Question re: Basic Cold Proces Soap in Everything Soapmaking Book

[staceyb]

Hi! I'm new to cold process soap and am having a blast so far! I'm getting ready to branch out on my own a bit. I have the "Everything Soapmaking Book" and used the Basic Recipe on pg. 78. However, I'm getting confused when I plug it into soapcalc.net. Can someone take a look and help me figure out the best way to plug exisiting recipes into soapcalc? I'd like to understand why a certain recipe seems to call for more lye than soapcalc and/or what percentage of superfatting is done. I could post the recipe here, but I don't want to anger the copyright gods...
thanks!
Stacey

 

[Susie]

I have it on my Kindle, so my "pages" are not the same as the book. If you could simply post the amounts of the oils it calls for, then we can do the rest.

 

[staceyb]

I have it on my Kindle, so my "pages" are not the same as the book. If you could simply post the amounts of the oils it calls for, then we can do the rest.

Thanks!

5 oz water
2.2 oz lye
11 oz olive
5 oz coconut
.5 castor

When I plug the oil values into soapcalc, and play with 5-8% superfat, I still don't get these lye and water amounts.

 

[Susie]

That is an 11% superfat. I just kept raising the SF until the numbers matched.

 

[staceyb]

That is an 11% superfat. I just kept raising the SF until the numbers matched.

Oh Wow! I didn't even think to keep increasing the %. That explains why it's so soft! Interesting that she uses that high of a superfat for her "basic" recipe.

I might change that up for my next experiment.

Thanks so much for your quick help!