How much did you make the first time?

[eleraine]

How much soap did you make the first time (or with a new recipe)?

Am wondering because I was told - on another forum - that it's better to churn out 3 pounds (or 1.3 kg) of soap as a newbie. That's a lot of "test" soap, no? :shock:

 

[Traceyann]

I have to admit, when I started I made 1 kilo batches, that way I had enough to try myself and had out to friends for their opinions too

 

[mountainsparky]

Our first batch is still in the mold (made it yesterday) and we made a 5 pound batch because we bought a beginners kit and a 5 pound mold and they are from the same place. It actually looks good so far this morning after 12 hours. We shall see :wink:

 

[Fragola]

About 5 oz

And I would never go over 1 lb, until I have a recipe which works for me. Even if it doesn't fail, I wouldn't like being stuck with few lbs of soap which I don't really like.

 

[Jezzy]

Mine was about a kilo too. They warn about small batches because you have to be exact... There is more room for error in a large batch and that is beneficial to a newbie because of the lye...

You could always post the recipe here and let the pros pick it apart. :wink: If you have a lot of test soap I am sure there will always be someone willing to test it for you

 

[eleraine]

I'm actually thinking of trying 500gms (slightly over 1 pound) to start with for my first couple of soaps - mainly coz my pool of friends and family (aka the guinea pigs) is rather limited. (Just moved to my hubby's homecountry so all my friends and family are back in Asia.)

Re the lye, I read that it's best to round down instead of round up, correct?

 

[Jezzy]

yes... Even better is to work in grams if possible.

 

[Dragonkaz]

I had a silicon mould that held 750 gm ... so I started with that amount. Made that amount for a few months then went up to 1500 gm and now it's 2000 gm. I still make 750 gm when testing a new FO.

 

[Fragola]

Re the lye, I read that it's best to round down instead of round up, correct?

I never round the lye. Instead, I find out how much oil I need for ... let's say 2.00 oz of lye.

 

[SoapyD]

I've only been soaping for about 5 weeks (first batch is cured yay!!!) and I've done 9 batches so far. Hubby made me three wooden molds. One is two pounds, and the other two are convertible from two pounds to five pounds. I am still doing two pound batches, as I haven't had enough soaps cure to find out if I love one enough to make 5 pounds of it. The last batch is an experimental shaving formula, and I found a round plastic container that is the perfect size for one pound, so I used that. I feel comfortable enough with my measuring skills and my scale now to do 1 pound test batches. I didn't want to go too small at the beginning due to the precise measurements for really small batches.

 

[agriffin]

I'm actually thinking of trying 500gms (slightly over 1 pound) to start with for my first couple of soaps - mainly coz my pool of friends and family (aka the guinea pigs) is rather limited. (Just moved to my hubby's homecountry so all my friends and family are back in Asia.)

Re the lye, I read that it's best to round down instead of round up, correct?

Yes, rounding down is a good rule. My scale just goes to one number after the decimal (ex. 4.2 oz) so I round down alot.

 

[agriffin]

Oh, and I started off making 2 pound batches at first. And still do for the most part.

 

[carebear]

2#, like Amanda. Still my favorite batch size!

round the lye down. it's simpler than trying to adjust your oils - less room for error. it's not like the SAP is a precise number anyway - it's a value picked from a naturally occurring range.

 

[judymoody]

500 grams is fine.

My go to size is 800 grams because it fills an 8 inch standard silicone loaf mold and I get 8 good sized bars of soap - after cure they weigh 125 grams + each.

 

[Tegan]

My very first batch of soap ever was two bars....made in a college chemistry class. I'm also amazed that we didn't horribly burn ourselves or worse making those bars....we were given NO safety information.....shesh.

I make 2 lbs batches mostly now (4lbs if I make a "double batch" of the scent I'm working with), but will be moving to 5 lbs batches when I get my new molds next month. I'm sure I'll still make a ton of 2 lbs batches though.

 

[azimuth]

I made 4 lbs on my very first batch.
:shock:

 

[Sunny]

Re the lye, I read that it's best to round down instead of round up, correct?

yes that's correct. round down rather than up.

I made 1.5 - 2 lb batches from the start and I still make the same size.

 

[ericllucas]

My first two batches were just under nine pounds. Lots of reasons why I wanted a large batch initially. Subsequent batches are in the three pound region.

 

[IrishLass]

My very first batch was 3 lbs (about 1.5 kilos), and it came out lye heavy and broke into shards when I cut it (the silly newbie that I was back then had gotten the recipe off the internet without running it through a lye calculator first- a hard lesson learned early on), and it all had to be thrown away. I wish I had started out much smaller than that so that all those oils/fats and lye would not have been wasted.

Because of that, I recommend starting with the smallest size batch that is safe to make- at least a pound or just slightly over (at least .5 kilos). My test batches are 1.13 lbs, which makes 4 or 5 soaps depending on how thick or thin I cut them (if 1.13 lbs seems an odd number it's because that's what fits exactly in my test mold).

My normal or regular batches are 2.5 pounds (1.1 kilos).

IrishLass

 

[Relle]

I started off with 1 kg (approx 2.2lbs) and still make the same.