Masterbatch lye and water

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Cannon1227

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Can someone explain to me how to master batch lye and water. More specifically when you masterbatch is it specific to the oils chosen for your cp batch? I just don’t get the math.

As always, thanks for the help!

Leanne
 
Can someone explain to me how to master batch lye and water. More specifically when you masterbatch is it specific to the oils chosen for your cp batch? I just don’t get the math.

As always, thanks for the help!

Leanne
I thought it was difficult at first but it is easy now.

First make a 50/50 water - lye to get your initial master batch.

Now for the recipe end and I am going to use easy numbers for this.
If your recipe calls 20 ounces of water and 10 ounces of lye here is the math.

You take your lye X2 - (10 X 2) =20ozs this number will be how much of your master batch you will use 20 ozs.

Now for the amount of water you take the amount the recipe calls for 20 ozs then you take the original amount of lye 10 ozs and you subtract that from the water to get the new amount of water to add to the 20 ozs of master batch.
20 - 10= 10ozs
So your new numbers for your recipe is
10ozs of water and 20ozs master batch.
 
More specifically when you masterbatch is it specific to the oils chosen for your cp batch?

For me it is. My recipe 35% Olive Oil, 20% each Coconut and Palm Oil, 10% each Cocoa and Shea Butter and 10% Castor Oil. For 16 oz of Oils/Butters with 5% SuperFat at a 33% Lye Concentration, I need 4.49 oz Water and 2.21 oz Sodium Hydroxide. I then multiple it by 40...which fills 2-1 gal jugs about 3/4 full.

I also master batch my oils and butter...I make 640 oz in 160 oz batches (6 lbs of hard oils/butters is all my pot can hold).

When it's time to make soap, I look at my spreadsheet which tells me how much oils/butters and lye solution I need for which mold.
 
It is super simple. Most find it easiest to work with 50/50 which is equal parts lye to water by weight. The biggest trick is to make sure you stir extremely well and periodically while your masterbatch is cooling because you want to be sure it is all dissolved. I usually masterbatch 2 gallons at a time so I put my 3-gallon HDPE bucket in the sink in an ice batch because it will generate a lot of heat. Even when I first started master batching using a Rubbermaid pitcher, which btw works very well, I would put it in an ice bath so it would cool down faster.

When you are ready to soap you your recipe through a soap calculator which will tell you how much lye and water/liquid you need. What you need to remember when using masterbatch is you have to double the amount of masterbatch if your recipe calls for 4 oz lye you use 8 oz masterbatch (this gives you 4 oz lye 4 oz water) because your masterbatch is 1/2 lye 1/2 water. You will deduct 4 oz from your liquid requirement and add in the additional required liquid. Many like this method because it makes it easier to use milks and other liquids without adding them directly to lye adding the additional liquids to the oils. . If you use our forums Soapmaking Friend Calculator it will do the math for you if you check the box to use masterbatch.
 
I do mine a bit differently.

Since I use the same lye concentration for all of my soaps, I master-batch my lye to that concentration.

Then like @cmzaha says, use the Soapmaking Friend calculator to create your recipe.

Click the "master batch lye" option to turn it on.

Enter the water:lye ratio (concentration) that you created. I use a 40% concentration, so my ratio is 1.5: 1

Enter the rest of your recipe as usual.

Look to the right, and you will see how much master-batched solution to use, along with how much of each oil and additive you entered.
 
It is super simple. Most find it easiest to work with 50/50 which is equal parts lye to water by weight. The biggest trick is to make sure you stir extremely well and periodically while your masterbatch is cooling because you want to be sure it is all dissolved. I usually masterbatch 2 gallons at a time so I put my 3-gallon HDPE bucket in the sink in an ice batch because it will generate a lot of heat. Even when I first started master batching using a Rubbermaid pitcher, which btw works very well, I would put it in an ice bath so it would cool down faster.

When you are ready to soap you your recipe through a soap calculator which will tell you how much lye and water/liquid you need. What you need to remember when using masterbatch is you have to double the amount of masterbatch if your recipe calls for 4 oz lye you use 8 oz masterbatch (this gives you 4 oz lye 4 oz water) because your masterbatch is 1/2 lye 1/2 water. You will deduct 4 oz from your liquid requirement and add in the additional required liquid. Many like this method because it makes it easier to use milks and other liquids without adding them directly to lye adding the additional liquids to the oils. . If you use our forums Soapmaking Friend Calculator it will do the math for you if you check the box to use masterbatch.
Thank you so much for your previous response. Sorry its taken so long to get back to you....I just had a grandbaby:)

I made a master batch of water/lye (20oz distilled water to 20oz sodium hydroxide) my calculations from soap making friend is attached. Based on that reciepe would I use 2.16 of my master batch and then add an addition 2.16 of liquid to meet my 2:1 lye ratio?

ugh I’m so confused
 

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No, you would use 4.32 of your masterbatch, then subtract 2.16 from your total 4.31 liquid. Remember your masterbatch is 1/2 lye 1/2 water.

Using the SoapmakingFriends Calculator check the box to use 1:1 masterbatch it will do the math for you. This is the only calculator that I know of that will calculate it for you.
 

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