H2O amount

[Kathymzr]

Hi, I am Kathy from Hawaii. About to try first soap. But I have probably the most basic dumb question: How much water to mix with lye?
I see the lye/oil calculation but what about water? Helllppp!

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

have you run your recipe through a lye calculator? the water should be listed in it

 

[Kathymzr]

Ah, I am boiling up the courage to try my first batch. Thanks!! K

 

[Dawni]

What calculator are you using? If it gave you the amounts for oil.. and lye, the amount for water should be near or below that

Always run your recipes through a calculator.. If you're still unsure you can take a screenshot and show us, a lot of members will be glad to help you.

 

[DeeAnna]

To answer your question more directly, the water content is calculated after you know the total weight of the fat and total weight of alkali (lye).

The water is calculated in one of two ways -- (1) as a percentage of the fats or (2) as a percentage of the alkali weight. Which method you choose depends on how you like to do things. I calculate the water based on the weight of the alkali because I think it gives more consistent results.

It's easier to use a soap recipe calculator to do this work, although it can be done by hand if you are comfortable with math. I don't want to get into the process of calculating by hand at the moment, but suffice to say it can be done and I can explain it if you like.

Soapee soap calc -- http://soapee.com/calculator
SMF's soap calc -- https://www.soapmakingfriend.com/soap-making-recipe-builder-lye-calculator/