Guest guest Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 Maggie, The amount of lye I used depends on the amount of olive oil I use in a batch in conjunction with the others oils in my batch. For example, if I were to want to try this recipe [i just made it up for show off the top of my head and ran it through the calculator, because I don't have my tried recipes here at hand, I'm at work now. : ) and the recipe I've made in the past have been mostly 100% olive oil, but I'm trying out newer recipes with less or no OO substituting oils like Rice Bran [which I just got with Katy great secret Santa Gift], Soy and Corn... yes, Corn. Believe me, it's wonderful and inexpensive.] Fat Amount (oz wt) % in recipe Coconut Oil30 27.27 Olive Oil40 36.36 Palm Oil30 27.27 Shea Butter10 9.09 Total Weight110 I want to superfat at a 7% discount, for this recipe. Lye Table (NaOH) % excess fat Lye Amount (oz wt) 0 16.48 1 16.31 2 16.15 3 15.98 4 15.82 5 15.65 6 15.49 7 15.32 8 15.16 9 14.99 10 14.83 So I would use 15.32 oz. lye, but that's only for this recipe. The liquid portion would be between 28 to 41 fluid ounces of liquid, according to MMS. I use the middle of these two numbers, which would be 34.5 oz of liquids. A middle number gives a good amount of lye solution to fully incorporate all your oils and hers, especially oatmeal. I run every recipe I use through a lye calculator. THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST! I use MMS's calculator at http://www.thesage.com. But there are a lot of others out there that are also free. This is the only way you can assure yourself that you are using the proper amount of lye, by using a calculator. So, you see every recipe is different. I'll run your recipe through the calculator. I'll get back to you in a minute. Let me go find your original post. Note: Oils and liquids and lye are measured in ounces. If I wanted to makes pounds, the oils, liquids and lye also have to be in pound weight. Marisol in Brooklyn Maggie <bundaflicka@...> wrote: Could you please tell me how much lye you use for how much olive oil in your castile soap? I would very much appreciate it! It would be nice to be able to pick up everything I need for soapmaking from the grocery store. Cheers, Maggie Maggie , Shepherd Central New York, USA www.maggiesfarminc.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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