OK, I read this thread:
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=62022&highlight=masterbatching&page=3
And my eyes glazed over until they started bleeding. Now I have a headache.
But I MUST soap cooler if I want to do swirls. Thus I have to master masterbatching. Much as I hate the math required.
So, I am pleading to someone, anyone, to do the impossible and explain the math in a format I can grasp. Because I assure you that 3 hours of trying to apply the formulae in that thread to my recipes has left me more confused than I began.
I have some specific questions:
1. Do I need to stick to the Lye/Water 1:1 ratio, or can I use the full water amount for the number of recipes I intend to make?
2. If I have to use the 1:1 ratio, then I need to know how to figure out the weight of the mixture to use per batch. I do understand that I will have to add water or other liquid to bring the total to what I need for the batch.
3. I intend to use the NaOH 95%, KOH 5% ratio. I need serious help accomplishing how to figure this out unless I can use my standard amounts and multiply it by the number of batches I want to make.
4. Assuming I use the normal amounts of lyes and water, how do I know how much to weigh out for each batch? Is it simply adding the water weight to the lyes weight, then dividing by the number of batches? Or do the weights get funky once mixed? Do I then weigh the total, subtract the weight of the container, then divide that by the number of batches?
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=62022&highlight=masterbatching&page=3
And my eyes glazed over until they started bleeding. Now I have a headache.
But I MUST soap cooler if I want to do swirls. Thus I have to master masterbatching. Much as I hate the math required.
So, I am pleading to someone, anyone, to do the impossible and explain the math in a format I can grasp. Because I assure you that 3 hours of trying to apply the formulae in that thread to my recipes has left me more confused than I began.
I have some specific questions:
1. Do I need to stick to the Lye/Water 1:1 ratio, or can I use the full water amount for the number of recipes I intend to make?
2. If I have to use the 1:1 ratio, then I need to know how to figure out the weight of the mixture to use per batch. I do understand that I will have to add water or other liquid to bring the total to what I need for the batch.
3. I intend to use the NaOH 95%, KOH 5% ratio. I need serious help accomplishing how to figure this out unless I can use my standard amounts and multiply it by the number of batches I want to make.
4. Assuming I use the normal amounts of lyes and water, how do I know how much to weigh out for each batch? Is it simply adding the water weight to the lyes weight, then dividing by the number of batches? Or do the weights get funky once mixed? Do I then weigh the total, subtract the weight of the container, then divide that by the number of batches?