Test a recipe before you make stock

Make a small test batch of a recipe and keep track of what went in, the cure and how it turned out. A test never changes your recipe, and it touches your inventory only if you ask it to.

Before you start

You need a recipe with at least one version. See Build a soap recipe in the calculator.

Run a test

1. Open the recipe and click Start a test under Recipe tests.
2. In Test batch size, enter the oil weight for the test, such as 500 g. Kerno scales every ingredient and works out the lye and water again for that size. To use the full recipe, click the button that offers the recipe's own size.
3. Click Start test.
4. Check off each line as it goes in. Kerno fills in its target as the amount used. Change Actually used only if you used something different.
5. In Cure, click Record the pour now when the batch goes into the mold.
6. Click Change beside Cure for, type the cure time and choose Days or Weeks.
7. Leave Remind me when the cure ends on if you want a reminder, then click Done.

The test shows as Curing on the recipe, with the day of the cure it's on.

What happens next

While it cures, add notes, photos and weigh-ins on the test page. When the cure is done, choose a Result: Worked, Needs changes or Didn't work, and write what you learned. The test stays open until then.

Good to know

• What are you testing? is an optional note, such as a different fragrance amount.
• Turn on Make this test with my inventory to match each ingredient to one of your materials. What you actually use then comes off stock when you record the pour. With it off, your inventory is not touched.
• Dates, yield and cure also records when you unmolded and cut the batch, how many bars you cut and their weight.
• Print test sheet gives you a sheet to work from at the bench.
• Size from a mold on the test form sizes the test to one of your saved molds.
• By default the cure counts from unmolding. Owners and admins can change that in Settings, Workspace, under Recipe tests · count the cure from: Unmolding or The pour. It applies to every recipe test in the workspace, so tests stay comparable. Until a test has an unmold date, the cure counts from the pour and says so. Changing it doesn't move the dates of tests already running.

Related articles

• Build a soap recipe in the calculator
• Size a recipe to your mold