How to determine how many bars of soap will a recipe yield?

by Marilyn
(Owosso, MI)

I am BRAND NEW to the idea of soap making. I have been doing LOTS of research and reading and want to start making my first batch of soap. I have found cold-process recipes and am wondering "HOW TO DETERMINE HOW MANY BARS OF SOAP WILL A RECIPE YIELD?" I have a homemade wood mold that holds 3 lbs.

Answer:

How many bars you will yield is determined by the size of the bars you cut.

If the soap mold is a log mold that is 10 inches long and you cut the bars 1" thick then you will get 10 bars. If you cut the bars 1.25" thick then you will get 8 bars.

For information on figuring out how to size a recipe to fit your soap mold visit my page on Soap molds and scroll down to the bottom. There you will find a calculation that you can use to determine how much oil you need to fill your soap mold.

You would then use that number in SoapCalc to resize a recipe.

Below I have copied some general instructions on how to use SoapCal from a different question that was asked previously. Hopefully they will help you.

" I'll use SoapCalc as an example since it's my favorite lye calculator.

Each box on the lye calculator has a number.

Box #1 lets you choose between sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide. Since the plan is to make bar soap, you want to pick sodium hydroxide (NaOH)

Box #2 allows you to choose the weight of the oils in your recipe. All my recipes are 900 grams since that is the amount that fits my little 6" x 6" soap

mold.

Box #3 can be confusing...just click the "water as % of oils" option and put 36 in the box. That's usually how much water I use in my recipes.

Box #4 lets you decide how much free oils will be left in your soap at the end of the saponification process. I usually go with the standard 5% though some of my recipes have 8% and a very select few have more.

Box #5 gives you information about the makeup of the oils you can choose and provides a list of those oils to select and add to box #6

Box #6 is where you add or subtract the oils you want. Put in Coconut, Palm and Olive.

Box #7 is where you input the amounts of those oils. Enter 30% for Coconut, 30% for Palm and 40% for Olive.

Box #8 is where you calculate and view the recipe.
Click on Calculate and then on View recipe.

Your recipe will appear as a new page. The pink zone will show the amounts of water and lye needed in your recipe.

The water should read 342 grams and the lye should read 129.728 grams...that is how much lye you need...no percentages necessary.

The green zone below the pink one will list the amounts of each oil needed.

It's that easy.

Keep in mind that each lye calculator will probably have slightly different results since the SAP values put into the programs will vary a bit.

Give it a try...click on the numbers in the boxes....read the SoapCalc instructions under the 'Learn' tab....generally mess around with the lye calculator for awhile.

It's a fantastic tool once you learn how to use it."

Cathy