not sure if my soap has too much oil

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Tanya & Joy

Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2022
Messages
12
Reaction score
9
Location
Thailand
A few days ago I tried to make HP soap and found a calculation about how to calculate the amount of SF oil which I intended to add at the end. However, I forgot to add the lye amount for the SF so it seemed Iike I only mixed the lye for 90% of soap. (my sf is 10%) In case my explanation is confusing, here is my recipe.

Palm Kernel oil 28% = 126 g
Coconut oil 28% = 126 g
Cocoa butter 10% = 45 g
Rice barn oil 34% = 153 g
SF = 10% adding after the soap was cooked
shea butter 7% = 43 g
Castor oil 3% = 19 g
Yogurt 30 g

water = 171g
NaOH = 71 g

** I actually calculated the additional lye = 7.9 g but I forgot to add with 71 g above.**

Can anybody please tell me if
1. my soap is short of lye? or
2. will it be OK if it is cured longer?
3. What should I do with this?

If anyone would like to make any suggestions about the recipe I made, please do not hesitate to do so. All your comments are welcome.

Please help. Thank you very much.
 
You don't need extra lye for superfat. The idea of it being 'superfat' is that is superfluous to what can be saponified by lye. Roughly calculated, it sounds like you have used the correct amount of lye.
Please make sure you use an online soap calculator as this will work out all the correct measurements for you.
What was your superfat oil? Your soap will be fine to use. 10% is a high superfat by today's standards though, so it may clog your drains or leave soap scum over time.
 
You don't need extra lye for superfat. The idea of it being 'superfat' is that is superfluous to what can be saponified by lye. Roughly calculated, it sounds like you have used the correct amount of lye.
Please make sure you use an online soap calculator as this will work out all the correct measurements for you.
What was your superfat oil? Your soap will be fine to use. 10% is a high superfat by today's standards though, so it may clog your drains or leave soap scum over time.
My superfats are shea butter 7% and castor oil 3%
 
OK - what made you choose 10% superfat? Are you following a recipe and/or are you using an online soap calculator? It sounds like you don't have a grasp of how soap recipes are built, so just wanting to make sure you understand.
I used soapcal.net. Normally I use 5-8% superfat but I read from one article about adding shea butter after the soap was cooked to preserve its quality and in that article they mentioned using 10% sf so I decided to try 10%. Now it seems like my batch will have some problem right?

Thank you very much for your concern. Any comments and suggestions are highly appreciated. I am very new to soap making and still try to learn from different sources. I actually tried to buy the ultimate guide to cp and hp but very unlucky I couldn't transfer the payment since I was not able to pay by paypal from my country. And paypal is the only payment method they accept.
 
You have 110% of oils in your recipe. I don't make HP soap but I am pretty sure the SF oil% comes out of the 100% of oils. No need to calculate extra percentages of oils for super fat. Just choose which oils you want and add them at the end of the cook. It is all debatable if this actually works but HP soap makers will advise you.

If you use soapcalc and add your ingredients it will make 512g of soap at 30% lye concentration and 8% superfat you will need 171g water and 73g Sodium hydroxide. You can always use soapcalc by working backwards to work out what the actual lye concentration or superfat you ended up with in your soap.

You have used 171g of water but only 71g of lye. This small discrepancy will not make any difference to the soap.

I'm not sure that your recipe is fantastic, though. I don't use that high a SP. As KiwiMoose says it may be gluggy and block your drains. I use much <5%. That much Rice Bran oil will make a soft soap and that much coconut oil will make a soap that my skin would find very drying.
 
A few days ago I tried to make HP soap and found a calculation about how to calculate the amount of SF oil which I intended to add at the end. However, I forgot to add the lye amount for the SF so it seemed Iike I only mixed the lye for 90% of soap. (my sf is 10%) In case my explanation is confusing, here is my recipe.

Palm Kernel oil 28% = 126 g
Coconut oil 28% = 126 g
Cocoa butter 10% = 45 g
Rice barn oil 34% = 153 g
SF = 10% adding after the soap was cooked
shea butter 7% = 43 g
Castor oil 3% = 19 g
Yogurt 30 g

water = 171g
NaOH = 71 g

** I actually calculated the additional lye = 7.9 g but I forgot to add with 71 g above.**

Can anybody please tell me if
1. my soap is short of lye? or
2. will it be OK if it is cured longer?
3. What should I do with this?

If anyone would like to make any suggestions about the recipe I made, please do not hesitate to do so. All your comments are welcome.

Please help. Thank you very much.
I should be fine the way it is. It has quite a lot of oil high in lauric acid so the 10% super fat will compensate for the drying effect of the soap. It won't be oily.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top