Citric Acid and other questions

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dianaabuela1

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H, I want to know how much sunflower oil can be add-in a batch.
How much citric acid?
And if anise water is good to make soap.
Thanks
 
Hello, I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.

First, there are 2 kinds of sunflower oil: Regular and High Oleic.
Regular is high in linoleic and linolenic acids (poly unsaturated fatty acids) which make soaps more likely to go rancid. If you put your recipe in the calculator, be sure the amount of linoleic+linolenic stays below 15%. This will also depend on the other oils in your recipe, so it's difficult to give a strict maximum for sunflower oil (I've mainly used around 15% myself)

High oleic sunflower oil contains mostly oleic acid (mono unsaturated), and you can use it as much as you want. Be aware, a lot of oleic acid in soap (>50%) means a longer cure and some people feel like the soap is slimy.

I use citric acid at 2% of oil weight. Make sure you adjust the amount of lye (more info on this wonderful website)

I've never used anise water in soap and never heard of anyone using it, but I think it should work fine in soap. (If you want the scent an EO/FO is more likely to stick around though.)

Hope this helps.. happy soaping!
 
Hello, I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.

First, there are 2 kinds of sunflower oil: Regular and High Oleic.
Regular is high in linoleic and linolenic acids (poly unsaturated fatty acids) which make soaps more likely to go rancid. If you put your recipe in the calculator, be sure the amount of linoleic+linolenic stays below 15%. This will also depend on the other oils in your recipe, so it's difficult to give a strict maximum for sunflower oil (I've mainly used around 15% myself)

High oleic sunflower oil contains mostly oleic acid (mono unsaturated), and you can use it as much as you want. Be aware, a lot of oleic acid in soap (>50%) means a longer cure and some people feel like the soap is slimy.

I use citric acid at 2% of oil weight. Make sure you adjust the amount of lye (more info on this wonderful website)

I've never used anise water in soap and never heard of anyone using it, but I think it should work fine in soap. (If you want the scent an EO/FO is more likely to stick around though.)

Hope this helps.. happy soaping!
This is a great answer.
 
Hello, I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.

First, there are 2 kinds of sunflower oil: Regular and High Oleic.
Regular is high in linoleic and linolenic acids (poly unsaturated fatty acids) which make soaps more likely to go rancid. If you put your recipe in the calculator, be sure the amount of linoleic+linolenic stays below 15%. This will also depend on the other oils in your recipe, so it's difficult to give a strict maximum for sunflower oil (I've mainly used around 15% myself)

High oleic sunflower oil contains mostly oleic acid (mono unsaturated), and you can use it as much as you want. Be aware, a lot of oleic acid in soap (>50%) means a longer cure and some people feel like the soap is slimy.

I use citric acid at 2% of oil weight. Make sure you adjust the amount of lye (more info on this wonderful website)

I've never used anise water in soap and never heard of anyone using it, but I think it should work fine in soap. (If you want the scent an EO/FO is more likely to stick around though.)

Hope this helps.. happy soaping!
Hi, thanks for the time to answer my question. I have another one How you know what kind of sunflower oil if is high oleic or regular? Does that depend on the brands? I have the Walmart brand.
Thanks again
 
Hi, thanks for the time to answer my question. I have another one How you know what kind of sunflower oil if is high oleic or regular? Does that depend on the brands? I have the Walmart brand.
Thanks again
Normally it's on the label, if not you can check the amount of mono-unsaturated fatty acids in the oil (which should be on the label). If mono-unsaturated is the highest, it's high oleic, if poly-unsaturated is the highest, it's regular.
I generally look for sunflower frying oil, but I'm on another continent. Maybe someone else who actually goes to wallmart can chime in and help you more;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If you would like more help, you have to tell me what is confusing to you.

Bottom line -- if the monounsaturated fat content is about 70% or more of the total fat, the fat is a high oleic oil.

A high oleic oil may be labeled "high temperature" or "good for frying" or even "high oleic." If you see those words, you don't have to do any math. It's high oleic. If you do not see words like this, you will have to do some math to know for sure.

If the monounsaturated fat content is below 50%, it is a high linoleic fat (a "regular" version of the fat).

If it's in between 50% and 70%, it is mid oleic.
 
From the nutrition label for Walmart GV Sunflower oil offered online:
8 g monounsaturated fat/14 g total fat = .57 x 100 = 57% oleic. This puts it in the 50-70% range, which means it’s a mid-oleic sunflower oil.

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Hello, I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.

First, there are 2 kinds of sunflower oil: Regular and High Oleic.
Regular is high in linoleic and linolenic acids (poly unsaturated fatty acids) which make soaps more likely to go rancid. If you put your recipe in the calculator, be sure the amount of linoleic+linolenic stays below 15%. This will also depend on the other oils in your recipe, so it's difficult to give a strict maximum for sunflower oil (I've mainly used around 15% myself)

High oleic sunflower oil contains mostly oleic acid (mono unsaturated), and you can use it as much as you want. Be aware, a lot of oleic acid in soap (>50%) means a longer cure and some people feel like the soap is slimy.

I use citric acid at 2% of oil weight. Make sure you adjust the amount of lye (more info on this wonderful website)

I've never used anise water in soap and never heard of anyone using it, but I think it should work fine in soap. (If you want the scent an EO/FO is more likely to stick around though.)

Hope this helps.. happy soaping!

When using CA could you reduce the super fat by 1 or 2% instead of calculating the extra lye? Asking for a math phobic. o_O
 
Ok, what percent can I use?

The problem with Sunflower oil is the linoleic and linolenic fatty acid content. Based on the numbers given on the label above, the content of these FAs in the oil you have falls between the HO Sunflower and the regular Sunflower as given in the SMF calculator. To err on the safe side, I would probably use the regular Sunflower option in my recipe and keep the linoleic and linolenic fatty acids at 15% or less of total FAs.
 
I use either HO or Mid Sunflower depending on the cost when I purchase at the time. With the Mid Oleic I use, I up to 25% in soap, taking into consideration mine averages 60% Oleic Acid so is a bit higher than the one you show above, with absolutely no problems in soap at a 2-3% superfat and I love it in lotion.
 
I read the article recommended above but I'd like to clarify... quoted from the article "1. NaOH for citric acid, grams = (Citric acid weight, grams) X 6.24 / 10 " - so if I'm using 20 gr CA the calculation would be 20 x 6.24 / 10 = 12.48 - is the amount of lye I have to add to adjust for the CA? So if I have a recipe that calls for 140.23 gr of lye, I would add another 12.48 gr for a total of 152.71 grams of lye. The water in the recipe would remain unchanged?
 

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