Teach Soap

I found the below recipe online; the instructions say this makes 1 pound of soap, or four 4-oz. bars. I don't understand how this can be, however, because if you add up the total weight of oil and lye (excluding the water assuming it will evaporate), you end up with 18.23 oz., which is more than 1 pound of soap. Will the final soap weigh 18.23 oz. or 16 oz.? Do you not usually include the weight of the lye as part of the weight of the batch?

6 oz coconut oil (170 grams)
10 oz olive oil (283 grams)
3 to 4 oz distilled water (85-110 grams)
2.23 oz. (or 62-63 grams) lye
2 t. organic or therapeutic grade essential oil (I use all kinds, but lavender and citrus oils are my faves)

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

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Olivia :)

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Shanon
Woman, wife, mother, entrepreneur,etc, etc.
"....with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
http://www.tousheabodyboutique.com

Thanks for your reply! So the finished soap would weigh 16 oz.?

_________________
Olivia :)

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Shanon
Woman, wife, mother, entrepreneur,etc, etc.
"....with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
http://www.tousheabodyboutique.com

What would it weigh after cured?

This seems confusing to me, because, let's say you want to make 4 oz. bars to sell. So you make a 16 oz. batch of soap and when it's cured, cut it into 4 bars assuming they weigh 4 oz. each. But if the whole loaf actually weighed 20 oz. due to the lye, water, and fragrance, then your bars are going to be 5 oz. each, so you'd be getting confusing weights and might mislead the customer.

How can you calculate the ingredients so that you know what the final, completely cured soap loaf is going to weigh? For example, if I want my final, completely cured soap loaf to weigh 16 oz., how many oz. of oil, how many oz. of lye, how many oz. of water, and how many oz. of fragrance do I need? Does the weight of these components need to add up to 16 oz. exactly? I thought that since most of the water evaporated, it was not included as part of the total weight?

Thanks!

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Olivia :)

Honestly the best way to know is to get used to your molds. Using an individual mold, or a slab with dividers, gets you a consistent bar size every time and you can do a couple different batches of different sizes, weigh the bars after cure, and know which recipe gets you 4 oz bars. Being meticulous about how thick you cut your bars from a log mold will do the same thing for you.

I know that inch-thick bars from my log mold weigh roughly 4 oz, and I have a line drawn on my slab mold at the "these bars will weigh about 4 oz" point, so I don't have to worry about keeping my recipe sizes consistent. As long as they fit in the mold, any discrepancies from additives, from more soap than usual clinging to the pot and not getting into the mold, etc don't matter and I don't have to worry about figuring out what will and will not cure out.

Thanks Paspenka, I can see how marking the bar size of the mold would work well! Two questions, though.

1) Won't a 1-inch thick bar of soap weigh different amounts depending on whether you are using light or heavy oils?

2) What do you do with your left-over soap (the soap that won't fit in the mold)?

Thanks so much!

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Olivia :)

I label my bars as 4 oz, but in fact, all of them weigh 4.2, 4.3, even more. Even the same recipe can turn out a bit different, depending on humidity or, if the batter is a bit thicker at one end. So I just make sure all are at least 4 oz, and call it good.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

I use the same oils for every batch, so the weight doesn't change much. At this point I don't really have unexpected overflow unless I'm experimenting with something drastically new, in which case I don't care as much if I get consistent 4 oz bars, but I have a pretty wide array of small (.3 - 1 oz) silicon molds so I can make sample/travel bars with leftovers.

Thanks ladies! That helps a lot!

_________________
Olivia :)

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Shanon
Woman, wife, mother, entrepreneur,etc, etc.
"....with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
http://www.tousheabodyboutique.com

Thanks, ShaShea!

_________________
Olivia :)

_________________
Shanon
Woman, wife, mother, entrepreneur,etc, etc.
"....with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
http://www.tousheabodyboutique.com