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Lye Calculator Tutorial for SoapCalc
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Lye calculators can be confusing to use...especially if you're new to soap making.
Below you will find a short, step-by-step tutorial with screen shots of SoapCalc, my favorite lye calculator.
I've explained a little bit about each section on the calculator and provided instructions on how to use them.
Good luck and have fun!
Here is a picture of what SoapCalc looks like when you first open it. I use the SoapCalc 9 WP so that is the one I will demonstrate on.
Lets begin with the "Total Oil Weight" box. This section is where you input the units you will be measuring in and how much of the base oils you will be using.
If you don't know how much oil you need for your recipe visit the Wooden Soap Molds page and scroll to the bottom. You'll find the formula for working this out there.
I'm using the Basic Homemade Soap Recipe as an example and have inputted that I'm using grams and 900 of them.
Now look over at the "Recipe Name" box.
In this box goes the recipes name (bet that part was hard to figure out!), the percentage of water and how much of a lye discount you want.
Typically the water should be set somewhere between 36 - 38 if you are just starting out and want to use scents. Using less water is refered to as using a 'water discount'. See the Glossary "D" for the definition.
In the "Super Fat/Discount %" box I have put '8'. This means that I want to use 8% less lye than is needed to saponify all of my oils. Extra oils in the soap make the soap more moisturising and help to avoid a lye heavy bar.
I'm going to ignore the other two boxes since they set themselves if you fill the box out as I have done. They are just another way of setting your lye and water ratios.
The next two sections go together. One is used to select the oils and the other is used to input them.
 
In the first box (the oil selector) make sure that NaOH has been selected...assuming you're making bar soap and not liquid soap.
Using the scroll bar, find the first oil you would like to use and highlight it. Then go to the second box (Soap recipe table) and click on one of the red '+' symbols.
Your oil will now be entered into the soap recipe table. Do the same for the remainder of oils you will be using in your recipe.
Once all of your oils are entered you can decide how much of each to use. I use the percentages option at the top of the soap recipe table and have entered 30, 40, and 30 as my amounts.
Next you hit the red "Compute Recipe" button.
Once you have computed the recipe the purple box fills with numbers. These numbers are your recipe.
Once you've created your recipe, you will want to know what qualities the soap will have.
The first column of numbers represents each individual oil as you highlight it in the oil selector box. The second row of numbers represents the computed recipe as a whole.
For a details on what these numbers mean and how to interpret them visit SoapCalc's Soap Qualities page.
Bear in mind that these are just guidelines and that there are exceptions. For example, an olive oil soap will show as a very soft bar but in actuality it is extremely hard.
Knowledge of these exeptions come with extensive reading, research and experience.
Hopefully this lye calculator tutorial has helped you better understand how to use SoapCalc. It is a wonderful tool and I am forever thankful that Ken Bower has provided it for us to use.
Soap Making Essentials Home Page
Top of Lye Calculator Tutorial Page
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