Understanding the Verified Beginner Recipe

Use one published plain formula, check the metric quantities and understand why oils and alkali cannot be substituted casually.

Part 3 of 10 | Soap Making from Scratch Using Caustic Soda and Oils

Learning goals

Read the complete recipe in grams, identify each required oil and explain the basis of its lye calculation. Distinguish recipe arithmetic from laboratory testing of a finished bar. Prepare an ingredient identity sheet before any material is weighed for the real batch.

Before you begin

The recipe is a metric adaptation of Bramble Berry's published Simple and Gentle Soap Project, independently checked using SoapCalc reference values. The course uses an unchanged oil balance, rounded gram quantities and no optional additives. Do not make a batch until the safety rehearsal is passed and an experienced supervisor has reviewed your actual ingredients and record.

Step 1 Copy the exact recipe card

Use ordinary coconut oil of the 76 degree type, 226.8 g; pure ordinary olive oil, not pomace or a blend, 425.2 g; and refined palm oil, not palm kernel oil or a cooking blend, 311.8 g. The total oil mass is 963.8 g. Use distilled water, 317.5 g, and dry soapmaking sodium hydroxide, 136.0 g. Add nothing else.

Use documented soapmaking-grade NaOH with declared purity from 98 to 100 percent, no drain-cleaner additives and an identifiable supplier and lot. The printed weight is not increased to compensate for a lower purity. A material outside that specification, an unknown purity or a liquid alkali product requires a separately checked formulation; do not use this card unchanged.

Step 2 Understand the source conversion

The original oil masses are 8, 15 and 11 ounces respectively, with 4.8 ounces of NaOH and 11.2 ounces of distilled water, all by weight. Using 28.349523125 g per ounce gives the printed oil and water quantities rounded to 0.1 g. The NaOH value is rounded slightly downward to 136.0 g rather than upward.

The combined starting mass is 1417.3 g, before material left on equipment and later water loss. That is not a promised final sale weight. The published recipe lists rounded oil percentages; this course uses the ingredient masses as the authority. Do not reconstruct the formula from rounded percentages and then keep the old alkali weight.

Step 3 Check the chemistry on paper

For an independent arithmetic check, the reference NaOH saponification values are 0.183 for ordinary coconut oil, 0.135 for ordinary olive oil and 0.142 for palm oil. Multiplying each oil mass by its value and adding gives 143.182 g of pure NaOH as the reference amount before a lye discount.

The printed 136.0 g corresponds to approximately a 5.02 percent lye discount when treated as pure NaOH. At 98 percent declared purity the effective discount is larger, about 6.92 percent under the same reference assumptions. These are calculation checks, not measurements of your actual oil composition or a guarantee of safe finished soap. Do not add extra lye to chase a theoretical number.

Step 4 Distinguish water concentration from oil percentage

The solution contains 136.0 g NaOH plus 317.5 g water, totalling 453.5 g. On the weighed-material basis, NaOH is approximately 29.99 percent of that solution mass. This is a different calculation from water as a percentage of oils. Confusing those settings in a calculator can produce a very different water amount.

When checking the formula in a reputable calculator, choose NaOH rather than KOH and match each exact oil and mass. Compare its assumptions, oil reference values and purity handling. If the result differs unexpectedly, resolve the discrepancy with a knowledgeable instructor or supplier before mixing; do not average two results or choose whichever uses more lye.

Step 5 Verify the actual oils

Read each ingredient label rather than relying on colour or the seller's informal name. Palm oil and palm kernel oil are different. Fractionated coconut oil differs from ordinary coconut oil. A bottle labelled vegetable oil may contain several oils in an unknown proportion. These are not permitted substitutions for this teaching batch.

For palm oil, follow the supplier's directions to fully melt and homogenise the supply before taking the recipe portion, because a partially melted container may not be uniform. Use suitable heating equipment and let the material reach a manageable handling temperature. Do not melt a sealed or unsuitable retail container by an improvised method.

Step 6 Preserve the formula boundaries

Use fresh, correctly stored oils and keep their lot details. No fresh milk, fruit juice, salt, sugar, scent, colour or extra oil is added in this course. These omissions make the first process easier to interpret. Changing an oil, quantity or alkali creates a new formula requiring a new verified calculation and process review.

If an ingredient is unavailable locally, postpone the practical batch rather than substituting from the kitchen. The course does not claim current local stock or prices. A paper calculation and identified missing ingredient are more useful than an untraceable experimental mixture made to meet a deadline.

Guided exercise

1. Copy the five ingredient masses exactly and verify the 963.8 g oil total and 1417.3 g total starting mass.

2. Match each oil label to the specified type and record the NaOH purity, supplier and safety data sheet.

3. Calculate the reference pure-NaOH requirement using the three published values. Compare it with 136.0 g without changing the recipe.

4. Explain the 453.5 g solution total and why approximately 30 percent concentration is not the same as 30 percent water relative to oils.

5. Ask the supervisor to review the ingredient and calculation sheet. Record unresolved differences as stop conditions.

Knowledge check

1. Can palm kernel oil replace palm oil at the same lye weight?

2. Is the 1417.3 g starting mass a guaranteed cured weight?

3. Does the reference calculation replace actual batch review?

Answer guide

1. No. The formula must be recalculated and reviewed for different oils.

2. No. Losses and evaporation change the final mass.

3. No. It checks arithmetic and assumptions, not actual production or residual alkali.

Completion standard

Provide the exact metric card, correct arithmetic and fully identified materials. No substitution, purity guess or upward lye adjustment is allowed. Practical work stays pending until any material or calculation discrepancy is resolved.

Sources and verification notes

Bramble Berry Simple and Gentle Soap Project. Checked 17 September 2026. Published plain beginner formula: 8 oz coconut oil, 15 oz olive oil, 11 oz palm oil, 4.8 oz NaOH and 11.2 oz distilled water, by mass. Course metric adaptation and omissions are documented in SOURCES.md. The published recipe is not a laboratory validation of a learner batch.

SoapCalc oil saponification values. Checked 17 September 2026. NaOH reference values used for arithmetic: coconut oil 76 degree 0.183, ordinary olive oil 0.135 and palm oil 0.142 g NaOH per g oil. These are reference values, not measurements of a particular oil lot.