so my first soapmaking experiment was probably a failure. I won't know for sure 'til I try and use it, but I never got it past the applesauce stage, and I realized partway through that I had done the calculations all wrong. you see, I had forgotten that my KOH was only 85.5% pure. so I had figured, with an average saponification value of 191 and density of .9188g/ml for sunflower oil, my 100g of potash lye would saponify 523.56g or 569.8ml of oil, plus 5% superfat would mean 598.3, or 600ml close enough. but with only 85.5g of potassium hydroxide, the same calculations with 5% superfat is only 511ml. so I really had 23.2% superfat (600/487), and that's way too much. I might try again someday, but for now I've got to clean up my messes and prepare for the arrival of my lady in a few days.
oh, and I calculated water, based on that webpage, as 1.94 to 1, so used 200ml of water when I should have only used about 166.
last updated 2015-03-05 16:15:57. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com