# Lye Calculator & Recipe Questions



## uncleotis (Mar 14, 2005)

This is my first "real" attempt at using a lye calculator so I would like you guys advice before I try making either, or none of these recipes, depending on what you guys think of them.

First Recipe

Olive Oil 16 oz.
Castor Oil 2 oz.
Coconut Oil 4 oz.
Lard 2 oz.
Sweet Almond Oil 2 oz.
Lye 3.56 oz.
Goat Milk 8.58 oz.

Second Recipe

Olive Oil 16 oz.
Castor Oil 2 oz.
Sweet Almond Oil 4 oz.
Coconut Oil 4 oz.
Lye 3.56 oz.
Goat Milk 8.58 oz.

Third Recipe

Olive Oil 16 oz.
Castor Oil 2 oz.
Lard 4 oz.
Coconut Oil 4 oz.
Lye 3.51 oz.
Goat Milk 8.48 oz.

Basically is what I want to do is replace the Palm Oil in a recipe and use either Lard in place of the Palm Oil, Sweet Almond Oil in place of the Palm Oil or both the Lard and Sweet Almond Oil in place of the Palm Oil.

I haven't made all that much soap yet so I'm not sure if any of these recipes would be good, that's why I'm asking for your help.

I want something that isn't drying to the skin if that helps any.


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## uncleotis (Mar 14, 2005)

Please, won't someone help me out here, I want to make soap tomorrow.:Bawling:


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## engblom (Feb 12, 2014)

The second recipe looks very OK. I did not put your recipe into a soap calc for checking the lye amount. The ratio between the oils are OK.

I highly recommend you to use grams rather than oz as with CP the accuracy is highly needed. Aim for 5-7 percentage superfat. One oz will change a lot comparing to one gram. 

Goat milk might be quite of a challenge in the beginning as it easily might overheat.


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## homemaid (Apr 26, 2011)

Im new to soapmaking also but would like to know how things turned out..


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

Palm oil is normally used in soap for the hardness, so you want to replace it with something such as Lard or Tallow. Sweet Almond oil is great for conditioning, but not so good for hardness in the bar. I'd recommend using water instead of milk until you get to the recipe that you like. Change things one at a time so you'll get a feel as to how each ingredient changes the recipe. 

Here is a basic formula to start with.

Olive 10 oz.
Lard 10 oz.
Coconut 6 oz.

Lye 3.6 oz. (6%)
Water 6 oz.

Remember that olive oil will make a rock hard bar all on it's own as well as being a conditioning oil. Lard is conditioning as well as hard. Coconut is for lather as well as hardness.


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## uncleotis (Mar 14, 2005)

Thank you engblom and lathermaker for the help with my question.

homemade I will let you know how things went with the soaping.


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