Soap Calc will be the death of me...

[LJA]

Just curious what you guys like your hardness number to be with soapcalc. With a recipe I'm playing with I got a 35. Too soft?
TIA

 

[TheSoapyEwe]

My tried and true recipe is a 38 for hardness and my bars are nice and hard

 

[Rosey]

I like to hit 40 with that but the last one I did is 29/30 (one of the 2), had a lot of OO in it and I'm waiting to see if that's too low.

I think if you let it cure it will be nice but that's my inexperienced opinion here.

 

[rubyslippers]

I go for 40 or above.

 

[BlueSky]

I did one at 29 and the bars never got hard. I go for 40 now.

 

[oldragbagger]

I still don't think soapcalc is giving you the true picture when your bars contain a lot of olive because the program gives the olive oil no hardness numbers, and we all know that olive oil soap gets very hard after a decent cure time. Since all my bars contain a high % of OO, I don't feel I can give too much weight to the number I get from soapcalc. I haven't had a soft bar yet.

 

[Guest]

May I recommend buying the soapmaker3 program :?: That thing does everything but make the soap . It is fantastic .It prints out your recipes with all your info and the INCI names .Keeps track of stock , cost of a batch or a bar , your ingredients , it will tell you when you need more of an oil etc. It is the best soaping tool I have ever bought , bar none .
It is a pleasure to make recipes on it too , very easy to use , support is almost instant .. For $89.00 you cannot lose .


Kitn ( not affiliated in any way with the program I just love it )

Kitn

 

[ChrissyB]

Discount your water, gel the soap, and if you add some salt, or sodium lactate, that will harden up your recipe also.

 

[IrishLass]

What Oldragbagger said.

My 100% olive oil Castile has a hardness reading of 15 on SoapCalc and it's very hard.

My 50% olive oil Castile-type has a hardness reading of 33 and it is quite hard, too.

My lard formula has a 38 hardness and my lard/tallow formula has a 40. Both good, solid, hard soaps.

Moral of story- take SoapCalc's quality #'s with a grain of salt. Their fatty acid profile #'s are more reliable.

IrishLass

 

[LJA]

Thanks guys...I reworked it to a 45 so we'll see how it goes. Kitn, I'd luuurrrrrvvveee the soapmaker program but with school starting, band camp, other kid starting college etc etc. I'm lucky if I have change for a parking meter...lol. It'll have to wait a bit, but I'd sell my grandmother for it. :wink:

Soapcac is proving to be sketchy, at best, sometimes. I hear ya. I'm seeing all kinds of things that don't end up true to the numbers so I am taking it with more of a grain of salt now...

 

[Guest]

I forgot about school starting , I hear you on the cost of that :shock: Maybe Santa could bring it for you :wink:

Kitn

 

[xyxoxy]

Soapcalc is GREAT for calculating your lye and liquid measurements. And it's pretty good for getting you in the ballpark to get your lather and hardness the way you want it... but it's only ballpark.

I mean you will never convince me that there is anyone who can tell you what a "40" hardness feels like.

 

[Vinca Leaf]

^^^I can tell w/my own soaps the difference between a point or two of a similar recipe, but if I took a "40" that was a blend of oils and a "40" that had the high olive oil like others are saying? Nope...I dunno that they would be the same "40".

And I did purchase Soapmaker....wooooo! Now I just have to re-create the entire year...:shock:

 

[Guest]

Yikes !! Vinca Leaf that's a lot of data entry .You will be so happy when you are done and have it running .My Fo's disappeared yesterday in the program , I about had a coronary , they came back though , they must have been out for a little Sunday drive :?:

kitn