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Miller's Homemade Soap Pages: |
Generously contributed by Chris Mathes |
NEW! Kat K. has made a few changes to Chris's original Soapsheet and you can visit her site and download her version if you like at the following URL: http://www.soulgazersundries.com/soapsheet.html
These have been UPDATED as of October 8, 2002* (see below). The previous update last year included an .exe version for Windows users who don't have a zip program installed on their system (may also be unzipped on non-windows systems like a regular zip file). The template was also revised. That version of soapsheet included some new functionality: It does INS calculations. They are from Dr. Bob McDaniel's book, and it basically tells you whether you have a good balance of hard and soft oils in your recipe. The other features of the spreadsheet are listed below...
1) SAP Values - A sheet that contains a list of fats/oils and their SAP values for both NaOH and KOH. It may be edited to add oils not listed, or tweak SAP values.
2) Recipe Worksheet - The main sheet for editing recipes, a user picks oils from a drop down list box (the oils listed are the ones from the SAP Values sheet) and enters oil quantities in ounces. From that the amounts of lye and water are automatically calculated, the percentage of each oil out of the total oils is given, and a final yield of soap estimated. A lye discount may also be specified, automatically adjusting the total amount of lye calculated for the recipe. In addition, a list of super-fatting oils and their quantities may be specified, causing the calculation of a total effective lye discount over and above the user specified discount.
3) Scaled Version - A sheet to scale the recipe on the 'Recipe Worksheet' to different batch sizes. Everything that's listed on the Recipe Worksheet is listed on this sheet, plus a scaling factor. Nothing is editable but the factor, the changing of which recalculates the entire page for a new size batch.
There are a few other things the spreadsheet does, but those are the highlights. I think it's pretty self-explanatory when you get into it.
-Chris Mathes, navig8rs@hotmail.com
Subject: new soapsheet.xlt
Kathy,
Hi, I hope this email finds you well. Please find attached a zip of the latest version of the soapsheet.xlt template, as well as a self-extracting zip and a new notes/FAQ file. This new version has these added features:
1) The ability to select NaOH or KOH for bar or liquid soap recipes (lye and water calculations change to match the selected alkali).
2) Extra fields and buttons on the scaled version sheet of the workbook that allow the user to enter a weight or number of bars and have Excel automatically set the scale factor to the required value.
Thanks again for hosting my spreadsheet on your website.
Take Care,
Chris Mathes
MAC USERS: On my Mac, the regular template will not download, but the Zip file will... If you have a Mac or a Windows based computer and cannot download any of the template files for any reason, Please email me and I will send you an attachment via email... AOL users are probably out of luck! They don't receive attachments outside of AOL without them getting messed up... if you are an AOL user and have an alternative email account like Hotmail, I can send to that.
The .exe file is a "self executing" file that will only work for Windows users. - Kathy Miller
ANOTHER HELPFUL TIP FOR MAC USERS! (Wish I'd known this before!)... Thanks! :-)
Hi. Just wanted to mention that there shouldn't be a problem downloading the Excel file for the Mac. Just control-click on the link, and there will be a popup window with the option to "Download link to disk." This should transfer the file without any problem. It will likely not have the type/creator codes associated with it, so the file will need to be dropped onto the Excel application icon.
I have a Mac running OS 9, and it worked seamlessly for me.
Contextual menus were introduced with OS 8. With MS Internet Explorer, clicking and holding the button down should also pop up the menu, and, I think, will work on pre-8 systems (i.e., not needing the control key). This trick will work anytime a file doesn't download properly--that is, when you get the screenful of gibberish.
This page last updated on 5 March 2010.
If you still have questions, please read through the information on the Troubleshooting Help page, MOST Frequently Asked
Questions, Design Your Own Recipe and Modern Procedures. More can also be learned through the Botched Batches and Soapy Success pages. Many common problems have already been addressed on the site and it's difficult for me to keep up with emails these days and get anything else done. If your question involves my looking up information that you can also research, or going over numbers and recipe calculations, I might not respond if in the middle of a project around our home and garden. I apologize for this, since I've enjoyed my correspondence with people and don't like to ignore emails of any kind. Thanks! :-)