Frank Deane
New Member
Hi everyone! This is my first post to the forum and I'm very happy to share company with many veteran soap makers. I am a complete novice (I've made four batches of mild liquid soap in the last two months) and new to this space, so PLEASE forgive my ignorance as I build a working knowledge of the craft. I am presently fine-tuning a recipe for a wonderful mild liquid soap based on an old recipe for castile that I found on the internet. I like many of its properties, but want to experiment with a different blend of base oils: EVO (60%); Castor (10%); and Coconut (30%). I am using a specific brand of coconut oil and recently contacted the company to ask for the exact saponification value for the oil. They replied with the following message:
Please see the response from the lab: Unsaponifiable matter value of our unrefined coconut oil is tested to be between 0.1 to 0.2 percent by mass.
This isn't as straightforward as I was looking for, but I think it might still be highly useful in determining what my KOH alkaline solution proportion should be, relative to the percentage of this particular fat in my total base. However, I want to make sure that I've understood this correctly, because I feel that it's super important in terms of winding up with a neutral finished product/soap paste (hot method). What they're saying is that the oil contains 10% - 20% compounds that will not be saponified, given the assumption that the KOH is entirely pure (99.9%) -- RIGHT? Or am I missing something here? I think I would then have to reduce the percentage of KOH in solution to account for the inactive components in the base fat, per the info given by the manufacturer. Again, this is assuming the KOH is entirely pure. By contrast, if my KOH were only 90% pure, I am assuming I wouldn't need to make much of an adjustment if any at all. AM I understanding this concept correctly? Thank you all in advance!!!
Please see the response from the lab: Unsaponifiable matter value of our unrefined coconut oil is tested to be between 0.1 to 0.2 percent by mass.
This isn't as straightforward as I was looking for, but I think it might still be highly useful in determining what my KOH alkaline solution proportion should be, relative to the percentage of this particular fat in my total base. However, I want to make sure that I've understood this correctly, because I feel that it's super important in terms of winding up with a neutral finished product/soap paste (hot method). What they're saying is that the oil contains 10% - 20% compounds that will not be saponified, given the assumption that the KOH is entirely pure (99.9%) -- RIGHT? Or am I missing something here? I think I would then have to reduce the percentage of KOH in solution to account for the inactive components in the base fat, per the info given by the manufacturer. Again, this is assuming the KOH is entirely pure. By contrast, if my KOH were only 90% pure, I am assuming I wouldn't need to make much of an adjustment if any at all. AM I understanding this concept correctly? Thank you all in advance!!!