Liquid confusion

[pinpointpete]

Hello everyone,

Newby here, I'm assuming that soap calc takes in to account all liquids including fragrance. My question is if I add any other liquids such as sodium lactate do I need to reduce my water by the amount added. My lye solution is at 33%. Thanks

 

[AliOop]

SL is used in such a small amount, you don’t need to adjust your liquid at all unless you are making micro-batches of soap.

FWIW, your recommended amount of liquid also does not change based on whether you add fragrance or not. Try adding it and removing it in the calc and you will see.

As long as you are using a reasonable lye concentration such as your current 33%, you don’t have to worry about small additions for fragrance and SL.

 

[cmzaha]

I personally do not use SL, but here is a link to good directions about how to use it in soap. There is also a wealth of information in this article written by our resident chemist and forum member DeeAnna
Sodium lactate | Soapy Stuff

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Newby here

Hiya @pinpointpete! Welcome!

Please take a moment to go to the Introduction Forum and tell us a little about yourself, especially your Soapmaking experience and anything else you care to share. This will make it easier for us to help you on your Soapy Journey and, if you're lucky, make a few soapy friends near you.

 

[DeeAnna]

SoapCalc (SoapCalc) doesn't account for the water in your additives. If you look at the calculator, it never asks you about water-based additives, so there's no way for it to account for them.

If you want, say, to make a lye solution at 33% lye concentration, the water calculated by SoapCalc is the total amount of water needed to make a 33% concentration. If you also use X grams of a 60% sodium lactate solution and you want to account for the water contributed by that solution, you must make that correction by hand.

There are a few other calcs that are set up to handle certain additives and will do the calculations and adjustments for you.

Fragrance oils and essential oils are not water soluble additives. You don't make adjustments to the water amount if you use FOs, EOs, or other non-water-soluble additives.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

If you also use X grams of a 60% sodium lactate solution and you want to account for the water contributed by that solution, you must make that correction by hand.

That reminds me... MMS Lye Calc offers recommendations for SL use in its printout:

Sodium Lactate: I want to use sodium lactate to make a firmer bar. Please give recommendations.