Lye concentration?

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PiperNigrum

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Hi 👋, I’ve been using SaponiCalc as my lye calculator for cp soap and it automatically puts my lye concentration at 33%. My bars are great, but I don’t really understand what lye concentration is… Is it something to do with the lye to water ratio? Thanks in advance 😊
 
Is it something to do with the lye to water ratio?

Pretty much. The higher the concentration, the less water. The lower the concentration, the more water. The actual amount of Sodium Hydroxide doesn't change.

There can be many reasons why someone would want to use more or less water. I normally use 33% Lye Concentration, but because I live in the Pacific Northwest where it rains a lot during the winter months and I cure in my garage, I use less water (35%) during those months elsewise I have to add three weeks to my cure time. Some folks with a higher Lye Concentration as there is less water to evaporate and they can shorten their cure time, but you have to realize that there is more to "curing" your soap than water evaporation. There is what is happening on a molecular level that produces such a great bar of soap.
 
Pretty much. The higher the concentration, the less water. The lower the concentration, the more water. The actual amount of Sodium Hydroxide doesn't change.

There can be many reasons why someone would want to use more or less water. I normally use 33% Lye Concentration, but because I live in the Pacific Northwest where it rains a lot during the winter months and I cure in my garage, I use less water (35%) during those months elsewise I have to add three weeks to my cure time. Some folks with a higher Lye Concentration as there is less water to evaporate and they can shorten their cure time, but you have to realize that there is more to "curing" your soap than water evaporation. There is what is happening on a molecular level that produces such a great bar of soap.
Okay, that makes sense. I think I will stick with mine for now, but it could be something to experiment with.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the default lye setting on SoapCalc was 38% water as percent of oils. That may or may not work out to 33% lye concentration for any given batch, depending on the size of the batch and the sap values of the oils in the recipes.

I would recommend that you actually select "lye concentration" instead and set it to something around 33%. That will give you more consistent results if you decide to increase or decrease the size of your batch.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the default lye setting on SoapCalc was 38% water as percent of oils. That may or may not work out to 33% lye concentration for any given batch, depending on the size of the batch and the sap values of the oils in the recipes.

I would recommend that you actually select "lye concentration" instead and set it to something around 33%. That will give you more consistent results if you decide to increase or decrease the size of your batch.
Soapcalc is not the only lye calculator in use. The OP uses saponiCalc - Soap Calculator

This is what the 'Create Your Own' screen looks like with the defaults:

1622986742550.png
 
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