Soap Makers Help!

[chiknwhisperer]

Ok, on the far right of the MMS chart there is the info about the lye. So at the 6 it says 2.31oz of lye. Is that how much I should use in the soap? I think I'm slowly getting the hang of it. Sorry I'm asking so many questions I just really want to be sure I get this right. Thanks so much.

 

[ninjapoodles]

I haven't tried it yet, but I've heard that German Blue Chamomile oil imparts a blue color to soap (blue is the toughest color range to get in "all natural" cold-process soaps). I'm dying to try it, but I'm super-short on funds right now, dangit!

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Yeah--you want to stick within those green boxes. If I'm going to err, I err toward blue, not pink!

Actually, I superfat my soaps at 10% routinely, and have never had a problem.

"Superfatting" just refers to the amount of oil left over in the soap after the lye has saponified all the fat that it can. If you were in the "pink zone" on the chart, you'd be running the risk of not having enough fat for the lye to saponify, and having lye left over...not good!

I can remember having a terrible time understanding liquid discounts. Math is NOT my strong suit!

 

[chiknwhisperer]

Math was definitly never my friend. I'm much better at reading comp. Alright so if I'm geting it, I need to use the amount of lye it says to on the right?

Also, if I were to double the chocolate recipe I used last night would it work okay or would I need to change something in it? Becasue since it worked out so good I wanted to make a bigger batch so I thought doubling it might be okay but I thought I should ask first.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Yeah, the amount next to the 6 or the 7 should be good.

To increase or decrease any recipe, the MMS calculator makes it SUPER easy (as in, THEY do the math!). On that first screen, just put in your same amounts you used for your small batch. On the bottom of the page, there is a box that says "current batch," and the weight of your current recipe beside that. The the right of that is a field that lets you put in another total amount, and then click "resize recipe," and it will give you the new calc!

 

[chiknwhisperer]

WOW That was cool! I didn't realize it was that easy hehe. I don't feel as lost as I did earlier. Thank you so NP!

 

[ninjapoodles]

I REALLY wish we were all in a central location so we could get together for stuff like this!

 

[ninjapoodles]

Oh, just thought of one more tip that occurred to me AFTER I'd made my first several batches. The MMS calculator has a nifty print feature. So while I save a copy of the recipe to my computer, I also print one for my soap recipe file, and another copy to tuck into the box with the soap as it cures and if any of it gets put away in storage. That makes it easy to compare batches and see what oils offer what qualities, which fragrances fade or morph, what colorants morph or stay true, etc.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

I didn't even notice that. I'll have to pay more attention to that next time.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

OK, I had NO idea what you guys all meant by MMS. Is that Majestic Mountain Sage? If so, that looks like a nifty little tool. The water part is something I'd need to play around with. I've read a bit about water discounting and the reasons for it, but the how part of that is still lost on me. Clearly, with our aggressive goals to get this done on time for Christmas sales, less water definitely has an appeal. But, my question would be this. . . If you use less water to the amount of lye, does it have a tendency to heat up even more? If you did that with milk, would that make an even bigger problem with superheating?

I took the two recipes to church tonight to show off and spark interest. People definitely had their favorites - and each was different. Interesting how that works. Wish us luck for tomorrow!