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How to do a lye water discount


Fire and Ice

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Okay, thus far I haven't done a water discount. I know at the soap calc it's always set at 38% What would be a good gradual discount? 33% or 35%? I'm wanting my soap to cure faster. But I wouldn't take a water discount with Goat's Milk. I only do 2# and 4# batches.

Thanks

Fire

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All the water discount does is makes it harder faster. You will still need a 4 or more weeks cure to have the soap lather better and be milder. I do a 33% discount on most of my soaps and as much as 40% on castile. Watch out for FO's that accelerate as they don't do well with discounting. I always check the review board before or test a small batch or lol pray.

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A water discount will not lessen the cure time, this is a myth.

I'd suggest holding off on it until you've made at least a dozen batches of soap. This way, you know how your recipes behave with FO/temp, and the variances that can occur from different ingredients and methods.

It all depends on the soaper/recipe/skill level with WD soaping.

I've never done more than 40% myself.

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Do I manually change it at the soap calc?

Yes I know not to do any discounts on floral or spicy scents. I also do not plan to discount my GM recipes either.

The WD will harden up the bars faster. I've never made castile. I used one that was over a year old and the third time I used it~ Slime city! YUCK.

I would never give anything away before 6 weeks for testing but I'm using bars that are four weeks cured and they're fine on my skin. Still, I would never give them out.

Thanks for all advice.

Fire

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A water discount will not lessen the cure time, this is a myth.

I'd suggest holding off on it until you've made at least a dozen batches of soap. This way, you know how your recipes behave with FO/temp, and the variances that can occur from different ingredients and methods.

It all depends on the soaper/recipe/skill level with WD soaping.

I've never done more than 40% myself.

I agree with you but I've already soaped a dozen batch and several of those were 4# batches.

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You are confusing water as percent of oils with lye concentration. The first is a default of 38%. That is not a 38% lye concentration.

The suggested percentage of lye solution will vary with soapcalc depending on the chosen oils; ie, 100% coconut will default to 31.42% while 100% olive will return a vlue of 25.3%

If you choose to set the lye concentration, the value is entered under lye concentration on soapcalc.

I totally agree with Mystical, if you are asking this question, you need to get a better handle on what you are doing before attempting stronger solutions (water discounting).

e

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I guess I'm of the school that she should try it out and see what it does ... have that experience. Heck when I started playing with it I figured it was just really only saving me some water. Course I also learned my lesson soaping a small batch and an unknown FO too ... colored cement blocks are possible.

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I guess I'm of the school that she should try it out and see what it does ... have that experience. Heck when I started playing with it I figured it was just really only saving me some water. Course I also learned my lesson soaping a small batch and an unknown FO too ... colored cement blocks are possible.

Scented you always crack me up. Colored cement.:laugh2:

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This is my favorite site that explains water discounting. I printed it out and kept it close at hand at all times. Lots of good information here!

http://www.aquasapone.com.au/soapmaking/discountedcp.html

http://www.aquasapone.com.au/soapmaking/discountedcp1.html

http://www.aquasapone.com.au/soapmaking/discountedcpw.html

Thank you for the links!

The discount is not something I plan to jump into immediately. I research, research, research. Then, when the oppertunity presents itself, I will know when and how to do it small stages.

Thank you again,

Fire

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I don't think that being confused by SoapCalc's "water as % of oils" versus lye concentration means you aren't ready to try less water/stronger lye solutions. I was using a 33% solution by my third batch of soap, although I didn't know it at the time. I just read on the old Latherings board about some soapers who used water at 25% of their oils instead of MMS "full water," and I tried it and liked it. It wasn't until years later that I came across the concept of lye solution strength.

I did a presentation a few years ago on calculating water and lye solutions. The PDF file from that presentation, plus a solution strength calculator, are available at http://rivercitysoaps.com/dwcp/ , in case you might find them helpful.

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