Can I get some advice?

[MyMunchkins812]

Okay, I put my numbers into soapcalc, and I came up with this:

Ingredient Ounces
Water 6.08
Lye 2.241
Coconut 76 4
Olive 12

Is this a good recipe to follow? I would like to use GM (can concentrate), but I don't know how to calculate for that. According to soapcalc, it already has a SF/Discount% of 5.

I didn't know there would be a quiz!

 

[CPSoaper]

Okay, I put my numbers into soapcalc, and I came up with this:

Ingredient Ounces
Water 6.08
Lye 2.241
Coconut 76 4
Olive 12

Is this a good recipe to follow? I would like to use GM (can concentrate), but I don't know how to calculate for that. According to soapcalc, it already has a SF/Discount% of 5.

I didn't know there would be a quiz!

You have chosen a very easy recipe to start with but it will need a longer cure than other soaps because of the high amount of olive oil. If you discount your water a bit, it will cut the cure time down. My standard discount is 36%.

With the GM, you can just sub that in for your water. You can sub part of your liquid for gm or all of it. (i.e., you could use whole 6.02 oz of gm or you could use 3 oz of gm and 3 oz of water to equal the full liquid amount). Now with this being concentrate, make sure to dilute it down (equal parts of water to gm). You can add the lye to your gm or you can hold some of your gm and add it at trace (i.w., add the lye to just a portion of your water amount, with the rest of the liquid being your gm which is added at trace). You should be fine sticking with the 5% SF.

If you are pretty new to soaping, I would not recommend starting with such a small recipe unless you know that your scale is spot on. 1lb recipes do not leave any room for any errors on your calculations. You also don't want to soap too big of a recipe either. I would recommend sticking with 2-3lb of oils as your recipe when still learning.

 

[MyMunchkins812]

Thanks for the FYI! I will bump it up to the 3 pound mark (have plenty of stuff - was worried the pot was too big anyway!)

I'll give this a whirl this weekend and let you guys know what happens!(que scary music :shock: )

 

[Tabitha]

Du-dum Du-dum
Dumpa Dumpa
Eeeeeeeewwwwwhhhiiiiiiiiiiioooooooh..

bumpa-uh bumpa-ah
bumpa-uh bumpa-ah
bumpa-uh bumpa-ah

shrieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek....

(simulating scarey music, think Bopris Karloff)

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Any time you want to come down to Springfield, I'd be happy to give you the dime tour of my TOG Soap Making Tool Shop and let you set in as I make up a batch of my GM soap. :wink: Since you are in Bolivar, MO.

Paul