I used and will continue to use soapcalc.net, but I found it was unhelpful for quickly seeing which oils were similar to others with respect to their fatty acid composition. I listed my most relevant oils in a spreadsheet to see that information at a glance. However I discovered that wasn't enough. I wanted to see exactly how similar shea butter was to a combination of lard and coconut oil. What about varying the percent of each component? What about adding a third component like stearic acid? What if I want to mix the above composite with a different oil to make a new composite? SoapCalc can do this, but with significant data entry and never seeing all you need to see at a glance.
I combined the above fatty acid table and compounding feature in a spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IlWtPhziq3Mda7quLfDWtzcwoLOtBY23_gDOCfFfu7o
The way I imagine it being used:
When you have found a composite you like, you can either masterbatch it or use it as distinct oils. Whichever option you choose, you should use a lye calculator with each oil to calculate the amount of lye needed: 10 g of fake shea butter would be 10 g * percent of oil 1 and 10 g * percent of oil 2... Using this spreadsheet may help decide recipes, but it does not replace the functionality of a lye calculator, nor can it handle more than three oils per composite. (However, a composite of two composites could have up to six oils.)
Feel free to send suggestions, but as I am not a spreadsheet expert, suggestions that contain the needed formulas/code will be much more useful.
I combined the above fatty acid table and compounding feature in a spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IlWtPhziq3Mda7quLfDWtzcwoLOtBY23_gDOCfFfu7o
The way I imagine it being used:
- Make your own copy of the spreadsheet.
- Add rows for the oils you have or can easily buy (and add the fatty acid percentages from soapcalc).
- Add rows for the oils you may find in a recipe but don't want to use.
- Highlight various rows and columns (holding ctrl for multi-select) to draw attention to certain fatty acids to see which oils match which others.
When you have found a composite you like, you can either masterbatch it or use it as distinct oils. Whichever option you choose, you should use a lye calculator with each oil to calculate the amount of lye needed: 10 g of fake shea butter would be 10 g * percent of oil 1 and 10 g * percent of oil 2... Using this spreadsheet may help decide recipes, but it does not replace the functionality of a lye calculator, nor can it handle more than three oils per composite. (However, a composite of two composites could have up to six oils.)
Feel free to send suggestions, but as I am not a spreadsheet expert, suggestions that contain the needed formulas/code will be much more useful.
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