How to Use a Lye Caculator for Soap Making

If you want to learn the craft of soap making, it is necessary that you learn to use a lye calculator. A lye calculator does just that, it tell you how much lye and water/liquid to use with your amount and type of oils.
There are several good soap caculators.  MMS is a popular one.
The caculator I like to use is SoapCalc.  The following instructions pertain to this one.

Easy steps for using the SoapCalc.

(1) Select NaOH for bar soap (KOH is for liquid soap)

(2) Select pounds, ounces, or grams (usually in ounces or grams)

(3) 38% of water to oils is good for beginners (some use 35%, you will get a little faster trace)

(4) Superfat at 5% is about average.  I superfat at 6.5% for a little more conditioning/oily bar. (the lower this superfat number is, the more lye crystals you use and a greater percent of your oils are saponified.)  Some people add oil at trace and this is also called "superfatting".  I don't do this, I simply superfat at a higher % to begin with.and that does the same thing.  In other words, some oils are left in the soap without being saponified.

(5) This section gives you the qualities of the oils.  Click an oil in the column and you will see the property numbers of that oil in Column "One".

(6) and (7) Select your oils from th eoil column and add (+) to your list, giving percentages or by weight (you have the option to select).  Your percentage of total HARD oils used should equal out to about 60%.  SOFT oils will be the remainder 40%.  Play with the caculator and you will soon learn what oils are considered hard or soft. 

(8) Caculate and View your recipe, make changes, etc.

I hope this is easy to understand.
Study the calculator and soon you will be making your own soap recipes.

Powdered Laundry Detergent - Recipe to Make Your Own

Making your own laundry detergent is very easy.
You will need these 3 items:

(1.) Laundry Soap – I make my own laundry soap but if you need to purchase yours, a popular brand is Fels-Naptha,. Some other options are Ivory and there is one called Zote. These soaps are usually found in the laundry section in your grocery store.
(2.) 20 Mule Team Borax – This is an all-natural laundry booster – Removes stains and neutralizes odors.
(3.) Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda – A detergent booster and household cleaner (not to be confused with baking soda). I think this is a little harder to find. I get mine at Publix Grocery store.

I use my ingredients on a ratio of  ½ part soap-1 part borax – 1 part super washing soda.
Grate the soap, fine if possible

1/2 CUP GRATED LAUNDRY SOAP
1 CUP BORAX
1 CUP SUPER WASHING SODA

You will find that this detergent does not make the amount of bubbles that commercial detergent does but does a great job of cleaning.  It is very great for front loader machines.
I like to make my laundry detergent in large batches and keep in an airtight plastic container.
If you want to make your own soap for this recipe, set your superfat at 1%.

Soap Making Picture Story ~ Cold Process

This is a picture play in the steps of making soap, so you will see that it is easy to do.  The first picture shows my lye and water that I mixed earlier outside in the open air.  Always pour the lye crystals into the water, don't spill and you should have no problem. The lye  heats the water when first mixed and you will see some fumes, but soon the fumes are gone.  You will leave it for a while (out of reach of animals and children) and it begans to cool down.  Please see more details and recipes on soap making in my previous post.

Now I have my lye water ready, it has cooled down to about 110 degrees (the temperature is not crutial but your oils and lye water do need to be about the same temperature).  This is the container I keep reserved for only this purpose.  I never use it for other things, as the lye water can absorb into the plastic.

All oils prepared in a stainless steel sauce pan, temperature cooled to about 110 degrees.  

 

Pouring in the lye and water mix.  I am pouring slowly on the back of my spoon.  I believe this helps to keep down air bubbles.

Use you stick blender or mixing beaters and you will began to see the oils getting creamy almost instantly.  Keep your beater under the soap to avoid tiny air bubbles that you can see in your finished soap.   

If you look closely, you can see light trace.  You may add color and/or fragrance at this point if desired (don't wait for heavy trace to add it so you will have time to blend more after adding your additives).  It is perfectly fine to pour into your mould at the beginning of trace.  Your soap will set up just as quickly.  You will not get as smooth a top at pour if your soap is more heavily traced and you will be more likely to have air pockets in your block.

I really like natural soap, without color or fragrance, but you can see that I did add color here.  I wanted a marbled pink color.  I added the color in the pot in four equal spots, then I swirled it in one circle around the pot with my stir spoon.  Just one circle around will do it.  Then when you pour into your mould, you get more marbling as you pour. 

You will need to cover your mould, cardboard will do it, then cover with a small blanket  to keep the heat in so sponification will be complete.  Open the next day and admire your soap.  Remove from mould and cut into bars as desired.

Note: In answer to a question - In making hot process soap, in a crock pot or pot on the stove, you do not wait until your lye water and oils cool down.  You simple start heating your oils, mix your lye water and combine.  Cook on low until trace, but you will need to read or study for more details for hot process soap making.  The good thing about hot process soap is that you don't need to wait so long for the curing out period.  I have used it in a day or two.  

Soap Making Oils and Recipes

This post is quite lenghty, but I was hoping to answer some questions from one of my previous post.
There is a wide range of oils used for making soap, each with it's own special properties. Some oils make lots of bubbles and are cleansing, some oils make almost no bubbles, but great for skin conditioning. What you are looking for is a good balance. As you venture into soap making, you will probably find that the finer, higher-grade oils produce a nicer bar of soap. However, regardless of the oil you use any handmade soap is far ahead of a commercial bar, in my opinion. Some soap making oils may be hard to find locally, therefore this entry is geared with that in mind. And too, a beginner may not want to order expensive oils until more soap making is under their belt. Your grocery store has several oils in which soap can be made. The following recipes are examples using easy to find oils.


Familiarize yourself with a lye calculator. This is the one I use: http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/soapcalcWP.asp and before long you will be making your own soap recipes in the amount of oils to suit your needs.

Some people like to substitute goat's milk for water and that is ok.  It makes a little creamier bar.
If you want to add fragrance oil, do this as soon as your soap is blended good or at very beginning of trace.  Most fragrance oils will be at about 1/2 to 1 ounce per pound, according to the strength of fragrance and also to your preference.
For colors, I use Select Shades.  One has to learn how much to use by experimenting with the colors.
(1.) All Vegetable Oils Soap Recipe:

38 oz Oils
COCONUT OIL 9.5 oz (269.32 grams)
OLIVE OIL 15.2 oz (430.91 grams)
VEGETABLE SHORTENING 13.3 oz (377.04 grams)

WATER 13.3 oz (377.04)
LYE 5.32 oz (150.99)

(2.) Gerry's Grocery Store Soap Recipe (not all vegetable)

Pre-Creamed shortening has some Beef Tallow and Lard and will produce a nice and creamy hard bar.

38 oz Oils
COCONUT OIL 10.26 oz (290.86 grams)
PRE-CREAMED SHORTENING 11.4 oz (323.18 grams)
OLIVE OIL 10.64 oz (301.63 grams)
CASTOR OIL 1.9 oz (53.86 grams)
CANOLA OIL 3.8 oz (107.72 grams)

WATER 13.3 oz (377.04 grams)
LYE 5.32 oz (150.14 grams)
I am assuming you know the steps to soap making. It is not as hard as it seems, in fact it is very easy. In my opinion, working with a thermometer is not necessary, as I do not think the temperature is extremely crucial. Of course, you don't want your oils and lye to be of really great temperature differences.
The steps I take in preparing to make soap:

I mix my lye and water and leave it to cool down as work with my oils. I melt my solid oils on medium heat. I remove from heat to start cooling down while I am preparing all of my liquid oils and lining my mold with freezer paper. I add my liquid oils to my warm oils. When I feel that my mixtures (oils and my lye water) are about 110 - 120 degrees or a little above, I mix them together, stir with my stick blender and in a very few minutes the soap is ready to pour into my mold.

CAUTION: I must remind you, never pour water into your lye crystals. Always pour the lye crystals into your water slowly, stirring. Do this in a well-ventilated area or outside. Wear you rubber gloves and eye protection in case of spill or splash. The lye water mix if really not as scary as it seems, but do be care not to get it on your skin. Rinse with water or vinegar immediately if you should.

You Can't Make Just One

Batch of Homemade Soap - If you don't want to form an addiction, don't go here.  There's no cure for this other than making another batch.  This one is Black Raspberry Vanilla.  You can see this color is marbled, pink and cream.  BRV is a favorite of many soapers and buyers as well.

The Soap Log and Cuts

As you can see, I unmolded my soap this morning.  The log is about 12" long and enough for cutting 12 nice bars.  I have been making so much soap lately, pretty soon I will have a supply large enough for the whole village..he-he.  The vintage village set you see in the background is marked "Sears Roebuck and Co. 1981 Made in Japan.

The Soap Log

Twelve Cut Bars

A Closer Look at the Scrumptious Handmade Soap

I Made Soap Today

I really enjoy making and using good home made soap! 

This is not a soap tutorial, but I am showing you a few pictures and explaining some of the steps. 

This is cold processed soap.

I have just added my lye water in this first picture and am ready to stir with the stick blender.

Almost instantly upon blending with the stick blender, the oils become creamy, but still thin in consistency.

After just a minute or two, the oils start to become thicker.

In another minute or so the mixture begans to thicken enough that it leaves waves or trails in the mix.  This is called "tracing".  At this stage, it is ready to pour into your mold.  I am using a mold that is simply a sturdy box lined with freezer paper.

You can see the soap in my little box mold.  The soap loaf is 12" X 3.5" and 2.75" high.   It will be ready to cut into 12 nice size bars of soap in 24 hours.