Recipe calculator

[CraftSue]

I have been making soap for a few years now, My question is why do some places say to run your soap recipe through the calculator every time you make your soap recipe? I don't do that, I have one main recipe and keep making the same one and not putting it through the calculator. I can see if you make a new recipe but the same one. I don't know where to post this question, I hope this is okay. If not, please remove.

 

[Yooper]

I guess because some people use older lye that may have absorbed some water, or bought new olive oil that may be different, it’s encouraged to use the calculator every time. I don’t- I have the same brand of lye and the same deer tallow, so I just use the recipe I’ve always used for those ingredients. If I get a recipe from somewhere else, or a new recipe I designed, of course I always run it through the calculator.

 

[zlisik]

Hmmm I'm new to soap making but I've been reading lots recently. Perhaps the concept of SAP values isn't well understood? I see it as a type of disclaimer... so that some people don't go swapping some of one oil for another without recalculating. I don't think that advice applies to your situation.

 

[CraftSue]

thank you. I have used one recipe and I am sticking to it. unless I use one of my other recipes.

 

[zlisik]

Yeah. I'm a bit envious of you! I play around with the calculators all the time, testing out new batches constantly; I enjoy trying new recipes and making my own but also I'd also just like to focus on the artistic side instead of worrying about the base recipe.

I am trying to decide on some master recipes for production and marketing purposes. I'm in Vietnam so I've had to explore alternative oils in recipes. Some things are cheaper here, other ingredients are too expensive or non existent.

 

[kirine]

The reason it gets said and so often is because of human error. Typos happen. We're all human, and lye is dangerous to work with if you aren't 100% safe. When I first started CP, I made myself run Nurture's recipe through the lye calculator, just so I could learn.