Soap calc error ucuuba

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

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

Drchurchillsoaps

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2021
Messages
96
Reaction score
196
Location
Dayton, Ohio
So if anyone wants to use ucuuba butter in soap, may I suggest adding your own values. Soap calc has ucuuba butter entirely wrong fatty acid makeup. If you used it you wouldn’t know you’re adding cleansing value.

soap calc= steric 31 oleícola 44 Linoleic 5

Actual estimate value is = MYRISTIC 72-76, Lauric 16-20, palmitic 7-8

also when soaping with ucuuba(almost certain it’s the culprit because only new variant) it oddly hardened up almost instantly when I added lye,but only about 15% of solution(also the amount of ucuuba I used!). I continued to stick blend and it just disbursed itself and made like a Carmel thick trace consistency in a matter on 30-45 seconds all that took place. Then it sat around as Carmel forever! I let my kids decorate the tops of loaf. The one waited almost 15 minutes and the top was still soft! Just odd compared to all my other soap experiences. Soaped at 87 degrees, recipe was a simple mix, I subbed some ucuuba for coconut oil. I usually used said recipe for more detailed Swirls as it’s tallow and OO heavy.
 
Last edited:
Very interesting. SMF calc has the same exact numbers. Various sources have slightly different values, but are pretty consistent in myristic acid being ~70%. New Directions Aromatics has a nice certificat showing the specs, I love sites that do this as I can adjust in SoapMakingFriend through the custom oil option.
 
Yes, this is a shame. Fortunately at least the tabulated SAP appears reasonable. So the only thing wrong is the FA profile.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/thr...calculators-who-copies-whom.84788/post-909884https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/conceptual-soap-opera.83798/post-910765
I'm still on the search for viable use cases to finish up my ucuuba for good (and I'm glad I've only bought the small size). As appealing its high myristic content reads, the smoky smell is really off-putting IMHO. And it's really stubborn to melt up & its false trace and ricing tendency don't help either.
 
https://www.dragonspice.de/naturkosmetikRohstoffe/Butter/Ucuuba-Butter-Virgin.html
Probably there are different qualities/extraction methods. Shea butter and red palm oil are other tropical fats that are occasionally reported to have a weird smoky smell.
In fact I love the abundant lather it gives! It's one of the very few alternatives to lauric/palm kernel fats (coconut, PKO, babaçu etc.) to get shorter-chain FAs, and I'd love to use it more for that reason – but only if I know it's less stinky.
I'm glad you have a better source than me. Maybe I'd give purified myristic acid a shot. FFAs come with their own issues, but forest fire smell isn't one of them.
 
https://www.dragonspice.de/naturkosmetikRohstoffe/Butter/Ucuuba-Butter-Virgin.html
Probably there are different qualities/extraction methods. Shea butter and red palm oil are other tropical fats that are occasionally reported to have a weird smoky smell.
In fact I love the abundant lather it gives! It's one of the very few alternatives to lauric/palm kernel fats (coconut, PKO, babaçu etc.) to get shorter-chain FAs, and I'd love to use it more for that reason – but only if I know it's less stinky.
I'm glad you have a better source than me. Maybe I'd give purified myristic acid a shot. FFAs come with their own issues, but forest fire smell isn't one of them.
I could send you some sample ends off the loaf and see if you smell it @ 15%. I don’t call it Smokey but open to hear your opinion
 
https://www.dragonspice.de/naturkosmetikRohstoffe/Butter/Ucuuba-Butter-Virgin.html
Probably there are different qualities/extraction methods. Shea butter and red palm oil are other tropical fats that are occasionally reported to have a weird smoky smell.
In fact I love the abundant lather it gives! It's one of the very few alternatives to lauric/palm kernel fats (coconut, PKO, babaçu etc.) to get shorter-chain FAs, and I'd love to use it more for that reason – but only if I know it's less stinky.
I'm glad you have a better source than me. Maybe I'd give purified myristic acid a shot. FFAs come with their own issues, but forest fire smell isn't one of them.

This stuff isn't easy to find, but dang that would be a neat smell in small doses that I'd be interested in incorporating. I personally wish the woodiness of my unrefined shea would show up in the final product.
 
Back
Top