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srenee

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I'm just a little confused on the lye mixture. This is what I have for an approximate sample recipe in Soapmaker 3:

olive 65.87 oz
coconut 98.80 oz
lard 115.26
castor 16.47

422..42 total recipe weight
volume is 402.15
no. of bars 84.5

here is where I get confused: when I select lye solution strength of 50% it tells me 42.01 lye needed at 11% and water needed 42.01 oz

or if I select "use pre-mixed lye" it comes up 1 parts lye to 2 parts water and premix needed 126.02 (how much lye is a premix or is this still 50/50 at 126 oz, or what is 1 parts lye to 2 water ) and it says extra water 0

Just trying to get my head wrapped around this correctly. Any suggestions? I would really like to do this since things are picking up here. And sorry for all the questions again.

Can someone help me with this?
 
Hi Sonya!

I don't have Soapmaker 3 (although it's on my 'wanted' list), but I'll try to help if possible (until someone else who has SoapMaker can chime in).

A 50% lye solution just means that your lye solution is made up of equal parts water and lye (50% water/50% lye) which Soapmaker is showing you as 42.01 oz lye to 42.01 oz water.

Re: The 'pre-mixed' selection: 1 part lye to 2 parts water means a 33% lye solution.

What strength of lye solution do you want to use for your batch? By your question, are you saying that you are working from a 50% lye masterbatch and would like to make it into a 33% lye solution? Just need some clarification.


IrishLass :)
 
Actually not sure. I have 6% in the soapmaker 3.

I guess I am just trying to understand the whole concept. Because I want to make at least 10 batches over the next couple of days. I guess I just need to do it and see what happens.

So when I pour 6 pails of oils I add the 42 oz of lye solution? I don't know about the 33% Sorry to sound so ignorant about this.

My normal batches are 6% lye and 30% water discount for average 8 pound batches.

I want to make enough to pour about 10 batches of 10 pound soaps.
 
srenee said:
Actually not sure. I have 6% in the soapmaker 3.
Click to expand...

Does the 6% refer to the superfat or lye discount %? I use SoapCalc as my go-to lye calculator, so it's kinda hard for me to visualize what you're seeing on your Soapmaker page and what all the numbers and percentages refer to.

So when I pour 6 pails of oils I add the 42 oz of lye solution? I don't know about the 33% Sorry to sound so ignorant about this.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm just as lost and ignorant in regards to using Soapmaker, so I guess we're even. :lol:


srenee said:
My normal batches are 6% lye and 30% water discount for average 8 pound batches.

I want to make enough to pour about 10 batches of 10 pound soaps.
Click to expand...

Okay...I think I know what you are asking now (I think). Are you asking how large of a masterbatch of 50% lye solution you need to make in order to soap 10 batches weighing 10 lbs each?


IrishLass :)
 
Yes. You're right. Ultimately I want to put out 5-10 batches to catch up my stock. I had to do some head scratching to try and figure this out. But I think I'm getting it:

I need to make a recipe multiply it and use the lye ratios.
 
You won't be soaping with the 50% lye solution 'as is', will you? I work from a 50% masterbatch all the time, but I dilute it down to a 33% or 40% lye solution (depending on my formula) for my batches when I go to soap, because soaping at a 50% lye concentration is pretty extreme. I'm assuming that that is the part you are trying to wrap your head around- diluting your 50% masterbatch solution down to 30% for your actual batches?


IrishLass :)
 
Yes. I figured it out. And I will be doing a 33% solution. In fact doing it today. Thank you for explaining this. I was trying to figure out how to dilute to individual batches.

I had to multiply my recipe by number of batches I wanted to make, then make my solution. Then go to a 10lb batch recipe and pull out of the solution the amount specified in the recipe for that batch.
 
It did pretty good but a tad soft. Now I want to try making a 45lb block of soap. Masterbatching lye and oils. Just trying to get it to run smoothly.
 

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