Soap Making Checklist

In an effort to assist beginner soap-makers with the basics, and as a reminder to the more experienced, here’s a list of soap-making basics:

Wear protective gear & clothing – rubber gloves, goggles, long sleeves, long pants, & shoes.

Run every formula through a lye calculator before using it.

Pots: Use stainless steel pots. Enamel is ok so long as there are NO chips. No glass – heat from lye/water solution can cause glass to shatter.

Utensils: Use stainless steel. No wood utensils as lye causes wood to splinter over time. Use plastics with caution as some will melt.

Use a stainless steel immersion/stick blender to mix lye solution into oils.

Use a digital scale that measures at least to 10th’s of an ounce & one that measures ounces & grams.

Measure by weight, not volume.

Don’t substitute oils without using a lye calculator to re-calculate the lye amount.

Keep a journal or book of formulas, & take notes of every batch.

SAP – is the number of milligrams of potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide required to saponify 1 gram of fat. Every oil & butter has a SAP value. (Ounces of an Oil multiplied by SAP Value = Ounces of Lye Needed to saponify that oil.

Example:
3 oz Olive Oil x .135 (NaOH SAP value for Olive Oil) = 4.335 Ounces of Lye required to saponify the Olive Oil with 0% Super Fat.