Different water amounts? Which to use?

by Jodie
(Denham Springs)

Ok i am new to the soap making and just figured out how to use the soap calculator...i then tried the one on bramble berry's website and each one gave me a different amount of water to put in my recipe.

I used the exact same soap ingredients and bramble berry told me to use 30 grams less of water.

So now i'm confused as to which version to use. fyi recipe for crockpot process, if that matters.

Answer:

Water is one ingredient that can be variable in the amount that is used in a soap recipe.

Some soap calculators do not allow you to pick how much water you would like to use while others do.

Generally a soap calculator will have a default setting of around 38% water by weight of oils.

This is a good amount of water to use if you are just starting out. It gives you more time while the soap is coming to a trace. This can be convenient when you are not quite sure what you are doing and are having to refer to notes and fumble around while figuring out the next step.

Once you are used to making soap, you can start to reduce the amount of water to as low as 30%. This will speed up the time it takes for the soap to come to a trace and will produce a harder soap sooner during the curing process.

That being said, even a seasoned soap maker will often use a full amount of water when experienting with new ingredients.

Since you are doing the crockpot HP soap, I would suggest the recipe with more water since much of the water will evaporate during the cooking process.

Cathy