different lye calculators give indicate differant amount of fluids

by Zene Kaye
(South Africa)

Hi Cathy

Thanks very much for helping me with structuring my recipes. I have already made the soap and I am waiting for it to cure and to test.

I wanted to know another thing. I am still very new in soap making. I am currently using the MMS lye calculator online, but I also used another one, to test if they will giving me the same result. I have realised that differant lye calculators give me differant amounts of fluids/goatmilk to use.

MMS tells me to use between 275 and 375 ml of goatmilk in a recipe. However "another" lye calculator shows me for the exact same recipe to use 375ml to 424 ml of goatmilk. I am confused. But both lye calculators indicate the same amount of lye to use.

1. What effect will it have on my recipe if i use more goatmilk? and will it have a effect?
2. Which lye calculator is the most reliable.
3. Will one used the same amount of water or goatmilk in a recipe.
(e.g if the recipe indicates 350 ml water, can you substitute the water with the same amount goat milk)

I made quite a few bathces of soap already and I realised when using them, they become slimy and very oily the bottom? what could have caused this?

I actually want to sell my soap as soon as I have the perfect recipe. I have tried the recipe that you structured for the goatmilk so I hope it will work perfectly in order for me to start my own business.

Thanks for always answering my questions. It is nice to have someone who can give me advice.

Greetings
Zene Kaye'
SA

Answer:

You're welcome for the suggestions Zene.

Please remember though that the recipe I listed is not a tried and true recipe....simply a suggestion based on the ingredients you mentioned.

Perfection in a soap recipe is still something I strive for and I imagine I will be doing so for quite some time.

Now to your questions....

Every lye calculator is different and will give slightly different results.

My favorite is SoapCalc because I feel it gives me more control and information about recipes I create.

With SoapCalc you can control how much water the recipe will have. I tend to use between 33% and 36%. The default amount on SoapCalc is 38% and there is nothing wrong with using that amount either.

The more liquid in a recipe, the longer it takes the soap to dry out and become hard during the cure process.

Goat's milk can definitely be substituted for the full amount of water. I personally don't do this because I like to add my milks at a thin trace rather than with the lye. I find you get a whiter bar of soap that way and don't need to worry about the milk burning and going orange/brown in the lye.

Soap will go slimy if left to sit in water. Soaps nature is to dissolve and this is what it does when in prolonged contact with water. Why it would be oily....not sure...it shouldn't be unless you have a very high superfat/lye reduction in your recipe.

When making a goats milk soap, try to only use a 5% lye reduction. The goats milk has it's own amount of fat and that will increase the amount of free fats in your final product.

I think that answers all your questions...
Good luck,
Cathy