Calc and percentage help

[Buckscent]

Hey all, new to Soaping and I am sure this has been talked about a ton so forgive me. So how do you do all your calculations from the very start? Say I have a 1200g loaf, how do I figure how much butter, oil, water/lye mix?
Also is there a lye calc for dummies that explains each line of the cal and explaines each in dummy terms? Thanks!!!!

 

[Susie]

Yup! Start here:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=49627

Then go here:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=2909

Matter of fact, I would strongly suggest you at least read all the stickies in both the beginner and the lye based forums. I would truly suggest you go at least a couple of pages into both. It will help you wrap your mind around many of the acronyms and common questions.

 

[IrishLass]

Hello Buckscent!

Most of us use lye calculators (although some are able to do it manually). There are a good handful of good lye calc's out there in internetland to choose from. My preferred lye calculator to use is SoapCalc. For me, it's pretty intuitive, but if you are having trouble, here are the instructions on how to use it.

A good many other folks here like to use Soapee instead. I've never used that one, so hopefully someone will be able to chime in on how to use it.


IrishLass

 

[Buckscent]

Ok I kind of understand that so lets say my loaf measurements are
Cavity Size: 11 x 4.2 x 2.4 inch so i have my oils, how do i know how much water/lye? I assume i fill the loaf with water and get a total volume, lets say it holds 100oz of water, I assume I subtract the total amount of oil from that 100oz astotal of both would be to much and over flow?

So say cocoa butte says no more than 30% is that 30% of your total oils (44 oz)?

Calculation of fregrance is 38.98oz so is that a total of all fregrance used? And if a fregrance says only 3% of total that is 3% of the 38.98?
What if you only want to use one fregrance so you use 38oz of fregrance?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

For the batch size go for 11x4.2x2.4 then x0.4 - that last 0.4 then gives you your oil weight total.

Soap calcs will then tell you how much lye to use based on which oils are in there (it's not always the same by any means) and the amount of lye defines how much water you use - if you want a 33% solution then use 1 part lye to 2 parts water.

Your scent should be around 3-5% or so of the oil weight, but taking in to account any restrictions on a scent - some EOs can only be used at 0.5% of the oil weight, for example, so you would need to mix more together.

Check out those links posted and it will make it all clearer. Also, pop in to a chosen calc a recipe with your target oil weight and then the recipe as 50% lard, 35% olive oil, and 20% coconut oil. Hit calculate and you will see that it does the hard work for you

 

[Steve85569]

^^ the calcs for volume listed above for oil take into account the fact that you will be adding lye and water to the recipe.
Then you go to a soap calculator and enter your recipe of oils and that will tell you how much lye and water to use. Soapcalc uses a default value that some consider high but it's a good place to start.
After you've made a batch or two you can start playing with water content more ( we all did).