Teach Soap

Ok, so what does one do after entering values into a lye calculator to get the recommended lye and water measurements to use, and they require rounding? Here is an example (mind you, I am merely creating numbers here --- it is not from an actual recipe):

Water: 6.27 ounces
Lye: 2.374 ounces

I am not able to buy a more sophisticated scale at the moment, so that is not an option....the one I own is the AMW-13 from BrambleBerry, which measures grams (in full grams) and ounces (in 0.1 increments).

Using basic math rules and knowing I need nearest 0.1 ounce, I'm assuming I would use 6.3 ounces of water and 2.4 ounces of Lye. Now I know that is sound math rounding, but is there some rule when rounding these measurements that might go against the rounding rules you would use for a math class (i.e., always round water up and round lye down?)

Any help with this would be great. Thanks guys!

For small soap batches in grams, I always round down on the lye, round up the oils and the water is not so critical.

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

General rule is to round DOWN for lye & UP for oils.

If your weights are close to these numbers you've suggested I would strongly suggest working in grams as this is quite a small amount Grams are much more accurate, every 0.1oz is an increment of 2.8g approx. Hope this helps.

Of course down under where I am everything is grams anyway! So I never work in oz except for converting everything on here! Getting quite good at it actually

Double post, sorry.
Irena always beats everyone! (fortunately for us all!)

Set the scale to grams, 3 x more accurate than measuring tenth-ounces.

Thank you very much everyone.

So I should set the scale to grams. If I'm understanding correctly, even though the scale measures in full grams and not fractions of grams, measuring in whole grams is still more accurate than tenths of ounces? Is that right?

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