HP SOAP newbie please advise

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Hello guys, I have been making CP soaps until now and have just ordered a crockpot and want to try HP soaps. The reason is that I feel a need to control what remains in the soaps and I dont want all my precious get damaged by lye.
Hope my premise is right and that it's the same reason why most people make HP.

I am not sure about the recipe for HP so here is my question:

If I want to make a HP soap with extra added nourishing oils or butters (which I add only after the soap is gelled, so that the oils dont get damaged by lye) - do I need to calculate them in the initial recipe through soap calc?
Or do I add just some certain quantities per pound which are recommended? How much is that?

Since the soap gets very thick and hard to work with, some people add water with salt in there before pouring. Do I need to calculate this too in the inititial recipe?
Or is the soap calc meant only for making the initial emulsified mixture lye water / oils?

I would be grateful for a reply or a link to some previous threads.
Thanks so much!!!!!
 
Welcome.

To start with, I wouldn't worry about how it looks so you don't have to worry about the extra water and so on. I use a 3:1 water to lye ratio for my hp anyway.

Personally (there are a couple of well liked methods), I calculate the recipe with all oils in the right percentages so that I can see how many grams my superfat oils are. Then I recalculate recipe without the superfat to get the right lye amount. This is because my saponified oils + my superfat should equal my total batch size. If I am aiming for a 1000g with 5% superfat total batch size, I need to make a 950g 0% superfat batch and then add in 50g oils after the cook
 
Hello, thanks so much for the reply!
What are the other methods? ;))

And how about the water then? ;) I would be happy to know these thing now already so that I don't have to ask again ;) thanks so much!
 
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Well the other method involves more maths to differences in the lye between the batch with and without the superfat. I don't fully understand it, but it does seem to be more accurate.

As for water, using a 3:1 water:lye ratio, the amount of water won't change much between the two - the amount of lye won't be changing huge amounts
 
Hey, OK, I will stick to your recommendation then :)
I don't understand the 3:1 water amount - you add 2x extra water even if your recipe calculated the water amount for you?
 
Welcome.

To start with, I wouldn't worry about how it looks so you don't have to worry about the extra water and so on. I use a 3:1 water to lye ratio for my hp anyway.

Personally (there are a couple of well liked methods), I calculate the recipe with all oils in the right percentages so that I can see how many grams my superfat oils are. Then I recalculate recipe without the superfat to get the right lye amount. This is because my saponified oils + my superfat should equal my total batch size. If I am aiming for a 1000g with 5% superfat total batch size, I need to make a 950g 0% superfat batch and then add in 50g oils after the cook

Thanks for the tip!

I'm going to try this tonight. I've always done the HP exactly as the CP, just cooked it. I hadn't added extra water or held the SF until after the cook. The only time I SFd after the cook was when I master batched. I split it into four and SFd each mini batch with an oz of different oils.

This should help with the molding. I hope. It's amazing what one can learn when just browsing the threads!
 
I think TEG meant that when you run your recipe through your lye calculator, you put in a 3:1 water:lye ratio. On SoapCalc, it's the third option on the "water" section.

Thank you!

Thanks for the tip!

I'm going to try this tonight. I've always done the HP exactly as the CP, just cooked it. I hadn't added extra water or held the SF until after the cook. The only time I SFd after the cook was when I master batched. I split it into four and SFd each mini batch with an oz of different oils.

This should help with the molding. I hope. It's amazing what one can learn when just browsing the threads!

Well it's funny indeed that almost no one when talking about HP and the benefits over CP mentions this - because for me this is exactly the reason why I want to start making HP soaps!!! :O I find it more complicated than CP which you just mix and pour - I am a bit afraid of the cooking process! :) So I would never start doing HP justvfor fun, without it being better than CP regarding the nourishing and other beneficial effects of the soap :) I know it hasn't been measured much, but I think it's evident that the lye damages lots of the oil properties, and I find it wasteful to add some precious oils to react with it... It's also evident that lye "eats" not only the oils, but also the EOs. Or am I wrong?

So, if I understood correctly, is the general recipe as follows?

I want to make a batch of 1000 g soap
5 % superfat with extra added hemp oil
5 % means 50 g
So in soap calc I calculate a batch only for 950 g with 0 % superfat (meaning all these oils will mix with lye and emulsify)
And add 50 g hemp oil after gel phase.
Ok?

Thanks a lot!!!
 

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