Teach Soap

I have only used soapcalc for all my recipes and have only used all the defaults it has ie. 5% superfat. So I'm going on the wild side and going up to 7% superfat! So I'm experimenting and only putting in one pound batches. Here is my dilemma...I have always "dropped" the last 2 numbers in the lye calculation. I guess I learned that a long time ago with researching on line recipes and that seemed like the norm. So when I change my superfat the lye amount doesn't change with a one pound batch. Have I been completely wrong all this time when I do my calculations? Here is an example of one... lye calulation @ 5% is...2.284 and for 7% its 2.235. So I drop the last numbers and it comes out to both be 2.2 lye. Please tell me what I'm doing wrong!! My scale I use (which I got from a soap supply site) doesn't have the ability to weigh that precise. Should I get another scale?

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~Kelly~

For a really small batch, you probably want to convert all those values to grams -- most scales should have a switch between oz and grams, and grams are tiny so they're a lot more precise In SoapCalc, if you do "view/print recipe" to get the full sheet, it will automatically calculate the grams for you.

(If your scale doesn't do grams at all on the other hand -- yes, get a new one! Most average-priced scales won't go past 0.1 oz, but there are a few that read out to 0.01 oz. )

As for your actual numbers -- if you're going to use less precise numbers, you probably want to round them instead of just cutting them off, so your old number would round up to 2.3 and your new one is 2.2. Still a tiny difference, though, honestly! It's because your batch is so small But in grams, it would be... 2-3 grams difference, I think? More noticeable a change.

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CP newbie who's turning into a soaping addict!

Just to be on the safe side, round up your oils if it's 0.05 or more and round down your lye.

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

o.k. so I checked my scale and it does have grams but not 1/10 of a gram so do I round up on that also? For example...soapcalc has 64.906 for 5% and 63.374 for 7%...round it up to 65 and round down to 63? Thanks so much for responding!

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~Kelly~

That would be right for straight rounding, yup! soapbuddy suggests rounding down for lye though, which is probably a good idea -- a fraction of a gram less lye won't affect your recipe much, and better less lye than too much! So that would give you 64g and 63g for your numbers.

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CP newbie who's turning into a soaping addict!

Thanks so much! Unfortunately you don't see much of a difference in small batches but as they get bigger the change is much more noticeable. I'm definately going to measure in grams with small batches from now on.

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~Kelly~