My recipe seems to be 17-18% superfat

[SequimSoaper]

Hello you soaping geniuses, ;-) :wink:

I just realized that the recipe I've been using is 17-18% superfatted (or however you say that). So have I been making a bunch of soap that is going to go rancid quickly?? Oh, nooooooo!

I put this recipe in the soapcalc and had to set the water/lye ratio at 4:1 (to match the recipe) and then kept increasing the superfat until the water and lye amounts came closest to the recipe. If I did it correctly, the soap is WAY superfatted!

Here's the recipe:
32 oz. CO
48 oz. Crisco
16 oz. OO
48 oz. H2O
12 oz. lye

Any suggestions??

Thanks!

 

[xyxoxy]

That seems like a LOT of Crisco and when I ran it I got an even higher superfat. It looks a little high in conditioning but you never know until you try it... it could be fine.

Also 4:1 is a little more water than you need. I use 2:1 (33%) but many people fall somewhere in between.

Where did you get this recipe?

My suggestion is that since you now know how to use soapcalc... use it to create your own recipes.

ETA: If you used the kind of Crisco that has Palm oil instead of the kind that is just Cottonseed and Soybean it would probably produce a better bar... but it's still a lot higher % than I would use.

 

[SequimSoaper]

I got the recipe from a video called, "The Art of Soap Making."

The Crisco is part soybean and part palm oils.

So if I run the oils in the recipe through soapcalc, leaving the superfat at 5%, I can make the soap with the amount of lye that they recommend, and it should be fine?

Thanks for the help!

 

[xyxoxy]

Sure...I see no reason not to try it. 5%-8% superfat is common. Some people go a bit higher. If you click "Learn" --> "Soap Qualities" you will see that this recipe falls within the ranges that Soapcalc considers acceptable.

However... since it is an experiment I don't think I would make a batch in those quantities. That's 7 pounds and test batches are usually only 1 or 2 pounds. If it doesn't do what you want it to that's a lot of wasted oils and lye.

Try using percentages and scale down your recipe. Right now your percentages are (rounded off):
Crisco - 57%
Coconut - 29%
Olive - 14%

You can use those same percentages and change the "Weight of Oils" value to any number you like... in grams, pounds, or ounces. For example you can tell soapcalc that you want to make a 1 pound batch and it will tell you how much of each oil to use and how much lye and water. Speaking of water you might consider using the soapcalc default of 38% water as % of oils (27% lye concentration).

You can also play with the percentages to see what it does to the soap properties (hardness, bubbly etc). And if there are any other oils you are thinking about using you can add those and continue to play until you are happy. Frankly I almost never make a bar without 5%-10% Castor oil which you can get locally. But all of that is up to you.

I hope that's helpful.

 

[SequimSoaper]

Thanks so much! This has been very helpful!

 

[xyxoxy]

Any time...