Maths for soapmaking

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SudsyJurn

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Hello everyone!
If this post should be moved to the beginners forum please let me know!
Also, sorry of these questions have been asked before but I'm wondering if I could some help or at least be pointed in the right direction to research more. I'm just beginning and I have been using the default "water as % of oils" but I'm interested in learning how to or the maths involved in using the "water:lye ratio" or "lye concentration %" method now, so that as I progress it will be easier.
I'm also wondering if there is somewhere that has a good guide for what type of ratio/concentration % should be used for what type of recipe i.e. a certain concentration % for castile, bastille, etc., or if it's just trial and error.
I'd like to start using percentages for the oils instead of ounces and I'm wondering how to go about that as well.
Thank you so much for any advice and input. Its greatly appreciated,
Jurn
 
Here is a good tutorial on how to calculate a soap recipe by Clara Lindberg (Auntie Clara) -- Lye Calculation Using a Saponification Chart - Tutorial

Here are my suggestions for choosing an appropriate water concentration -- Soapy Stuff: Water in soap

Hi, these two links are both awesome resources so thank you for sharing. I do have a question about how she knew how many grams of oil she was going to use. So in her recipe she was going to use 730g of oil because that's what was going to fit in her mold. How did she figure that out? I have seen other people use LxWxH x .41 and I've also seen people use LxWxH x .7? So, I'm a bit confused. Thank you!
 
@BlackSwan30 -- There's a pinned thread in either the Lye Soap forum or the Beginner forum about the "0.40 rule" but I can find my article quicker. See Soapy Stuff: Estimate batter to fill a mold

But knowing Clara, she's probably used her mold for awhile and tweaked the weight of fats she uses to suit her taste. The 0.40 Rule for inches and ounces (or its companion the 0.70 Rule for grams and centimeters) will give you a rough number to get you started. You'll probably want to tweak the weight of oils up or down a bit to suit your preferences.
 
@BlackSwan30 -- There's a pinned thread in either the Lye Soap forum or the Beginner forum about the "0.40 rule" but I can find my article quicker. See Soapy Stuff: Estimate batter to fill a mold

But knowing Clara, she's probably used her mold for awhile and tweaked the weight of fats she uses to suit her taste. The 0.40 Rule for inches and ounces (or its companion the 0.70 Rule for grams and centimeters) will give you a rough number to get you started. You'll probably want to tweak the weight of oils up or down a bit to suit your preferences.

Okay, awesome! Thank you so much 😊.
 
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