SixThreeFive

Oh, thank you for your reply. I was seeing Soap Calc as the Allmighty Predictor of my results, and that made me rethink. How does one know what oils make mild soap or not? I'm way, way too freaking poor to make more than a batch a month, perhaps two, and I'd like some way of working out what result is probable, and how to combine things to get the results I'm wanting.

Okay, it seems I've confused some terms here. I apologize! After doing some research, I found that margarine requires 136-138g of soda per 1000g. That is, the value... eh, whatever the term is in English... is .136 to .138. Now the problem is how to enter it into Soap Calc. I checked and found that Chicken fat gives .132 Oleic acid gives .136 Tallow Beef gives .135 Lard gives .134 But which one to use to get the most accurate values on hardness and condition and so on? Also, I've been notified that baking-margarine is usually 80% fat here. Heh. That's what happens when you don't buy it so often, I guess. Margarine for sandwiches is usually 40% fat, but I wont be soaping that.

Does anyone have the SAP for shortening made out of palm- and canola oils? As far as I've understood, margarine is the Swedish shortening, and it's made of palm- and canola oil mixes. Most of it is about 40% fat. I'd like to use this easy, cheap hard fat... but I don't know if I should assume it's got the same SAP as Crisco, or not? If not, what do I type it in as, on Soap Calc?

It's 1.88 and Lye concentration is 34%. I have used 50% water before, myself, and 38%, but... I dunno. Talked to a Swedish soaper who's been selling her products for some 20 years, and she said she uses the lowest water amount according to MMS Lye Calc. When I checked what water % that'd be in soap calc, it was 25%. So that's what I've been using.

I found a shampoo bar recipe that uses 16oz of water. When putting the recipe through soap calc, I had to up the water % to about 60% to reach 16oz. Why on earth would someone use 60% water in their soap? Do they like curing for ages and ages? I usually do 25%, to shorten the curing time some. (Nowadays) I do put my recipes through both Soap Calc and MMS Lye Calc, to make sure it doesn't get too lye heavy.

Melany: Oh dear. Well, in that case we have nothing like shortening in Sweden. We've got margarines and no-milk butters, but... nothing like shortening. I've heard some people use margarine as shortening, though. But I'm not sure what the SAP is. Mike: Aw, it's all right. We're odd people, over here on the other side of the globe. I was considering using E-vitamine, since I heard that'll do the same as ROE. Scented: I'll take a look! I don't think I've seen it, but I might've missed it. Actually, come to think of it, there's a black kind of bottle that may say "Risolja" on it, that I vaguely recall. Now to remember what store I was at! I did find solid palm oil online, but they take really obscene prices, with my budget. 5 litres (a gallon and a quart?) ends up at... $50 including shipping. Rice bran oil from the same people at the same, for a quart. Rice bran wax for $70... I wanna be rich, dammit. *pouts* Thank you all for your help!

Thanks, Mike. I'm having difficulties understanding what exactly shortening is. We use a lot of margarin here in Sweden, but it's made of canola oil. Frankly, I'd never heard of palm oil until a year or so ago, when I heard about how bad it's supposed to be for you and the environment. I'm happy to report, btw, that though the hardness is only 32 on the new batch of soap, it's all ready hard and nice. My Husband suggested i soften the edges, because they're really sharp. I'm so happy I got the link to Soap Calc! Trying to plan a new batch, but I think variation in oil content is going to be rather tough. I can get OO, canola, coconut and flax seed easily enough, but castor (darn, it's expencive! Comes out at $30 a litre!) and other oils are tough. I did find hemp, pumpkinseed, avocado and grapeseed in one store.... and pomace at another. I need to check out our arabic-stores for odd oils as well. Considering making a pure coconut oil soap for dishes and laundry... that ought to work, right? Since coconut is so cleansing.

Really? I did hear something like that. Someone else said, btw, that if you rebatch it with the oven method, it'll take care of the curing time as well. Is that true? Ouch, that's not too good. The problem is, the friend's vegan, so I can't use lard. She's also allergic against OO, so I can't use it. I can't get a hold of palm or palm kernel oil. What can I use to make some soap for her?

Hey, guys! I made more soap today. No, really, I did. First, I biked around like a maniac, finding 100% sodium hydroxide. Then I covered the kitchen in newspapers and fixed all the safety-stuff, measured my oils, measured my water, measured my lye. And... unpacked my new staff blender! It's amazing! A philips 600W, and it took me an amazing 5 minutes to reach hard trace. Wow. I'm in love and I'm never breaking up with it! This time, I ran my recipe through SoapCalc. It turned out that what I was looking to make, was only hardness 33. That's okay, since the only solid fats I can get a hold of are coconut and lard, of which I only had coconut at home. I'd no idea stores actually sold lard here, it's the first time ever I've seen it. So I made: 70% olive 28% coconut, 76 2% canola It turned out quite the large batch, I think... 5 pounds, if I've converted correctly. 2600g of oils. Now I've only got two more questions: With that high an OO %, it should cure until midsummer, right? What can I use to make green swirls? I'm making some soap with canola and corn, for a friend who's allergic against olives, tomorrow. This is so much fun, I wonder when we're going to have time to use all the soap... ahem. So far, I'm staying scent free until I've got the cold-process down pat. :yay:You've been great help, thank you all so much!

LCHF is a diet. It's Low Carb, High Fat. Basically, they eat no or next to no carbs, and the main part of their diet is fat (and proteine). Butter, cheese, coconut fat, dairy cream, etc. It's sort of the oposite of mainstream "healthy" diets. It's very popular here right now, for weightloss, and seems to be working for a lot of people.

I've read crazy-lots about soaping. Frankly, I didn't even know that what they were selling me wasn't 100% lye, I'd no idea it came in different strengths. The extra lye-idea was from a Swedish site that I checked for troubleshooting, I was rather uneasy about it. Thankfully, I've only made one batch with extra lye, the other batch worked anyway. I've been using the OO soap for a week or so, and it's perfectly fine. No rash, no nothing. Actually, it's far less harsh on my skin than most SLS-soaps. Yeah, I read that coconut oil has that effect. The problem here is that in Sweden we have no lard and no shortening. Those things just don't exsist. Palm oil or palm kernel oil are impossible to get a hold of. How large batches can you get with a 600W stick blender? I've read millersoap several times. I guess I'll just read it again, huh? What can I use to dye with? I have cocoapowder and cinnamon at home, but I'm not allowed to bring home spices other than black and white pepper, and salt and sugar. That decidedly limits me. We use no spices whatsoever in cooking, so.... yeah....

I'm considering a stick blender (the Bosch one), because it takes me an hour or two to reach trace, and I usually have to heat the soap twice or thrice. I've also ended up having to add more lye (5% more lye) to get to trace at all... Not 'sactly what I'd like to be doing. So, is a stick blender of 600W, a good buy? I trust Bosch, and I like that the blending parts can be removed and washed seperately from the motor. That they're metal also helps. How big batches can you make with a stick blender? Yep. I make it, cure it for four-six weeks and then rebatch parts of it, to scent and dye. Next time, I'm trying the ziplock-method for rebatching. I'm looking at soap-calc and realizing that it'll be hard for me to make hard bars of soap. The highest Hardness value I've gotten is 42, and I usually end up between 28-34. It's probably because coconut fat is the only solid fat I can get a hold of. Darn it all. How hard is a soap around 40? The OO soap I mentioned earlier is a 26 and it's almost soft enough to knead after it's been in the shower for a while. It's also prone to sweating, since the bathroom is damp a lot. When dry, it's the consistancy of Edam cheese. I can't wait for monday! I get money on monday, and my scale's out of batteries, so I need money to buy batteries. I've also noticed the lye I've been using isn't 100% lye, though thankfully there's no metal in it, but I need new lye. It's probably why it's taken me hours to get to trace. Btw, how picky is it? My scale measures down to every two grams, but when I get an odd lye number, like 149 grams, I have to choose an even one to be able to measure it.

How do I know what coconut oil I'm using? The stuff I buy is rather cheap, 100% fat, smell and tasteless. It's solid at room temperature, but melts around 30-40'C. A lot of people use it in cooking, I know that, especially LCHF-ers have it as a standard frying oil. I use it as shortening when baking, because it's the only 100% fat that's solid that I know of being sold over here.

Thanks, that calc is awesome! On another note: What do you use to stirr the soap with? I've been using a Bosch MUM46R1, which works great. It also allows me to ocationally leave the room, while it's working away. Now I'm considering getting a Bosch MSM6700, because the steel parts speak to me. What do you think?

Thanks! That'll help some. I've no idea how to get a hold of some of these things, or what they are called in Sweden, but I'll figure it out. I usually do. I did find some pomace-grade olive oil in the "turk-shop" down the street. What's the lye calc for that oil? I've heard it's lower than for regular olive oil. Also, does anyone have an article on what kind of oils give what kind of soap and combinations of oils? Cheers Sanna