# soaping @ 30%-40%



## linbee (Jul 7, 2010)

I have been reading a couple of soapmaking books, and one of them said "they soap at 30% all the way to 40%" What does that mean? If I made the Walmart recipe, what am I soaping at?


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

That refers to the strength of your lye solution/how much liquid you use. For example, say you are using 10 ounces of lye. To make a 33% solution you would use 20 ounces of total liquid. The 10 oz of lye is 1/3 (33%) of the total weight of your lye and liquid (30 oz).


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## linbee (Jul 7, 2010)

Are you starting with the lye amount you get off of a calculator? Then decide how much liquid you will use? I always use what the lye calculator says - why would I deviate from the recommended amounts? I use the high end of liquid if I am going to be adding stuff and the low end if I'm not. Why would you use up to 40%?


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I use www.soapcalc.net and it does not give a range.
You have 3 choises as to how to figure your water and lye
Water as percentage of oils
lye concentration
water/lye ratio

Different people prefer different choices. I use water a percentage of oils and change it depending on whether I have a fast moving FO. The default is 38% and I usually do not go lower than 28%.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I soap nearly everything at 33%. Going lower (using more liquid) takes longer to harden up and has more liquid to cure out. I was soaping at 40% for awhile but found I had more *cosmetic issues* for some reason. The lye calculator I use lets me plug in my percentage.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Linda - let us know what calculator you are using and then we can tell you. If it's soapcalc, the standard preset is 38% for water as a percentage of oils. If you change the button and use lye concentration, that is what the books are talking about. If you are using the one from thesage, take one of your printouts from that and plug those numbers into soapcalc. Adjust the lye concentration until you get the same liquid and lye quantities you used from thesage and that will tell you what your lye concentration is.

Or maybe you are not running it through a calculator and always using the walmart recipe. If so, I ran it through soapcalc. The walmart recipe with those specific fats/oils and weights use a liquid of 28 - 34 oz. 28 oz liquid = 36% lye concentration. 34 oz liquid = 32% lye concentration. But I hope you are running batches through a calculator. 

Kathy - I did a couple of batches at 40% and I am not liking the results, either. Too much ash on the OMH and ash on others that I never got ash on. And kind of a crumbly texture to the outsides; didn't cut well. I have gone back to 35%.


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## linbee (Jul 7, 2010)

Cindy, I use the sage calculator, and I think I understand. Their calculator gives you a range of what you can use for liquid, and it's probably the equivalent of saying I soap at 34% or whatever you use. I just never heard it expressed that way. I have used more or less liquid depending on what I am doing, but I didn't know that's what it was called. I have tried a batch with way less liquid and didn't like it, so I guess I was soaping at close to 40%.

Do you prefer the soapcalc over the sage? I just started out using theirs and never thought about it again.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Linda I teach with thesage.com because it also gives folks a place to buy wrapping, scent, and she has good scent etc...it's kind of a natural progression once you start asking questions and learning that you want to use other calculators...and then you go back to thesage.com because you only need to print out basic recipes you use  The amount of liquid you use in your soap only effects cure, it should have no effect at all in your soap recipe, other than taking longer to trace, it can't affect sap values. I soap at 33% (percentage of liquid to lye), I think your amount of superfat (lye to butters and oils percentage) effects soap much more than the amount of liquid percentage does. I have soaped at much higher percentages of lye to liquid which traces so fast I don't think you are getting to real emulsion before you are having to pour, with everything not mixed up well enough the soap is crumbly or shatters when you cut it....we sort of can get the same thing happening, or true false trace, with as cold as our soap rooms are right now and not heating up your butters and oils. Vicki


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## linbee (Jul 7, 2010)

Me and thesage get along just fine - basic and simple. Gives me everything I need to know.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Linda...I liked thesage for it's simplicity and I also like soapcalc for the values on hardness, cleansing, etc. I learned a lot on soapcalc when subbing different oils/fats/butters and comparing data to the walmart recipe. I bought SoapMaker 3 light addition and love it. Keeps the recipes, info and notes I have on recipes right in the program, and also has values/graphs for different batch properties. But when I first switched over to that program, I still ran it through thesage sometimes, especially when I was setting up the batches, to ensure I knew what I was doing, especially with the water and lye quantities. Anytime I change something with the lye/water percentages, I still run it through thesage.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Thesage is so simple. I've done soapcalc before....thought I should switch over now that I've been soaping a few years but always go back to thesage. I like that it gives a range for liquid, which as I've gained experience, has been very helpful to me in using new fragrances, manipulating cure times, etc. I also like that it very easily resizes batches for you. That's mainly what I use it for now, the resize feature.


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## linbee (Jul 7, 2010)

I bought the Soapmaker 3 program as well, and I love it. I have all of my recipes and notes as to which fits which mold best, how much left over for "sample" sizes, etc. I really use it a lot - I print out my recipe from them with all the values, amounts, etc. and then always run it again through thesage. (just to be sure!)


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