Plus, most oils are the same ounces in weight or fluid ounces. That's what they told me in culinary school, anyway. The acronym is MEOW--milk, eggs, oil, and water are the same number of ounces by weight or by volume, although some oils are heavier. Some teachers only taught MEW. Today's trivia brought to you by...me!
But ALWAYS weigh your oils. It is much more accurate than measuring in a cup!
I have to disagree, oils do NOT weigh the same as milk, eggs, or water. If you put oil and water together the oils gravitate to the top because they are lighter than water.
The universal a pint is a pound the world around is only for milk, water and eggs. All other liquids have their own specific gravity and can only be accurately weighed, by weight......not by volume. Unless you do want to go the extra mile and buy a hygrometer and only measure the specific gravity of all your liquids.
I also am a Culinary School Graduate and a Professional Pastry Chef and I have taught many people the basics of baking.
Weight is always more accurate and in soap making weight is what everyone needs to do universally. The best method is to switch to grams, for that will always be better for a more precise weight, especially when working with low super fat numbers or small batches.
I have worked with bakers that would just eye ball their volume measurements, and since they did the same recipes over and over their items came out relatively the same. Yet when someone else tried to duplicate the same recipe it would fail or not be the same. A person can learn to measure something with volume with accuracy if they do it enough times, yet it just isn't going to fly in the real world when someone else has to follow the same recipe. That's why weight is universal in a professional kitchen for a uniform result, every time.
For anyone getting into bath and body products and soap making in general it is best to steer them in the direction of putting down a few extra bucks for a decent scale. And to continue to test the scale once a week or so with 5 quarter=1 ounce or just pop 4 sticks of butter and you should have one pound to a kiss over one pound. If you really want to stay on top of your scale, then invest in calibrated brass weights.
I have a balance scale as well as battery scales, so I use those weights to check my scale a couple times a week in both grams and ounces. So far I have had a scale work for many years before losing its calibration and if I didn't check I would have been making things with a full 20% below desired weight.
A scale is a soap maker's best friend. :razz:
