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mommycarlson

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Hi All,
I have a recipe that I would love to try for a honey oatmeal soap. The recipe came from soap making resource in an email. I put all ingredients into soapcalc and the amounts are vastly different from what the original recipe states. What could be the reason for this? For instance, in the original recipe it calls for 26.5 ounce of olive oil but when I put the amounts into soapcalc it calls for 40 oz. I'm afraid to make it because all of the amounts are so different. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Beth
 
When you put the oils for the recipe into soap calc are you adding them as percentages or as ounces of oil? If I am running a recipe that is found somewhere else, and its written in ounces of oils instead of percentages I usually calculate the percentages of the written recipe first, then go to soap calc with the size batch I use. I just think it's easier to work in the percentages of the formulas.
 
I'm adding them in percentages, which is why I found it so strange that they were so different. I'm fairly new at soaping, so I thought maybe there were some veterans on here that would know the answer :) I am going to post the original recipe:

Olive Oil = 26.5 Ounces (50% of total oils)
Coconut Oil (76 Degree) = 10.6 Ounces (20% of total oils)
Sweet Almond Oil = 6.4 Ounces (12% of total oils)
Avocado Oil = 5.3 Ounces (10% of total oils)
Castor Oil = 4.3 ounces (8% of total oils)
Honey = 2.5 ounces
Almond Milk = 6 ounces
Whole Oats = 2 ounces
Orange, sweet essential oil = 45 grams
Clove Bud essential oil = 30 grams
Distilled Water = 12 ounces
lye = 7.281 ounces (206 grams)
*This recipe has a 5% super-fat.

And now the one from soapcalc:
Olive Oil: 40.0 oz
Coconut Oil: 16.0 oz
Castor Oil: 6.40 oz
Avocado Oil: 8.0 oz
Almond Oil, sweet: 9.60 oz
Distilled water: 30.40 oz
lye: 10.99 oz
FO: 2.50 oz

I do not have the total for honey, almond milk, or oats but the original recipe removes 8 oz of water from their 20 oz to make it 12 and replaces the 8 oz with 6 oz almond milk. I'm not positive how to calculate all those things so I didn't even try yet :)
Any help would be greatly appreciated, would love to make this soap!
 
It depends on the size of your mold to know the quantity of oils needed for a batch of soap in THAT mold. Measure and multiply length x width x depth in inches, multiply that total x .40, that is the total OILS to use in the "weight of oils" space on your soap calculator.

Then enter the % of each oil in your recipe and hit the "calculate" button.

 
The original recipe as entered into SoapCalc is for 53.10 total oz oil weight at a 5% SF using the standard 38% water as weight of oils. When you add up all of the original weights given in the original recipe, they come to 53.10 oz oils. That is what the "oil weight" total amount should be entered into SoapCalc for the appropriate amount pf oils to use to be determined based on percentages. But since you already had the weights, you needed to enter the 53.10 in the oil amount and enter the weights instead of the percentages into the columns. It would have calculated the percentages and given you the same water (20.18 oz) and NaOH (7.29 oz/206.79 grams) as the original recipe. Deducting 8 oz water from the 20 to give 12 oz and using 6 oz almond milk in place of the water. That leaves 2 oz less liquid; not sure why that was done. (Does the original recipe tell you to add the remaining 2 oz water to the oats to hydrate before mixing with the batter to avoid seizing or accelerating?)

When you entered the recipe, your total weight of oils is 80 oz. In order for SoapCalc to generate the numbers, you have to tell it the batch weight (total weight of oils). Even if you already know the individual weights of the oils, you need to add them up to get your batch weight. If you are going only on percentages, you need to give the target weight in order for the SoapCalc to correctly calculate the percentages of THAT target weight. The SoapCalc weights that you came up with total 80 oz. So, where did that batch weight come from? That is why the numbers do not add up.

The original recipe called for a batch weight of 53.10 ounces. Your batch calls for 80 ounces. 50% of 80 is 40. 50% of 53.10 is 26.5. You need to have more NaOH to saponify 80 ounces of oils than you do to saponify 53.10 ounces of oils. However, both recipes are mathematically correct and perfectly safe. You can do either a 53.10 batch (as originally written). OR you can do an 80 ounce batch as you selected. Both will yield a 5% SF and will cure out similarly. Personally, I don't think I would use that much clove eo (2%) since it's a sensitizer, but that's just me. Here's a good article on the usage of EOs in soaps. It recommends clove bud at 0.5%. That's a huge difference from 2%. (http://www.modernsoapmaking.com/essential-oil-usage-rates-ifra-guidelines/)

I may not know math, but I know SoapCalc. :lol:

I hope this helps.
 
Mystery solved: The recipe is perfectly fine as written by Soap Making Resource. The reason why the amounts are so far off when you've typed it into SoapCalc by the percentages is because you have the batch weight set to 80 oz. instead of the original 53.10.

How big is your mold/how big of a batch do you want to make?


IrishLass :)


LOL- Theresa and I were typing at the same time, only she was quicker than me. :lol:
 
Oh my goodness! I can't believe I didn't realize that. So the original recipe was for 5 pounds, that makes a 5 pound batch, but what I forgot when I figured it was that it was 5 pounds total, or 53.10 ounces of oil! Wow, I feel silly now for not figuring that out on my own. I really had smoke coming out of my ears! LOL :oops: Thank you all so much for responding! My mold comfortably holds 31 oz of OILS plus everything else, and I did put that into soapcalc, now I just need to figure out amounts of honey/oatmeal/almond milk but I should be able to do that.
Beth
 
Oh my goodness! I can't believe I didn't realize that. So the original recipe was for 5 pounds, that makes a 5 pound batch, but what I forgot when I figured it was that it was 5 pounds total, or 53.10 ounces of oil! Wow, I feel silly now for not figuring that out on my own. I really had smoke coming out of my ears! LOL :oops: Thank you all so much for responding! My mold comfortably holds 31 oz of OILS plus everything else, and I did put that into soapcalc, now I just need to figure out amounts of honey/oatmeal/almond milk but I should be able to do that.
Beth

I'm laughing at this because I didn't even look at the total batch weight of the original recipe when I asked you where you got your 80 oz from. I have trained myself to ignore total batch weight and only use total oil weight. That was the hardest thing for me to drill into my head when I first started soaping: measuring a mold and coming up with oil weight and not batch weight, or referring to a "2 pound batch" of soap. How do you get 11 4 oz bars of soap out of 2 pounds of soap? HUH? :think: That makes no sense whatsoever. Until it makes sense...it's only 2 pounds of oils but the entire batch weighs about 3.5 pounds, and there's shrinkage to account for... It's all sciency and stuff. :)
 
Based on my calcs, the clove oil in that recipe is about three times the IFRA recommend max for soap.

You should always check the msds for your essential oils, and check the max for each component in the oil on the IFRA website before using...just like you would run each recipe through a lye calculator.

Clove oil is about 80% eugenol, and that has a max of .5% in soap.
53oz x .5% =.26oz
.26oz/.8 =.33oz
.33oz = 9.3 grams​
 
Hi Joy,
Thank you for your response. I have not made the soap yet, my daughter just made the almond milk for me so I hope to make it this week. I have .5 oz of orange and .5 oz of clove in my notes for EO to use in a 31 oz (weight of oils) recipe, will this be too much EO? Thank you for your help
Beth
 
Hi Joy,
Thank you for your response. I have not made the soap yet, my daughter just made the almond milk for me so I hope to make it this week. I have .5 oz of orange and .5 oz of clove in my notes for EO to use in a 31 oz (weight of oils) recipe, will this be too much EO? Thank you for your help
Beth

Ideally, you should look at the MSDS (safety data sheet) and see what percentage of eugenol is in your oil. If it's a really strong one or really weak one, that will change the max. amount you should use.

The issue with oils that cause "sensitization" is that long term exposure to higher than recommended levels can cause allergies, dermatitis and eczema. Using one bar with 3x the amount of recommended clove oil may not cause you problems, or it may...it just depends on how your body reacts.

I have not had luck with orange oil or 5x orange oil - the scent just doesn't stick around. Others have had luck using 10x orange and pre-mixing it with clay or cornstarch - it may help if you soak your oatmeal in the orange oil before mixing it in.
 
Thank you Joy, I think I will just stick with a coffee FO or go unscented, which is usually my preferred method anyway, my sister in law likes scent so when I make her soap I use FO. I appreciate your response
Beth
 
I use myrrh in my goat milk, oatmeal and honey soap. It blends nicely with that earthy scent you get from the oats but isn't super strong. Coffee sounds like a nice one for that, too.

Good luck with the batch!
 
Thank you Joy! I forgot this batch isn't a coffee soap, been making a lot of that lately :) I'll sniff around some of my FO's and see what smells good. I forgot my almond milk needed to be made with distilled water so I am delayed again.....sigh.....
 
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