change recipes to different values. Works in ounces, pounds, and grams It gives the %ages after the calculation.

 

[Kat]

Thank you BOTH for this info. I just need to play around with the calc. I like playing with ounces, not the percentage. Because I do not know what amount of oil to add and combination of oils, etc. I just need to sit down and practice/play around with the calc.

 

[Zenobiah]

It still intimidates me too but I still prefer the percentage calculator although I do not understand all the numbers yet.

 

[Kat]

Well, the post (above) from PhillipJ really helped me with my percentages. That part was quite confusing to me. So...I plugged in the ounce amount of oils I wanted to use using that site he quoted (herbalsoapbyrj/calc) go see his post......THAT gave me my OIL percentages. Then, I went to soap/calc and plugged in those percentages, with the 3 lb patch I wanted to make. The recipe I have gives both ounces and percentages (thank goodness), because I crossed-referenced them, and they were spot-on. So, I used another recipe, went to the herbalsoapby rj/calc, plugged in those oil percentages with my oil ounces, went to soap/calc and again, they were spot-on. I also learned alot from that calc, plus all the past posts from here. I made soap today, and I thought I had sunflower oil,,,nope, I have safflower oil, so I went to soap calc and they were very similar in SAP value, put the whole recipe thru the calc, and it did changed the recipe just a tad.
Actually, I have been reading the past posts, and have gained more knowledge about the oils, fatty acids and the sponification of all of them together with the lye/water/milk ratios. How to have a hard soap/soft soap, conditioning, creamy lather, etc. If you have the time, the newbies need to go over the information that is easily available to them. Nothing wrong with being a newbie, just there is lots to learn about making any type of soap. There is nothing wrong with re-reading information, its quite helpful. Not alot of discounting information, but I'm too new for that. I like to have time to playwith my soap pudding, and spread the tops smooth, etc. One thing I have to stop and think about is the FO percentages. If someone says, and this is an example "Add 3% FO". I have to stop and think high school math for this. But I will get better and faster, been a very long time since high school (hehehe) and it will get much easier the more experience I have. But I'm having a BLAST!

 

[Soapmaker Man]

I like soapcalc.com and have no issues with it and have used it over 2 years now. One of our members here, Woodi from Canada and her hubby have a great soap and lotions calculator for sale called soapmaker. They have the "lite" version and the full version with inventory control. Here is a link to their great program. You even get a free trial period to use it, check it out :wink: ;

http://www.soapmaker.ca/index.htm

Paul.... :wink:

 

[Zenobiah]

Ooh, it calculates cost per bar too! Now that is really helpful. My husband made me do that by hand ("it is too expensive to keep making soap and we already got soap out the wazoo"). :shock: