Recipe Troubleshooting: How To Convert Volume To Weight


If you find a recipe you’d like to try, but the measurements are in volume, here is how to convert the volume measurements to weight.

  1. Measure each ingredient by volume 10 times.
  2. Weigh each time, then take an average of the weights.
  3. Repeat for each ingredient.

I found this lotion bar recipe online. It lists the ingredients by volume, so it is perfect for our purposes.

1/2 cup Jojoba Oil
1/4 cup Coconut Oil
1/4 cup Beeswax
2 tablespoons Shea Butter 

Ingredient Volume

1/2 cup Jojoba Oil
1/4 cup Coconut Oil
1/4 cup Beeswax
2 tablespoons Shea Butter

Weight Range

3.12 oz to 3.37 ounces
1.97 to 1.84 ounces
1.40 to 1.30 ounces
1.05 to 0.97 ounces

Average Weight

3.2 ounces
2.1 ounces
1.3 ounces
1 ounce

When weighing these ingredients, I did my best to get accurate measurements each time. Even so, there were some pretty significant variations. Now that we have weights, we can ensure that the lotion recipe is always the same. I rounded the average weights to one decimal point so it would be easy to do with any scale.

Weighing 1/2 cup jojoba oil.

Getting a tablespoon of shea butter was the most difficult.

1/4 cup of beeswax ready to be weighed.

Record of different weights.

The worst challenge was to weigh the shea butter. It is hard at room temperature, so it was difficult to get the same amount in each tablespoon.

Now make a test batch with the final recipe in weight. Did it work? Does something need to be changed? You can tinker with the weights to attain the feel you want.

Do you have questions about a recipe you want to make or what oils or butters would work best? Give our Technical Support Team a call at 435-755-0863.

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About Denise

I'm a crazy goat lady who got into making my own soap with goat milk, found MMS to order supplies, and now I get to combine my love of creating skin care products with a job to pay the feed bill. I live in Alaska and greatly enjoy the unique aspects of my northern home - summer days when it never gets dark and the Northern Lights dancing above in winter. Favorite scents include Wild Mint and Ivy, Rhubarb & Sugar Cane, and Eucalyptus Spearmint.

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