Best water to lye ratio?

[Cal43]

Re: My soap turn weird with oil layer on the top Help ple

I hope I'm not assuming, but think there may be a little language barrier? Where are you from? I'm guessing from your previous post you are not in the US? I think it's so awesome to be able to communicate with people all over the world with the click of a button

I think you need to do some more research on the soap making process and lye calculators and learn the WHY's before the HOW's, if that makes sense :wink:

I can give you an idea of a super simple recipe that yields a great basic bar of soap. I will give it in percentages instead of amounts, so that you can adjust it to any size you want:
Olive Oil 50%
Coconut Oil 25%
Palm Oil 25%

Go to SoapCalc.net
1. Starting in the upper left, select NaOH
2. Next, choose your unit of measurement where it says Weight of Oils (You want to use grams)
3. Choose Water As Weight of Oils 38% (this is the default setting)
4. Choose your Superfat percentage (5% is the default setting and is fine for this recipe)
5. Click on the drop down box with the oils, and double click the three oils above, then enter your weight of each oil in grams in the appropriate box.
6. Click Calculate Recipe
7. Then click View/Print Recipe...this will open a new tab and give you proper water and lye amounts. It will also give you a detailed list of your recipe qualities and composition.

A few websites you may find helpful are millersoap.com, soapmakingessentials.com, and teachsoap.com

Question? The lye/water on the calculator is set at 38% max, but what is the best wAter/lye ratio? I heard it is between 30-38. Can you shed any light? I'm a newbie also

 

[DeeAnna]

There is no one best amount of water to use. It depends on the fats involved and on your personal soaping style. (You might not have a "style" yet, but you will!)

The one thing I can say is that I recommend getting away from using "water as % of oils" and start using "lye concentration" or "water:lye ratio" instead. The last two mean the exact same thing mathematically. They are not the same thing as "water as % of oils."

I put a table in my "Geek Tips" thread about lye concentration and water:lye ratio and some very general guidelines about what to use for different types of soap recipes and soap making styles. See https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/geek-tips.57129/page-3#post-735797