Teach Soap

I have been using the default Soap Calc. of 38% and I tried a batch with 32% and I loved how hard my soap came out of the mold today. Just wanted to be sure this was still okay as far as saponification.

Here is how I understand this to be, please correct me if I am wrong. The lower the percent, the quicker the bars will become hard as there is less water to evaporate. Saponification should not be affected as there is still the same % of NaOH to oils.

If my thinking holds, then are there any drawbacks to using less water? And, is there a minimum you would go on the percent for water? What % water do you use?

Thanks for your help.

This is a great question about what percentage others use. I use Summerbee Meadows lye calculator because I love how it customizes the batch to your size of mold. I tried the default % of water on Soapcalc once and it took a long time for my soap to harden and cure. I've heard others who use anywhere from 33 to 35%.

It kinda depends...like, if I have a floral FO I will try to do it "full water" at 35%. For things I know don't really accelerate trace, or if I know I'm not needing time to do color, I can discount. I've gone as low as 25% water-to-oils and been ok, but that's after doing the same recipe several times, over time, and just decreased the water little by little.

I've also had rainwater sploosh into my lyewater and had the soap really turn out sucky because of an unknown water content. Like, probably way too high of water %

It depends for me too. I use a stronger lye solution with well behaved scent or castille. For the ones that give me trouble, I use a weaker solution, or a full water amount recommended.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.