Resize your recipe to fit mold size?

[Tommyguns0311]

Hello. I always choose to resize my recipe to fit a mold of 42oz. Every time I soap however my batch always comes out to be 1/3ish less than that. I'm adding the proper amounts of everything so I'm not sure what's wrong.

 

[Yooper]

What are the dimensions of your mold (height, width, depth)?

 

[Tommyguns0311]

The mold is 10"x3"x2.7.

 

[Yooper]

Ok, let's do it by hand, and then check the calculator.

So, in cubic inches the mold is 81. To get the amount of oils for that volume, that's multiplied by .4. So that gives us 32.4 ounces of oils.

That's exactly what the calculator gave me.

Are you reducing the amount of liquid? What is the ratio of water to lye you're using? I often use 2.5:1, which would mean adding 14 ounces of water. So I"d have a total, roughly, of 46 ounces of batter. That doesn't include the lye and/or fragrance, of course. So maybe I'd go with 2:1 water:lye in this case.

If you're short, maybe it's a problem with some of the measurements. I weigh my ingredients by ounces first, but then double check with grams as well to make sure my measurements are correct.

 

[Tommyguns0311]

I had 8.18oz water and 4.25 lye. Water to oil ratio was 28%

 

[Yooper]

Generally, you want to have at least 2:1 water/lye. You were a little short, and not the reason your soap batter was less, but make sure to do that from now on, for safety's sake. (Water to oil ratio is meaningless- don't use that).

You used about 6 ounces of water less than I would have, but that doesn't explain the discrepancy.

 

[Yooper]

Since you're 1/3 low, maybe increase your recipe by 1/3 and then see what those measurements are and use that?
I did that with a 52 ounce mold. I made a bigger batch, and filled the mold where I wanted it and from then on I knew how many ounces of oils I used (that was before soapmakingfriend and the resize option).

 

[Tommyguns0311]

You would have used 14oz water? The calc told me 8.18. I'll keep experimenting. Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

Yes. I like using 2.5:1 water:lye, but using 2:1 is fine. Yours is too low. You want 2:1 at least at a minimum for safety.