Can I substitute butter for some fat

by Ailsa
(Panania)

This is my first time.

I have a recipe which is simple but (naturally) I didn't get enough rendered animal fat.

I need another 500gm & only have butter on hand. The recipe calls for 500 gms caustic soda, 1/4 litre rainwater, 1.5kg rendered animal fat (using no frills solidified cooking oil(animal fats) & 1.5kg olive oil.

I am short on the animal fat & want to use 500gms of butter to make up the extra 500gms.

Can I do this without making any adjustments?

Answer:

I would not suggest using butter as a replacement oil in soap making. Every account I have read of soap made with butter has been negative.

As for making changes to a recipe without running it through a lye calculator first...I don't advise it at all. In fact I always run a new soap recipe through a lye calculator before making it.

It's hard to calculate your recipe without knowing what type of rendered animal fats you are using but a quick run through on SoapCalc using lard (750 gr), tallow (750 gr) and olive oil (1500 gr) shows the water and lye amounts to be quite different.

I strongly suggest you run the recipe through a lye calculator before making the soap.

Good luck,
Cathy