# Which calculator do I believe?



## SoarinHawkFarm (May 22, 2012)

I'm new to making soap and currently have two places to look to make my own recipes and test out those that I see. I have one Nubian (this will change soon as I'm adding NDs) and already figured out that I need to make my bars super hard with high cleansing to overcome her fatty milk. I've come up with a recipe to do this afternoon and SoapCalc recommends 14.25 oz liquid and 5.55 oz lye. The Natural Soap Recipe calculator recommends 12.7 oz liquid and 5.9 oz lye for the same recipe. I'm leaning towards the latter as it calls for less liquid and more lye. I feel this might help overcome the Nubian milk.

I also have a question on super fatting: Should I set the super fat to 4% or even 3% instead of the default 5% to get a better bar of soap? 

Thank you in advance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

You don't need to overcome fat in the milk, its negligible in a recipe...same with 12 or 14 ounces of liquid, or 5.9 and 5.55 of lye. I teach the lowest number from thesage.com once you have soaped awhile you can go lower than even those numbers. If you pour 5.55 ounces of lye, it is not but a 1/8 teaspoon or less more of lye to get to .9 in fact I bet you could count the granules.

It is important to follow the recipe, but what butters and oils you use effects this much more than that small amount of liquid or lye.

Welcome to the forum and could you please add your location and breeds of goats in your signature, thanks! Vicki


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## SoarinHawkFarm (May 22, 2012)

Awesome. I'm done cleaning (a chore I detest---unless it's the chicken house!) and am ready to make my recipe for the day. I'll make those changes.......


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Kaye, I've never use "natural soap recipe calculator", but have used soapcalc and thesage. Both of these are very reliable.

Welcome to the forum! 

My stepdaughter lives in Athens. She just graduated from UG Law School.


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## VickiLynne (Feb 8, 2008)

Welcome to the forum!! Great info here!

Vicki in NC


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## SoarinHawkFarm (May 22, 2012)

Thank you to you both for the welcome. It's good to know I've got a reliable source for help! The bar I made last week is wonderfully hard and I can't wait to melt it down next week and put some yummy EOs into it. I'm loving thesage and love that it gives you options and not just ONE way. ............... must be the chemist in me coming back out..................


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Kaye, you know you don't have to remelt soap to add eo's, right? You can add the eo at trace, let set up, unmold, let cure and, voila!


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## SoarinHawkFarm (May 22, 2012)

I know. But just getting started out EOs (good ones) are expensive and I wanted to experiment with various recipes to test out hardness, lather, etc, without wasting EOs. With my tiny budget (wanting to market a largely organic product) I can't afford waste.

I've got a couple of large bars curing right now that I'm excited about. When I get to where I'm more comfortable (mint and vanilla was a HUGE hit with both men and women) with a few basic recipes, then I'll add the good stuff right away... or OP it.

Thank you for your reply!!!


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